A silence descended on SMU’s cheering section Saturday as Filip Zivojinovic’s match-winning shot skidded past Adolfo Solares, giving the Rice Owls a 4-2 victory over the Mustangs in the semifinals of the Conference USA Men’s Tennis Championships.
Zivojinovic dropped his racket and threw his hands in the air, celebrating the final point that Rice would need to beat its in-state rival at Turpin Tennis Stadium. Meanwhile, the Mustangs couldn’t help but think that history had just repeated itself.
Just like last year, the Owls stopped SMU on the doorstep of the championship match. The Mustangs were carrying a lengthy winning streak into the tournament – this year it was six, last year it was eight. Just like last year, the Mustangs had conquered Rice in the regular season before falling short when it counted most.
SMU, ranked No. 47 in the country, hopes one thing will be different when the NCAA Championships’ field of 64 is announced on April 29: Perhaps an NCAA berth will still be waiting. In 2007 the Mustangs finished the regular season ranked No. 48 and were left out.
SMU head coach Carl Neufeld, whose Mustangs have made the postseason in 10 of his last 11 seasons at the helm, did not comment after the match.
The Mustangs earned their berth in the semifinals by shutting out the Memphis Tigers, 4-0, in the quarterfinals Friday. Rice faced Tulsa in the tournament’s championship for the third consecutive season, falling for the third consecutive season, 4-1. Tulsa is the No. 9-ranked team in the country and will host the NCAA Championships in May.
The Mustangs, who defeated Rice, 5-0, in a regular-season meeting on April 6, looked like they would deliver a repeat performance Saturday.
SMU raced out to capture the doubles point when the No. 2 team of Chris Hooshyar and Oivind Alver and the No. 3 team of Solares and Alex Skrypko cruised to a pair of 8-4 victories. However, the Mustangs weren’t able maintain that momentum in the singles matches.
In perhaps the competition’s most thrilling showdown, Robin Fahgen staged a dramatic second-set rally in No. 2 singles, but fell just short against No. 50-ranked Christoph Muller, 6-2, 7-6 (3). Fahgen trailed, 3-0, in the second set, then battled all they way back to take a 6-5 lead. However, Muller broke Fahgen’s serve to even the set and took the tiebreaker by a comfortable margin.
After the match, the attention turned to courts three and five, where the Mustangs needed two victories to advance. On No. 3, Skrypko was engaged in a tug-of-war with Ralph Knupfer. Skrypko and Knupfer each captured tiebreaker victories in the first two sets of their match. Trailing 6-5 in the second set and facing elimination, Skrypko broke Knupfer’s serve to force the tiebreaker and cruised to a 7-3 victory to force a third set, which was ultimately retired.
Meanwhile, Zivojinovic was serving with a 5-4 lead in the third set on court five. He put Solares down 40-love before double-faulting, giving SMU fans reason to believe that Rice’s 6-foot-4-inch senior was cracking under pressure. However, Zivojinovic, who defeated Solares in three sets last year, landed his first serve on the next point and hit a winner by SMU’s senior. All at once, Solares saw his eight-match winning streak disappear in a 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-4 decision.
Zivojinovic let out a cry to Rice’s fans, who had made sure Solares remembered last year’s loss to Zivojinovic. Throughout the match, they were yelling, “Just like last year, Filip.”
The Owls’ fans had much more to cheer about Saturday, as their team won four of the five singles matches that were completed. Chris Hooshyar, competing in the No. 6 spot, gave SMU its only victory, 7-6 (4), 6-2, over Dennis Polyakov.
In the No. 1 match, David Kuczer dropped a 6-4, 6-2 decision to No. 15 Bruno Rosa, the Owls’ highest-ranked singles player. Kuczer, a senior, finished the season with a 17-6 overall record.
Chong Wang needed three sets to put Alver away in the No. 4 match, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
“This was a very good win for our team considering that we lost 5-0 up here a couple weeks back to SMU,” Rice head coach Ron Smarr told RiceOwls.com. “Today’s match was an excellent environment for tennis.”
Quarterfinals: SMU 4, Memphis 1
The Tigers made sure Friday that SMU wasn’t looking ahead to the potential semifinal matchup with Rice.
The doubles competition was knotted, 1-1, when the No. 2 team of Skrypko and Solares put the Mustangs ahead of the pesky Tigers with an 8-5 victory over Spencer Heflin and Leon Nasemann.
Nasemann would give Fahgen fits in the No. 2 singles match. Fahgen, who carried a nine-match winning streak into the weekend, needed seven games to capture the first set, 7-5. The match was retired in the second set.
Skrypko’s 12-match winning streak appeared to be in jeopardy, as he struggled against freshman Jordan Smith, who took five games in the first set before succumbing to Skrypko in the No. 3 match. Skrypko was leading the second set, 4-1 when the match was called.
Kuczer out-slugged the behemoth Amrit Narasimhan (6-foot-6-inch) in the No. 1 match, 6-3, 6-2. Alver cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Michael Gaerthoeffner in the No. 4 contest. In the No. 5 match, Solares eked out a 6-4, 6-5 (7-5) win over Charlie Ramsay.
The No. 6 match was retired, with Memphis’ Benedikt Fischer leading Adham el-Effendi, 6-2, 2-3.
