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No. 24 Men's Tennis Opens Spring Season in Hawaii
January 06, 2018 | Men's Tennis
The Red Raiders take on No. 21 Florida State sandwiched between a pair of matchups against Hawaii to begin their dual match season.
HONOLULU, O'ahu, Hawaii – The No. 24 Texas Tech men's tennis team looks to start the 2018 spring season on a high note as the Red Raiders will face host Hawaii and No. 21 Florida State in a trio of matches at the Rainbow Warrior Classic.
Texas Tech squares off twice with Hawaii on Sunday at 4 p.m. CT and Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. CT in addition to Florida State on Monday at 4 p.m. CT.
The Red Raiders begin their third season under the direction of Brett Masi and have dialed up a 41-21 record sparked by six of the program's nine wins over ITA Top 10 opponents. Texas Tech has secured the 2016 Big 12 regular season championship and a pair of runner-up finishes at the Big 12 Championships during Masi's first two seasons.
Earlier this week, the Red Raiders were awarded their third consecutive preseason ITA Top 25 ranking under Masi. Texas Tech also was predicted to finish in a fifth-place tie by the Big 12 coaches in a league that features six Top 25 schools.
The Red Raiders head into the 2018 campaign with a strong nucleus of five returning letterman and five talented newcomers.
"I get excited for a new adventure with the start of every new season," Masi said. "We have set ourselves up to really get some quality match experience early on to see where we are at. Hopefully, the boys will be able to gain some confidence for the meat of our schedule and when conference play comes around. We will definitely be tested early and often. This team will have work extremely hard to get us back among the nation's best which is where we want to be. I'm excited to get this journey started and got battle with this talented group."
Texas Tech's fall season was highlighted by strong doubles play. Jackson Cobb and Alex Sendegeya collected the 2017 ITA Texas Regional Championship, an ITA National Fall Championships berth and a No. 29 ranking followed by Connor Curry and Artem Kapshuk who wrapped the fall at No. 33 in the national rankings.
The two pairs combined to amass 11 victories. Curry played the fall season without Bjorn Thomson who sat out the fall season due to injury. Curry and Thomson were a 2017 All-Big 12 First-Team doubles selection, qualified for the 2017 NCAA Championships Round of 16 and headed into the 2017 fall season with a No. 10 ranking.
Curry, Thomson and Sendegeya did a majority of the heavy lifting for the Red Raiders and notched 43 of the team's 67 singles victories in dual match action between the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 singles slots.
The trio has already accounted for a combined 180 singles victories. Curry and Sendegeya tucked All-Big 12 singles honors at the 2017 Big 12 Championships whereas Thomson peaked as high as No. 60 and garnered a No. 78 final ranking in singles.
Rounding out the five-member returning letterwinners is Pyry Hyrkkönen. His freshman season was sparked by a singles win over UTA's Mauricio Del Rio which clinched a 4-0 victory for Texas Tech.
The Red Raiders welcome in transfer Artem Kapshuk from Temple where he primarily played the No. 1 and No. 2 singles positons coupled with freshmen Justin Bloss, Matheus Leite and Ilgiz Valiev. Kapshuk strung together three qualifying win en route to a main draw spot at the 2017 ITA All-American Championships, while Leite tallied an impressive 10-5 fall singles mark.
Tommy Mylnikov is scheduled to make his spring debut with the Red Raiders. He competed as a freshman during the 2015 fall season where he entered as the nation's No. 6 player in the Oracle/ITA Freshman/Newcomer rankings.
Following the Rainbow Warrior Classic, Texas Tech returns home for seven matches over a nine-day span. The Red Raiders meet Midwestern State next Saturday with a 1 p.m. CT first serve. Admission is free to all home matches at the McLeod Tennis Center.
Visit www.TexasTech.com for the latest news and information on the men's tennis program. Fans also can follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/TechMensTennis and @TexasTechTennis on Twitter.
Texas Tech squares off twice with Hawaii on Sunday at 4 p.m. CT and Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. CT in addition to Florida State on Monday at 4 p.m. CT.
The Red Raiders begin their third season under the direction of Brett Masi and have dialed up a 41-21 record sparked by six of the program's nine wins over ITA Top 10 opponents. Texas Tech has secured the 2016 Big 12 regular season championship and a pair of runner-up finishes at the Big 12 Championships during Masi's first two seasons.
Earlier this week, the Red Raiders were awarded their third consecutive preseason ITA Top 25 ranking under Masi. Texas Tech also was predicted to finish in a fifth-place tie by the Big 12 coaches in a league that features six Top 25 schools.
The Red Raiders head into the 2018 campaign with a strong nucleus of five returning letterman and five talented newcomers.
"I get excited for a new adventure with the start of every new season," Masi said. "We have set ourselves up to really get some quality match experience early on to see where we are at. Hopefully, the boys will be able to gain some confidence for the meat of our schedule and when conference play comes around. We will definitely be tested early and often. This team will have work extremely hard to get us back among the nation's best which is where we want to be. I'm excited to get this journey started and got battle with this talented group."
Texas Tech's fall season was highlighted by strong doubles play. Jackson Cobb and Alex Sendegeya collected the 2017 ITA Texas Regional Championship, an ITA National Fall Championships berth and a No. 29 ranking followed by Connor Curry and Artem Kapshuk who wrapped the fall at No. 33 in the national rankings.
The two pairs combined to amass 11 victories. Curry played the fall season without Bjorn Thomson who sat out the fall season due to injury. Curry and Thomson were a 2017 All-Big 12 First-Team doubles selection, qualified for the 2017 NCAA Championships Round of 16 and headed into the 2017 fall season with a No. 10 ranking.
Curry, Thomson and Sendegeya did a majority of the heavy lifting for the Red Raiders and notched 43 of the team's 67 singles victories in dual match action between the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 singles slots.
The trio has already accounted for a combined 180 singles victories. Curry and Sendegeya tucked All-Big 12 singles honors at the 2017 Big 12 Championships whereas Thomson peaked as high as No. 60 and garnered a No. 78 final ranking in singles.
Rounding out the five-member returning letterwinners is Pyry Hyrkkönen. His freshman season was sparked by a singles win over UTA's Mauricio Del Rio which clinched a 4-0 victory for Texas Tech.
The Red Raiders welcome in transfer Artem Kapshuk from Temple where he primarily played the No. 1 and No. 2 singles positons coupled with freshmen Justin Bloss, Matheus Leite and Ilgiz Valiev. Kapshuk strung together three qualifying win en route to a main draw spot at the 2017 ITA All-American Championships, while Leite tallied an impressive 10-5 fall singles mark.
Tommy Mylnikov is scheduled to make his spring debut with the Red Raiders. He competed as a freshman during the 2015 fall season where he entered as the nation's No. 6 player in the Oracle/ITA Freshman/Newcomer rankings.
Following the Rainbow Warrior Classic, Texas Tech returns home for seven matches over a nine-day span. The Red Raiders meet Midwestern State next Saturday with a 1 p.m. CT first serve. Admission is free to all home matches at the McLeod Tennis Center.
Visit www.TexasTech.com for the latest news and information on the men's tennis program. Fans also can follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/TechMensTennis and @TexasTechTennis on Twitter.
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/ Men's Tennis
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