University of Washington
Rice
Huskies Fall Just Shy Of Upsetting Rice
February 28, 2004 | Men's Tennis
Feb. 28, 2004
EUGENE, Oregon - One point at No. 3 doubles made all the difference for Washington men's tennis which came excruciatingly close to pulling off an upset of the eighth-ranked team in the nation, losing 4-3 to the Rice Owls on the University of Oregon campus. The 18th-ranked Huskies (8-3) had a match point at No. 3 that would have secured the doubles point for UW, but Rice (11-0) fought back to take the matchup and the point that would eventually prove to be decisive.
The Huskies had the chance to do something no other team has been able to this year: hand the Owls a loss. Rice has rocketed into the top-10 thanks to impressive wins over Stanford, California, Fresno State and Arizona. The Huskies could now easily be the owners of two top-ten wins but the ball has bounced the other way. UW's first loss was another 4-3 heartbreaker to then-No. 7 Mississippi that hinged on a few points.
Washington and Rice split the top two doubles matches, with the nation's No. 2 team of Richard and William Barker defeating UW's 45th-ranked pair of Alex Vlaski and Alex Slovic, 8-4, at the top spot. The Huskies rebounded thanks to juniors Christoph Palmanshofer and Peter Scharler who pulled out an 8-6 win at No. 2. That left freshman Daniel Chu and senior Nick Weiss against Rice's Searle and Harknett to decide the doubles point. The match went to a tiebreak where Chu and Weiss held match point at 6-5, but the Owls rallied to take the next three points and win the tiebreaker 8-6.
Junior All-American Alex Vlaski and freshman Alex Slovic continued their dominance at No. 1 and 2 singles, respectively. Vlaski, the nation's third-ranked player, picked up his sixth straight win and 11th over a ranked opponent this year by upending 28th-ranked Robert Searle in three sets. The 80th-ranked Slovic finally lost his first set in his Husky dual career, but not his first match, as he upset 33rd-ranked William Barker in a third set tiebreaker. Slovic improves to 18-2 overall and 11-0 in dual play and Barker has the honor of being the highest-ranked opponent to fall to the young Yugoslavian.
Fifth singles continues to be a reliable source of wins for Washington thanks to Scharler, who won his sixth-straight match, 6-2, 7-5, over Rice's Ben Harknett. Rice, however, would take the third, fourth and sixth singles matches to come away with the win. In his second match in the third singles slot, Daniel Chu took the first set, 6-4, over Richard Barker, but Barker rebounded with two solid sets to earn the win. UW's Palmanshofer could not overcome Rice's Tony Haerle at fourth singles despite taking the first set into a tiebreak. Sixth singles has been a struggle of late for the men as they lost their fourth-straight match in that spot via junior Scott Felsenthal's 6-4, 6-3 loss to Vuk Rajevac.
Washington maintains its Eugene residence overnight to face the rival Oregon Ducks tomorrow, Feb. 29 at noon in a non-conference matchup.
Washington Men's Tennis vs. Rice
February 28, 2004 - Student Tennis Center - Eugene, Oregon
No. 8 Rice 4, No. 18 Washington 3
Doubles
1) (2) R. Barker/W. Barker (RU) def. (45) Vlaski/Slovic (UW) 8-4
2) Scharler/Palmanshofer (UW) def. Haerle/Morita (RU) 8-6
3) Searle/Harknett (RU) def. Weiss/Chu (UW) def. 9-8 (6)
Singles
1) (3) Alex Vlaski (UW) def. (28) Robert Searle (RU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
2) (80) Alex Slovic (UW) def. (33) William Barker (RU) 6-2, 3-6, 7-6
3) Richard Barker (RU) def. Daniel Chu (UW) 4-6, 6-1, 6-2
4) Tony Haerle (RU) def. Christoph Palmanshofer (UW) 7-6, 6-3
5) Pete Scharler (UW) def. Ben Harknett (RU) 6-2, 7-5
6) Vuk Rajevac (RU) def. Scott Felsenthal (UW) 6-4, 6-3
