Louisiana State narrowly defeats men's tennis

By Casey Michel     2/12/09 6:00pm

Yes, the men's tennis team lost on Friday to No. 15 Louisiana State University. Rice's third loss in a row came by a score of 4-3 in Baton Rouge, La., dropping the 27th-ranked Owls to 7-3 on the year and marking the midpoint of a laborious, seven-week road trip. But that is not the main storyline to emerge from the Louisiana jaunt. The team fought tooth and nail for the win, but the Tigers' wins did not arise in the places one would expect.

Christoph Müller was not expecting a jump to the top. Granted, this is his senior season, but after three years of playing second fiddle to Ben Harknett (Wiess '08) and junior Bruno Rosa - the team's top option since last year - Müller had always been relegated to a secondary position on the squad.

However, Rosa's sluggish start to the season allowed Müller an opportunity to prove himself. On Friday, Müller's coaches slotted him at the No. 1 position against then-17th-ranked LSU, but it came with a catch. Instead of facing the Tigers' second-toughest opponent, Müller would instead face a foe who he, and the rest of the country, knows well: Michael Venus.

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Venus, like Müller, has been the second-best performer for the entire spring season. But while Müller was only No. 2 on his squad, Venus is No. 2 in the nation.

"We felt Christoph's game had elevated and he was ready to give [No. 1] a shot," assistant coach Efe Ustundag (Baker '99) said. "We felt like it was a good matchup."

Last March, then-No. 49 Müller dropped a pair of match points against then-No. 74 Venus, resulting in Rice's eventual 4-3 loss. That first go-round, it would appear, taught Müller a few lessons, because on Friday he came out with his strongest performance of his senior year.

But before Müller could have his rematch, there were other matches to be played. The Tigers fired the first salvo with a sweep of doubles, the second time a team had blanked the Owls' doubles slate in as many weeks. Rosa and junior Chong Wang gave the best shot at getting on the board, but their late hold against LSU's Mark Bowtell and James Cluskey faltered in an 8-6 defeat.

Singles then opened with Rosa's rebound against Cluskey at No. 2, a 6-1, 6-1 victory that gave the 26th-ranked Rosa his first win in three matches.

Two spots down the ladder, freshman Sam Garforth-Bles took on Sebastian Carlsson. The Tiger stormed Garforth-Bles, ranked 61st, in the first set and hung on in the second set to take a 6-0, 7-6 (6) win and put his team up 2-1.

Freshman Isamu Tachibana took a point at No. 6, but Wang and senior Tobias Scheil failed to nail the big points, each barely losing in two sets to give the Tigers the victory-clinching points.

"I think we played well," Ustundag said. "It's just the theme, unfortunately, that we play these tough teams on the road and put ourselves in situations to win and just don't quite put it away when we have to."

Although LSU had already won the match when it came time for Müller to play, he had no idea. Thus, he played the match with Venus just like any other.

But no matter the way he looked at it, the match was not like those he had played in the past. For the first time in his college career, Müller was at the top of a healthy squad, leading a team he has played on for four straight years.

The pressure was evident - increased by a raucous, taunting LSU crowd - but Müller entered the match with a team-first mentality that the Owls have adopted.

"It doesn't matter to me where I play," Müller said. "I mean, I was happy about [being No. 1], but it doesn't affect the way I could have performed, or tried to perform."

Avoiding his opponent's big forehand, Müller hammered his way back from a 2-5 deficit, taking the first set 7-6. Venus then worked a 6-4 win in the second set, setting up the pair's third-straight three-set match.

However, the third set proved to be decidedly anticlimactic, as Müller fought off an early break point and blazed to a 6-1 win. Müller remains undefeated on the season, and will officially earn a ranking when next week's Intercollegiate Tennis Association polls come out.

For Ustundag, the Müller's resurgence could not be more beneficial to his team.

"Right now we have two guys who are legitimate No. 1 players," he said. "We're just going to play it by ear. With both of them winning, it's just going to be easier to play around with.

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