Texas Tech University Athletics
Big 12 Showdown Set for Saturday
April 10, 2008 | Men's Tennis
April 10, 2008
LUBBOCK, Texas - Playing the last two home matches of 2008, the No. 20 Texas Tech men's tennis team returns to the McLeod Tennis Center this weekend hosting No. 4 Texas on Sat., April 12, and Nebraska on Sun., April 13, at 1 p.m., respectively.
Returning from the road for the sixth time this season, Tech split a pair of matches last weekend in Oklahoma. The Raiders swept the Sooners in Norman on Friday, 7-0. The team hoped to repeat last year's performance against Oklahoma State, but came up short as they narrowly missed the Cowboys 4-3. Two players maintained their undefeated Big 12 record of 3-0, as Sinisa Markovic sits at No. 2 with a 16-3 duals record, and Michael Breler continues to dominate No. 6 with a record of 16-1. After the weekend, Tech advanced its spring record to 17-3, 2-1 in the Big 12.
Leading the Big 12 Conference is the No. 4-ranked Longhorns, which already this season have posted a 17-3 record, 3-0 in confer¬ence play. Last season Tech fell short in Austin, dropping the match in singles 4-2. Texas has four ranked singles players, three of which are also cur¬rently 3-0 in the Big 12, including No. 16 Dimitar Kutrovsky, No. 22 Kellen Damico, No. 48 Ed Corrie, and No. 109 Luis Diaz Barriga. In doubles, the No. 37 duo of Barriga and Varela will play in the No. 1 spot, while the No. 7 ranked team of Corrie and Damico fill No. 2. UT dominates the series over Tech, 32-3.
The Cornhuskers travel to West Texas on Sunday after first hosting Texas A&M this Friday. Nebraska currently sits 9-11, 0-2 in Big 12, after los¬ing to Texas and Oklahoma State. Tech leads the series 12-3 over the Huskers after sliding by them last season 4-3 in Lincoln. Sunday's match against Nebraska will feature Tech's Bojan Szumanski, the all-time winningest player in singles and doubles, and Ilya Babinciuc, senior transfer from Southeastern Louisiana, playing in their final match at the McLeod Tennis Center.
Promotions for Saturday's match include free pizza, Tech tennis memorabilia, inflatable jumpers for the kids, a Wii tennis game provided by Texas Tech Marketing, and much more. In addition, Sunday's match will be "Feed the Fan" as Schlotsky's will provide sandwiches to the first 150 tennis fans.
