Texas Tech Athletics
Oklahoma
Garcia Clinches Win for No. 22 Red Raiders
April 17, 2011 | Men's Tennis
April 17, 2011
Oklahoma Post-Match Interviews | Oklahoma Match Highlights
LUBBOCK, Texas - Rafael Garcia won a thrilling three-set match to clinch a 4-3 win for the No. 22 Texas Tech men's tennis team against No. 26 Oklahoma on Sunday afternoon at the McLeod Tennis Center.
"If you had told me that we would have won this match by losing at No. 1 doubles and No. 1 and No. 2 singles, I would have never believed it," said head coach Tim Siegel. "This was an important win for us against a very strong team. It keeps us in the hunt to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Championship."
Prior to the match Siegel recognized the Red Raiders' only senior, David Gonzalez. Gonzalez has played No. 3 doubles for Tech the last three years. Gonzalez and Raphael Pfister started the match by winning at No. 3, 8-3, over Lawrence Formentera and Laurentiu Gavila.
Tech (15-8/2-3 Big 12) then went on to win the doubles point over OU (13-6/2-3 Big 12) as the 34th-ranked tandem of Gonzalo Escobar and Vitor Manzini defeated No. 68 Costin Paval and Peerakit Siributwong, 8-6, at No. 2. The Red Raiders' No. 1 pair and 14th-ranked Raony Carvalho and Rafael Garcia fell to Ionut Beleleu and Tsvetan Mihov, 8-5.
Tech took a 2-0 lead as Manzini easily downed Gavrila, 6-1, 6-1, at No. 4 in what was his best performance of the year. The victory marked the first Big 12 win for Manzini this season.
Getting just his second win in conference play was Gabriel Wanderley, who was victorious in straight sets over Formentera, 6-2, 6 -3, at No. 5, to put Tech up 3-0.
"I'm so proud of Vitor and Gabe. That was the best tennis they've played all year," Siegel stated.
Immediately after Wanderley's match, the Sooners got on the scoreboard with a win at No. 6 as Mihov beat Pfister, 6-4, 6-2.
OU narrowed the gap by picking up a win at No. 2 when 74th-ranked Paval upset No. 22 Escobar, 7-5, 6-4.
With two matches remaining at No. 1 and No. 3, Tech needed to win just one of the two. At No. 3, Garcia had won the opening set 6-3 and was down a break in the second at 3-2, while No. 20 Carvalho lost his first set, 6-1, and was also down a break at 5-4 in the second. Both Tech players fought back to break serve and even their set - 5-5 at No. 1 and 3-3 at No. 3. However, both OU players came back in the next game to break serve again.
No. 34 Beleleu hung on to upset No. 20 Carvalho, 6-1, 7-5, at No. 1, ending Carvalho's 20-match win streak as he dropped to 20-1 on the year in duals. It was the first time this spring that Carvalho played No. 1 singles. His previous 20 victories came at No. 2.
With the score tied at 3-3, the match came down to Garcia. When Carvalho's match ended, it was 4-all in the second set. Siributwong then broke Garcia and served to win the set, 6-4.
In the third set, Garcia broke serve to go up 3-1, but Siributwong broke right back to go back on serve. Siributwong won his service to knot the set at 3-all. With Siributwong serving at 6-5, Garcia finally broke serve on his third match point to claim the match for the Red Raiders.
"I kept telling Rafa (Rafael) it was just like against Cal (California) earlier this year when he stepped up for us to beat them. Even battling fatigue in his legs, he stepped up. If he was going be aggressive, he would win. If he used his forehand at the right time, he would win. When he plays with energy and emotion, he's one of the best players in the country. I'm proud of how he dug down deep and pulled this one out for us," Siegel said.
Next up for the Red Raiders will be their last regular-season match at No. 38 Nebraska on Sat., April 23, at 3 p.m. Tech will compete in the Big 12 Championship April 29-May 1 at the Baylor Tennis Center in Waco, Texas.
#22 Texas Tech 4, #26 Oklahoma 3
McLeod Tennis Center
Lubbock, Texas
April 17, 2011
Doubles - 3, 2, 1
1. Beleleu/Mihov (OU) def. #14 Carvalho/Garcia (TTU), 8-5
2. #34 Escobar/Manzini (TTU) def. #68 Paval/Siributwong (OU), 8-6
3. David Gonzalez/Pfister (TTU) def. Formentera/Gavrila (OU), 8-3
Singles - 4, 5, 6, 2, 1, 3*
1. #34 Ionut Beleleu (OU) def. #20 Raony Carvalho (TTU), 6-1, 7-5
2. #74 Costin Paval (OU) def. #22 Gonzalo Escobar (TTU), 7-5, 6-4
3. Rafael Garcia (TTU) def. Peerakit Siributwong (OU), 6-3, 4-6, 7-5
4. Vitor Manzini (TTU) def. Laurentiu Gavrila (OU), 6-1, 6-1
5. Gabriel Wanderley (TTU) def. Lawrence Formentera (OU), 6-2, 6-3
6. Tsvetan Mihov (OU) def. Raphael Pfister (TTU), 6-4, 6-2
*clinched match
Players Mentioned
