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| Owls continue to struggle in tight loss |
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by Mary Summers
After losing its last two contests with the University of Oklahoma and Texas Christian University, the men's tennis team was hoping for a change of pace. Yet, when the team faced Texas A&M University on Saturday at the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium, they found themselves falling into old habits. Although the Owls suffered a 5-2 loss to Texas A&M, the match was much closer than the final score indicates. Despite the fact that the Owls were ranked higher than the Aggies, "we were never able to get a mental edge on them," No. 1 player junior Efe Ustundag said. Team Captain Shane Stone agreed. "I think that if we had started off by winning the doubles point, we would have had the momentum [to win]," Stone said, noting that the Owls lost the doubles point by an extremely close margin. In doubles matchplay, only the No. 1 team of Ustundag and Darin Mast emerged victorious, winning 9-8 over the Aggies' Robbie Krause and Carlos Tori. It seems that the other matches could have gone either way. In the No. 2 doubles match, Brent Horan and Tony Young edged out Rice junior Naisohn Arfai and sophomore Sasha Silver 9-8. In the No. 3 spot, Erik Elek and Cory Hubbard squeaked past Owls sophomore Jason Felton and junior Rico Jacober 8-6. When the time came for singles, the Owls' momentum faltered. Only Ustundag, in the No. 1 spot, and Jacober, in the No. 3 spot, defeated their opponents. Ustundag downed Carlos Tori 6-3, 6-4, while Jacober beat Tony Young 6-2, 6-4. Freshman Kevin Hargrove lost in a tough 4-6, 6-7 heartbreaker to Aggie Juan Amburo, and Silver lost after a close first set as well. "We just never got into the match," said Stone. The Owls, now 12-8 overall, close their regular season this Saturday when they meet Southern Methodist University at 1:30 at the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium.
This item appeared in the Sports section of the April 11, 1997 issue. |
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