Texas Tech University Athletics
Soares, Dojas Earn Spot In NCAA Individual Championships
May 01, 2015 | Men's Tennis
Juniors Felipe Soares and Hugo Dojas have been selected to the NCAA Doubles Championships slated for later this month.
May 1, 2015
LUBBOCK, Texas -- Junior Felipe Soares is headed back to the NCAA Individual Championships in singles, but this time he is bringing along his roommate and fellow junior Hugo Dojas, as the pair have been selected to compete in doubles.
The NCAA selects 64 individuals for singles and 32 teams to compete in doubles in the individual tournament. All matches shall be the best-of-three sets. Regular scoring and a 12-point tiebreaker at six-games-all will be used for all matches.
Soares, who is ranked No. 37 this season, began as an alternate last season and earned a spot in the field. The Brazilian, who was ranked No. 60 last season, lost to Texas A&M's Shane Vinsant in the first round.
Soares and Dojas will enter the NCAA Championships ranked No. 22. The tandem is 14-7 on the season and 5-5 against ranked players this season, including 4-3 against Top 30 tandems.
Soares' selection in the singles competition marks the 15 different time that Texas Tech has sent a representative in singles. Soares is the fourth Red Raider to make two appearances in the event, joining Bojan Szumanski, Raony Carvalho and Gonzalo Escobar.
Soares and Dojas are the ninth doubles tandem to make the field in school history. The last doubles tandem of Carvalho and Escobar earned All-America honors and were national doubles finalists.
IN THE RANKINGS
The final regular season rankings were released by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association on Friday and the Red Raiders slipped from No. 17 to No. 19. For Texas Tech, the Red Raiders enter the NCAA Championships with the school's highest ranking since 2010, when they were No. 15.
The Red Raiders will travel to UCLA to face No. 59 UC Santa Barbara on Friday, May 8 at noon CT. Host No. 16 UCLA will take on Florida Gulf Coast in the other first round matchup. The winners will meet on Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
Individually, Soares is No. 37 in singles, while Alex Sendegeya is No. 117 and Jolan Cailleau is No. 123. Soares and Connor Curry are ranked No. 66 in doubles, but have not played together since the fall.
