Men’s tennis goes to the big dance

Men’s
tennis goes to the big dance
…………………………………………………………………

By Ellen Chang

Rice News Staff

The Rice men’s
tennis team competed in the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships
for the first time in seven years after finishing the season
with a 21-9 record.

The Owls were
ranked 35th in the nation going into the championships at
Durham, N.C., but lost 4-1 in the first round to Auburn
University.

Tennis coach
Ron Smarr said the team’s performance was good this
year. The Owls, with three freshmen, two sophomores and
two juniors, had one of the youngest teams in the tournament.

“We had
a real good year,” he said. “I was disappointed
because I thought it was a winnable match. Hopefully, we
will get back and do better.”

The team opened
the dual-match season with 14 consecutive victories and
finished the season with wins over nine ranked teams with
the efforts of assistant coach Shaheen Ladhani, who was
named the Region VI assistant coach of the year.

The men were
21-8 going into the tournament and were led by Richard Barker,
who was named to the all-Western Athletic Conference first
team for singles and the second team for doubles with partner
William Barker, his brother. Matthias Mathaes, a two-time
all-WAC second team honoree, also led the team.

“This year
it was a lot of fun to play on the team, because it was
very competitive and the players were very ambitious,”
Mathaes said.

Richard Barker,
who was named the Region VI rookie player of the year by
the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, said he was proud
that the team was able to advance to the championship.

“You hear
of the NCAA [tournaments] around the world,” he said.
“That’s an accomplishment, really.”

Mathaes said
the team won many close matches during the season.

“It shows
how lucky we were sometimes,” he said. “I played
better toward the end. I’m not sure — maybe I
enjoyed it more.”