Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Athletics
Nebraska
Men's Tennis Edge Nebraska 4-3
March 25, 2007 | Men's Tennis
March 25, 2007
LINCOLN, Neb. - On the road for their 10th match of the season, the Texas Tech men's tennis team squeaked by the Nebraska Cornhuskers in their conference opener. Tech advances to 10-5, 1-0 in Big 12, as Nebraska falls to 6-8, 0-2 in conference play.
The Red Raiders got an early jump on the match winning their sixth doubles point of the season. The No. 34 duo of Christian Rojmar and Bojan Szumanski improved their record to 7-3, sweeping Tate/Navarro 8-0. After Nebraska tied it up 8-5 in the No. 2 doubles spot, seniors Dimitrio Martinez and Teddy DiBlasi clinched the doubles point for their team 8-6.
Entering singles was an uphill battle for the Raiders, as the Huskers weren't going down without a fight. Sophomore Sinisa Markovic was the first singles victory of the day, 6-3, 6-3, giving Tech their second point. Red Raider's Michael Breler had a rocky start back on the courts, losing 6-0, 6-3 to Husker Renato Melo. Fortunately, captain Martinez continued to prove himself, winning 6-4, 7-6, and giving the Raiders their third point.
Nebraska made a come back winning the next two matches at No. 4 and 6, tying up the score three all. With the match on the line, Red Raider's No. 33 Bojan Szumanski went head-to-head with Adrian Szatmary.
"I wasn't very confident heading into today's match mostly because I sprained my ankle a week ago and wasn't sure if I was going to even play," expressed Szumanski. "I knew I had to have a positive attitude to just go out there and do the best I could."
Szatmary got an early lead winning the first set 6-4. Szumanski battled in the second set, saving three match points to come out ahead 11-9 in the tiebreaker. Wearing down his opponent, Szumanski outplayed Szatmary in the third, clinching the victory for his team.
"This was a very, very difficult match, I give Nebraska a lot of credit as they are a lot better team then their ranking and they fought very hard," commented head Coach Tim Siegel. "We had our opportunity to close them out on two occasions. It eventually came down to Bojan for the match, which three days ago I didn't think would be ready to play. Playing in the No. 1 spot, he came back and saved three match points. He proved he has a lot more toughness than I'm sure he realized."
"It was a tough match as I didn't play 100 percent. I was down three match points, and I knew I would have to stay solid and fight to make a come back," said Szumanski. "This was huge for our team. To have our first conference win out of the way is going to definitely help us have a much better week of practice as we prepare for A&M."
Halfway through one of the toughest schedules in program history, the Red Raiders have faced 10 ranked opponents. With the beginning of Big 12 play, Tech will see five more as the rest of their conference schedule includes all ranked teams.
The men return to the courts on Fri., March 30, as they travel to face rival Texas A&M. For more information and complete results, visit www.texastech.com.
-TTU-
#31 Texas Tech, 4
#75 Nebraska, 3
Singles: 3, 5, 2, 4, 6, 1
1. Bojan Szumanski (TTU) def. Adrian Szatmary (Neb.), 4-6, 7-6 (9), 6-0
2. Dimitrio Martinez (TTU) def. David Bendheim (Neb.), 6-4, 7-6
3. Sinisa Markovic (TTU) def. James Clow (Neb.), 6-3, 6-3
4. Hendrik Stahmer (Neb.) def. Christian Rojmar (TTU), 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
5. Renato Melo (Neb.) def. Michael Breler (TTU), 6-0, 6-3
6. Marton Zsiga (Neb.) def. Milos Kustudija (TTU), 2-6, 7-5, 7-5
Doubles: 1, 2, 3
1. Rojmar/Szumanski (TTU) def. Bendheim/Tate (Neb.), 8-0
2. Clow/Szatmary (Neb.) def. Breler/Markovic (Neb.), 8-5
3. DiBlasi/Martinez (TTU) def. Van Melo/Zsiga (Neb.), 8-6
Players Mentioned
