Texas Tech University Athletics
Friday, January 13
Orlando, Fla.
12:00 PM
Texas Tech Athletics
vs
Arizona
Red Raider Preview: No. 23 Men's Tennis in Orlando
January 11, 2017 | Men's Tennis
The Red Raiders will play in the first college matches at the new USTA National Tennis Center hosted by UCF this weekend.
LAKE NONA, Fla. – The No. 23 Texas Tech men's tennis team turns its attention to dual match play and opens the season with a trio of matches against Arizona, New Mexico and host UCF at the new USTA National Tennis Center this weekend.
The Red Raiders (0-0) will take on Arizona on Friday at 12 p.m. CT followed by matchups with New Mexico and UCF on Saturday at 9 a.m. CT and 4 p.m. CT, respectively. Texas Tech collected a pair of wins over Arizona and New Mexico on opening weekend en route to a 10-0 start last season.
Texas Tech is one of six Big 12 programs ranked among the nation's Top 25 and were chosen sixth in the coaches' preseason poll also released on Wednesday. The defending Big 12 regular season co-champions were selected to finish third in last season's preseason poll.
"We want to use the momentum and have the success that we had last year to help propel our guys to have that same type of success year after year," Texas Tech head coach Brett Masi said. "It's a new team, we lost two big starters at the top of our lineup with Felipe and Hugo. I think the guys now are geared up to wanting to make this their team and do what they can. Jolan and Carlos are our two seniors. They've been looking forward to this for a long time having the team on their back. Hopefully, we can piggy back a little bit off of last year."
Texas Tech is sparked by Jolan Cailleau, Connor Curry, Alex Sendegeya and Bjorn Thomson who are slated to move to the top of the lineup after spending last season in the No. 3 through No. 6 positions. Cailleau and Sendegeya captured All-Big 12 Second-Team honors and teamed with Curry and Thomson for 78 of Tech's 112 singles victories during dual match action.
Cailleau vaulted his way up 70 spots from No. 95 to No. 25 after a successful fall season. He was the runner-up at the ITA Texas Regionals and appeared at the ITA National Indoors in New York whereas Curry checks in at No. 104 after not being ranked in the fall.
"The heart of our lineup was Alex, Jolan, Connor and Bjorn from three to six. Don't get me wrong, you had two great players in Felipe and Hugo at one and two. A majority of our wins came from that core group from three to six, and we have that group back. They'll have to move up and play a higher position. They're going to have to go out and prove themselves that they can handle that pressure at those positions."
Texas Tech has three newcomers in Ronit Bisht, Jackson Cobb and Pyry Hyrkkonen. Bisht is No. 120 in the singles rankings after he secured a couple of ranked wins this fall. Hyrkkonen, a native of Finland, possessed a career-high ITF mark of 583 during his junior career.
"We have three new players that can make an impact right away in Ronit, Pyry and Jackson," Masi said. "I hope that all three of those guys can come in and do it in their own way. They're going to add to our depth and make us a stronger team. All three are super talented, but playing at this level with the pressure of a dual match is going to be new to all of them. Once we start to see some growth from them, I think we'll start to see the team be able to be where we want to be."
Visit www.TexasTech.com for the latest news and information on the Texas Tech men's tennis program. Fans can also follow the program on its social media outlets at www.facebook.com/Techmenstennis and @TexasTechTennis on Twitter.
The Red Raiders (0-0) will take on Arizona on Friday at 12 p.m. CT followed by matchups with New Mexico and UCF on Saturday at 9 a.m. CT and 4 p.m. CT, respectively. Texas Tech collected a pair of wins over Arizona and New Mexico on opening weekend en route to a 10-0 start last season.
Texas Tech is one of six Big 12 programs ranked among the nation's Top 25 and were chosen sixth in the coaches' preseason poll also released on Wednesday. The defending Big 12 regular season co-champions were selected to finish third in last season's preseason poll.
"We want to use the momentum and have the success that we had last year to help propel our guys to have that same type of success year after year," Texas Tech head coach Brett Masi said. "It's a new team, we lost two big starters at the top of our lineup with Felipe and Hugo. I think the guys now are geared up to wanting to make this their team and do what they can. Jolan and Carlos are our two seniors. They've been looking forward to this for a long time having the team on their back. Hopefully, we can piggy back a little bit off of last year."
Texas Tech is sparked by Jolan Cailleau, Connor Curry, Alex Sendegeya and Bjorn Thomson who are slated to move to the top of the lineup after spending last season in the No. 3 through No. 6 positions. Cailleau and Sendegeya captured All-Big 12 Second-Team honors and teamed with Curry and Thomson for 78 of Tech's 112 singles victories during dual match action.
Cailleau vaulted his way up 70 spots from No. 95 to No. 25 after a successful fall season. He was the runner-up at the ITA Texas Regionals and appeared at the ITA National Indoors in New York whereas Curry checks in at No. 104 after not being ranked in the fall.
"The heart of our lineup was Alex, Jolan, Connor and Bjorn from three to six. Don't get me wrong, you had two great players in Felipe and Hugo at one and two. A majority of our wins came from that core group from three to six, and we have that group back. They'll have to move up and play a higher position. They're going to have to go out and prove themselves that they can handle that pressure at those positions."
Texas Tech has three newcomers in Ronit Bisht, Jackson Cobb and Pyry Hyrkkonen. Bisht is No. 120 in the singles rankings after he secured a couple of ranked wins this fall. Hyrkkonen, a native of Finland, possessed a career-high ITF mark of 583 during his junior career.
"We have three new players that can make an impact right away in Ronit, Pyry and Jackson," Masi said. "I hope that all three of those guys can come in and do it in their own way. They're going to add to our depth and make us a stronger team. All three are super talented, but playing at this level with the pressure of a dual match is going to be new to all of them. Once we start to see some growth from them, I think we'll start to see the team be able to be where we want to be."
Visit www.TexasTech.com for the latest news and information on the Texas Tech men's tennis program. Fans can also follow the program on its social media outlets at www.facebook.com/Techmenstennis and @TexasTechTennis on Twitter.
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