Texas Tech University Athletics
Red Raiders Wrap in Waco
September 23, 2007 | Men's Tennis
Sept. 23, 2007
LUBBOCK, Texas - Coming off the first tournament of the season, the men's tennis team returns after competing at the 2007 H.E.B Invitational in Waco, Texas. Despite struggling in the first-round of play, the Red Raiders were able to find momentum in the singles consolation brackets.
With some of the top competitors filling this year's field, Tech was unable to find a win in the first-round of both singles brackets. No. 93 Sinisa Markovic fell to Texas' top player Luis Diaz Barriga, 7-5, 7-6(4), but recovered with a win over Marcus Sundh from Kentucky, 6-4, 3-6, 10-6. Markovic was stopped falling in the third round to San Diego's Thomas Liversage 7-6, 6-0.
Christian Rojmar lost 6-4, 6-4 to Wisconsin's Luke Rassow-Kantor in the first round. He advanced in the consolation bracket defeating Oklahoma's Rob McKenzie and Baylor's Matt Bain, before falling 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinal to Wichita State's Tiago Espirito Santo.
Illya Babincuic made his collegiate debut advancing to the semi-finals of the consolation bracket going 3-1 by defeating Rice, A&M-Corpus Christi and Wisconsin. Facing-off with teammate Michael Breler in the semi-finals, Breler was able to walk away with the 6-4, 6-2 win. Sitting 4-1 going into the finals, Breler took WSU's Espirito Santo to a tiebreaker winning 2-6, 6-4, 10-7 and walking away with the consolation singles title.
Tech had four doubles pairs compete in both the A and B Draws. In the A Draw, the veteran pair of Breler and Markovic edged Ole Miss' Klaesson and Poole, 9-7, but withdrew from their second match against A&M's Chirico and Pollock due to severe leg cramps by Markovic. Freshman Joe Hattrup and Jeremy Reed also competed in the A Draw, defeating Texas-Arlington's Bello and Minkin 8-3. In the second round the duo were unable to hold off the top-seeded Dimitar Kutrovsky and Josh Zavala from Texas, falling 8-4.
In the B doubles bracket, James Wilson and Jay Wofford found themselves in the quarter-finals by defeating Cal Baptist's Eisikovits and Miljons, 8-5, but lost 8-5 to New Mexico State's DeMucha and McKinney. Tech's final pair of Babincuic and Milos Kustudija also withdrew in their first match against Wisconsin's Rassow-Kantor and Sonkin due to injury.
The Red Raiders will next send players to compete in the Polo Ralph/Lauren All-American Invitational on Oct. 4. For complete results of H.E.B. Baylor Invite, visit www.baylorbears.com.
Players Mentioned
