Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Athletics
Denver
Red Raiders Drop Heartbreaker to Denver
February 04, 2007 | Men's Tennis
Feb. 4, 2007
LUBBOCK, Texas - The Texas Tech men's tennis team dropped their first match of the season losing to the nationally ranked Denver Pioneers. The team struggled in both singles and doubles competition as they faced their first ranked competitor today at the Falls Country Club.
Doubles action began and ended before the Red Raiders could find their groove. Christian Rojmar and Bojan Szumanski were held off by Adam Holmstrom and Niklas Persson for the first doubles loss of the day. With the doubles point on the line, both the No. 2 and 3 doubles pairs went at it toe-to-toe. Before the seniors on court three could finish, Denver's No. 2 duo edged Tech's Michael Breler and Sinisa Markovic, 8-6.
The featured singles match included No. 12 Szumanski against Denver's No. 21 Holmstrom. Holmstrom, who is known for his solid indoor play, topped Szumanski for the win. Tech's first point came from No. 92 ranked Markovic, beating Pioneer Timo Kienle 6-3, 6-2. The second win came from captain Dimitrio Martinez who took Nejc Smole to three sets, but pulled way to secure the victory.
With the score at 3-2, Tech's hopes of winning rested on the shoulders of Breler and newcomer Milos Kustudija. Both went ahead in the first set, and started off strong heading into the second. The Pioneers refused to go quietly, as they forced both in to a third set. Ben Althaus got away from Breler in the third set, and captured the win for his team.
"This is an unbelievably tough loss to swallow," sighed head Coach Tim Siegel. "Denver is a very good team, and the whole match was quite a rollercoaster. Unfortunately, the doubles point is going to continue to haunt us as the rest of the season will be filled with tough competition like today."
The Raiders hit the road next weekend as they are set to play Louisville, Middle Tennessee State, and Washington in Seattle. For complete results visit www.texastech.com.
Texas Tech, 2, Denver, 5
Doubles: 1, 2*
1. Holmstrom/Persson (Denver) def. Rojmar/Szumanski (TTU), 8-2
2. Althaus/ Smole (Denver) def. Breler/Markovic (TTU), 8-6
3. DiBlasi/Martinez (TTU) vs. Kienle/Rosen (Denver), dnf
Singles: 4, 3, 1, 2, 5*, 6
1. Adam Holmstrom (Denver) def. Bojan Szumanski (TTU), 6-3, 6-4
2. Dimitrio Martinez (TTU) def. Nejc Smole (Denver), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
3. Sinisa Markovic (TTU) def. Timo Kienle (Denver), 6-3, 6-2
4. Niklas Persson (Denver) def. Christian Rojmar (TTU), 6-1, 7-5
5. Ben Althaus (Denver) def. Michael Breler (TTU), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
6. Kalee Rosen (Denver) def. Milos Kustudija (TTU), 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4)
