Texas Tech University Athletics
No. 18 Red Raiders Headed for Oklahoma
April 03, 2008 | Men's Tennis
April 3, 2008
LUBBOCK, Texas - After a much deserved weekend off, the Texas Tech men's tennis team is revved up and ready to continue their road campaign as they travel to the Sooner State for a pair of Big 12 contests. Tech will meet the Sooners beginning tomorrow, April 4, at 5 p.m., followed by the No. 21 Cowboys at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
The Red Raiders began Big 12 action two weeks ago as they hosted rival Texas A&M at the McLeod Tennis Center. Doubles play set the tone of the match as the duo of Michael Breler and Sinisa Markovic clinched the doubles point 7-3 in the tiebreaker over A&M's Conor Pollock and Chris Chirico. Despite the early lead the Aggies continued to test the Raiders, evening matches at three all with wins at No. 1, 3 and 5. The final point rested on court six as Breler was taken to three sets by Kayvon Karimi, where he hit a backhand winner to clinch the 4-3 victory for Tech.
Tech's 2008 line-up consists of a solid mixture of both veterans and newcomers. No. 43-ranked senior Bojan Szumanski continues to lead the team in the No. 1 spot, followed by junior Markovic who hails a 13-3 record this spring at No. 2. Positions three and four feature a pair of hard-hitting transfers as newcomers Lenoir Ramos and Ilya Babinciuc bring experience to the middle of the line-up, respectively. Holding down court five is Christian Rojmar with a dominating performance of 11-2. Polishing off the roster is junior Breler who leads his team in singles with a 14-1 record, 12-1 in the No. 6 spot already this year.
Holding true to its ranking, the Red Raiders also prove to be a dual threat boasting two ranked doubles duos. No. 4 Rojmar and Szumanski sit 8-4 in the No. 1 position for Tech, followed by No. 28-ranked Breler and Markovic holding a 9-3 record playing for the second year at No. 2. Capping off the No. 3 spot is the newly formed pair of Babinciuc and Ramos who maintains a winning record of 3-1.
The Sooners lead the series over the Raiders, 13-12, in part to a 4-3 win last season in Kansas City, Mo. OU is 6-9 on the season and is currently ranked 67, with eight of its nine losses to top-50 ranked teams. Leading the team in singles is sophomore Andrei Daescu who is ranked No. 32 nationally, and also plays No. 1 doubles with teammate Federico Chavarria. The Cowboys lead the series over the Raiders, 13-4, after Tech pulled off a 4-3 upset last year in Lubbock. OSU is 10-6 on the season, 1-1 in conference, suffering all six losses to top-30 ranked teams. Oklahoma State's noted strength comes in singles with No. 8 Oleksandr Nedovyesov leading his team at No. 1, followed by No. 54 Ivan Puchkarov and No. 110 Dmytro Petrov. In addition, Nedovyesov teams with Nathan Byrnes in doubles, and the two are currently ranked No. 46.
Every year some of the elite men's tennis programs in the nation consistently hail from Big 12 Conference. Six of the seven teams fall into the latest ITA rankings, with the same six all participating in last year's NCAA Tournament. The seven programs include No. 6 Texas, No. 15 Baylor, No. 18 Texas Tech, No. 20 Texas A&M, No. 21 Oklahoma State, No. 67 Oklahoma, and Nebraska. Tech currently sits 16-2 in duals matches this season, 1-0 in conference.
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Players Mentioned
