Men’s tennis drops heartbreaker to No. 23 UCLA

Sunday, January 30

College Station, TX

2 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

No. 23 UCLA

Men’s tennis drops heartbreaker to No. 23 UCLA

January 30, 2022 | Men's Tennis

Box Score Results (PDF)

Tech had four match points, but fell to the Bruins

By: Andrew Stern

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas Tech men's tennis program dropped a heartbreaker Sunday afternoon, falling to No. 23 UCLA 4-3 at the Mitchell Tennis Complex.

Texas Tech (3-2) had four different match point opportunities, but ultimately fell short against the nationally-ranked Bruins (2-1).

Tech got off to a slow start on Sunday, dropping 6-4 and 6-3 decisions in the doubles action to lose the doubles point.

Needing a response, the Red Raiders turned to veteran Reed Collier who dropped 96th-ranked Stefan Leustain of UCLA 6-4, 6-2. The victory put Tech on the board and trimmed the UCLA lead to 2-1.

After the Bruins used a straight sets victory over Olle Wallin to close to within one point of the victory, Ilgiz Valiev and Dimitrios Azoidis won a pair of three-set thrillers to even the team score at three-all.

Valiev won the opening set over No. 41 Alexander Hoogmartens, 6-4. Valiev shook off a tough second set (6-3) to win the decisive third set 6-4.

On court six, Azoidis won an exciting first set tiebreaker over Karl Lee to race out to an early lead. After Lee cruised to a 6-0 victory to force the third set, Azoidis rode a break to a 6-4 final set victory.

With just court one action remaining, all eyes turned to Isaac Arevalo and Drew Baird. After the foes traded 6-4 victories in the first two sets, Arevalo fell 7-5, sealing the victory for the Bruins.

HEAD COACH DANNY WHITEHEAD:
"That was a heartbreaker. We had four match points to win it all, but it didn't go our way today. Throughout the years we've done really well in similar situations, and we'll have that chance again. When we do I know we'll win it next time. I'm really proud of our team and the way that they support each other and continue to battle. We'll go back to work this work, clean up a few things and get better in a few areas. We'll win the next one."

UP NEXT:
The Red Raiders return to action on Saturday when they travel to Salt Lake City to battle LMU on Saturday and Utah on Sunday. Both matches are scheduled for a Noon first serve.