Men's success pushes them up the rankings

By Casey Michel     3/26/09 7:00pm

With a racket in hand and a shirt sweated all the way through, Isamu Tachibana looked wiped. But before resting up for singles, Tachibana, a freshman member of the men's tennis team, had one thing to say. Or, rather, scream.

"I love the Rice representation, baby!"

Tachibana, easily the most vocal member of the Owls, was able to show off both his voice and his tennis skills at last weekend's 51st Annual Hampton Inn Galleria Rice Invite, held at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium. With wins over a trio of well-tested opponents, the Owls carried off the trophy for the ninth time in the last 13 years while reminding fans just how energetic the team was.

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While the Owls, who jumped from 36th to 33rd in national rankings, were the favorites entering the weekend, their higher rankings did not preclude a certain flair for the theatrical throughout the weekend. Sprinkled in between wins over the University of Texas-Pan American, then-No. 39 Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and then-No. 38 San Diego State University were stark German encouragements between Rice's 47th-ranked duo of seniors Christoph Müller and Tobias Scheil. Tachibana and partner Bruno Rosa were constantly cheering one another on with shouts of support, and in singles nearly every member of Rice's lineup contributed some form of hearty vocal support to teammates on other courts.

"That's what we need to have every weekend," Assistant Coach Efe Ustundag (Baker '99) said. "That's what gets the guys going. When they do that they start having more fun, and they get the crowd involved and actually have a good time playing tennis at home."

With fists pumping and foreign languages flying, the Owls began the fun on Friday with their contest against the Broncos. A quick pair of doubles wins got Rice on the board, and singles proved even easier as No. 42 Müller and freshmen Christian Saravia and Sam Garforth-Bles all took their matches in straight sets. Since the teams would be playing three matches in consecutive afternoons, all matches were called when a team reached four points.

Rice stumbled a bit the next day against its first ranked foe of the weekend. The Islanders proved a far stronger team than the Broncos, catching the Owls off guard in Nos. 2 and 3 doubles.

Fortunately for the squad, Rosa, ranked 46th in the country and playing at the top of the lineup for the first time in almost a month, made sure to even the score with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Mikhail Pavlov. Garforth-Bles fell at No. 3, but Tachibana and junior Dennis Polyakov's wins put the team a point from victory.

However, Scheil fell in a three-set tiebreaker, and the favorites in the tournament were on the cusp of defeat.

At No. 2, Müller took the first set from Dmitry Novikov, but the Islander rebounded and grabbed the second set. In the last set of the day, Müller showed why he deserved his high ranking, and sped past Novikov for the 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 win.

After the close call, the Sunday afternoon game against the Aztecs was nothing if not a breather for the wearied Owls. Although doubles were relatively close - the Owls won their matches 8-5 and 8-6 - the early point boosted Rice into singles.

But those wins may not have been necessary, for Tachibana's cheering was more than enough to put the momentum on Rice's side.

"I think he was on the extreme portion of [being vocal], but I don't want him to stop," Ustundag said of Tachibana. "I don't want him to be less [energetic], because it works. . I think that is certainly a positive thing for us."

Amidst a backdrop of five other matches, Tachibana was still audible even though he was playing Andre Feliz on the far courts. However, his screams of relief were justified: His first set went to a tiebreaker that last for a total of 32 points, with Tachibana coming out on top 17-15.

But the freshman never completed his second set as Rosa, Garforth-Bles and Polyakov all handed their Aztec opponents losses.

After engraving their names on the trophy, the Owls must prepare themselves for their highest-ranked home opponent of the season. No. 18 Pepperdine University, which features No. 27 Bassam Beides, will visit Jake Hess today at 1 p.m.

Despite their higher ranking, Ustundag said he is confident his squad can match the Waves stroke-for-stroke.

Pepperdine is "a very well-coached team, a very, very energetic team," Ustundag said. "Hopefully we're more energetic, because we might be a bit more talented."

After a week-long break, Rice will then take to the road to face No. 41 University of Oklahoma next week in a warm-up for No. 35 University of Tulsa, which Rice will face April 5. Although they are the Owls' de facto conference rival - Tulsa has beaten Rice three straight years in the Conference USA Tournament final - the Golden Hurricane has fallen off a bit this year, dropping to 35th in the country.

"I don't know what's happening [with Tulsa]," Ustundag said. "They're moving some guys around the lineup, maybe they're having some injury issues, illness issues - I don't know. They started off the year pretty hot, but they've had some . pretty bad losses like we have. I think it's going to be a typical Rice-Tulsa match and come down to the wire. . It's interesting. I thought we were going to be ranked a lot higher this time of the year."

However, Tulsa still boasts the top-ranked player in the nation, No. 1 Arnau Brugues, who recently beat the fourth-ranked player in the country in straight sets. Earlier this season, Müller downed the second-ranked Michael Venus of Louisiana State University, but since the lineup is a game-time decision there will be no guarantee the senior will square off with Brugues.

"[Brugues] is playing ball," Ustundag said. "He's the leader of that team. . He's the man to beat in the country right now.

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