Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Men's Tennis Opens Play at NCAA Tournament
June 21, 1999 | Men's Tennis
May 13, 1999
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - The Texas Tech men's tennis team will play Texas A&M in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Friday at 10 a.m. in Austin, Texas. Texas Tech is currently ranked 34th in the nation and has a 15-9 record for the 1999 season. Texas A&M is 14-6 for the spring dual match season and brings a 22nd national ranking into the match. The two teams met earlier in the season on April 1 when the Aggies prevailed by the score of 4-2 in College Station, Texas. The winner of the first round meeting will face the winner of Texas (23-4) and Marist (18-5) in the second round on Saturday, May 5, at 3 p.m.
"Our team is excited to have another chance to play Texas A&M in the first round of the tournament," Director Tennis Tim Siegel said. "We have been preparing very hard for this match. I feel that our guys are confident that we can win the match. If our players do what they are capable of, we should have a great chance to advance to the second round."
Texas Tech will also be battling history in Friday's match. While they have advanced to the NCAA tournament four straight times and five of the past seven years under Siegel, the Red Raiders are yet to win a first round contest. This will be the third time that Texas Tech has played Texas A&M in the first round during Siegel's tenure. The last time the two teams met, the Red Raiders dropped a close match to the Aggies, 3-4, in 1996.
Leading Texas Tech into play will be Borut Martincevic. The sophomore from Maribor, Slovenia, has played at the top position in singles all season culminating a 12-9 record with three wins over players ranked in the top 100. Currently, he is ranked 91st in the nation and was recently named to the all-Big 12 squad as a singles player. Martincevic is also is a member of the Big 12 all-academic first team.
