Red Raiders rally to edge SMU, 4-3, in Dallas

Saturday, January 22

Dallas, TX

1 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

SMU

Red Raiders rally to edge SMU, 4-3, in Dallas

January 22, 2022 | Men's Tennis

Box Score Final Results

Texas Tech remains undefeated on the season after rallying for a 4-3 victory Saturday at SMU

By: Matt Dowdy

LUBBOCK, Texas – The Texas Tech men's tennis team overcame an early 2-0 deficit Saturday to rally and defeat SMU on the road, 4-3, at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex in Dallas.

The win helped the Red Raiders remain undefeated on the season, improving to 3-0 early in the year. SMU was previously unbeaten on its season, dropping to 3-1 in the process.

"This was a great win today by our team," head coach Danny Whitehead said. "SMU has only gotten better and better the last two years, and they were so tough today. It took almost three hours for us to get our first lead of the whole dual match and that shows our fight and resilience."

Tech was slow out of the gates as the Mustangs punched in the double point, securing the No. 2 and 3 courts via 6-2 decisions. SMU carried that momentum into singles, winning two of the first three singles matches before Dimitrios Azoidis and Reed Collier began to turn the tides of the match.

Azoidis swept SMU's Pranav Kumar, 6-3, 6-3, on the No. 6 court, while Collier added a similar straight-set victory, topping Ivan Thammas, 6-2, 6-4, at No. 5 singles. Isaac Arevalo, the ITA Big 12 Individuals champion, evened the match soon after despite dropping the opening set. The junior would not be denied, though, as he finished off Caleb Chakravarthi, 2-6, 6-1, 6-3, to tie the match.

As the last match of the day, Franco Ribero, playing on the No. 4 singles court, had to cap off the comeback. Ribero, like Arevalo, needed a third set to secure the victory after splitting the first two frames, 6-4, 4-6. He broke serve in the third set, however, as he ran off five-straight points to notch a 6-1 win.

Up Next: The unbeaten Red Raiders will head to College Station for the ITA Kickoff Weekend hosted by Texas A&M. Texas Tech will face three ranked opponents over the course of three days beginning next Saturday, facing the likes of the No. 8 Aggies, No. 16 Arizona and No. 25 UCLA.