Texas Tech University Athletics
Tech draws Auburn for opening round of NCAAs
May 02, 2022 | Men's Tennis
The Red Raiders and Tigers will clash at 1 p.m. (ET)/Noon (CT) in Winston-Salem
LUBBOCK, TEXAS --Â The Texas Tech Men's tennis team has punched its ticket to the NCAA tournament and will travel to Winton-Salem to face the Auburn Tigers in the Opening Round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament Friday. First serve from North Carolina is set for 1 p.m. (ET) or Noon (CT). Â
Making their fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance, the Red Raiders will face the Tigers for the third time in program history. The Red Raiders are 2-0 versus Auburn with both matches played at neutral sights.Â
Tech (14-11) finished fourth in the Big 12 this season and defeated five schools in the Field of 64. Tech went 4-4 in neutral site matches this year, and split a pair of matches against SEC foes. The Red Raiders defeated LSU (4-2) and fell to Texas A&M (6-1) in Dallas.
Tech has four players with double-digit singles wins on the year. Junior Dimitrios Azoidis leads the team with 14 total victories while junior Reed Collier has 11 wins, mostly on Court Two.Â
Sophomore transfer  Olle Wallin added 12 wins and leads the team in ranked wins with three, while junior Franco Ribero rounds the list out for Tech, having won 10 times. Â
The Auburn Tigers (20-10) enter postseason play with seven top 50 wins. The Tigers finished seventh in the SEC going 6-7 in the regular season. Finn Murgett has a team-high 20 victories for the Tigers, followed by No. 28 Tyler Stice who has 14.
HEAD COACH DANNY WHITEHEAD:
"We're happy and excited to have heard our named called. I think we're ranked 42 or 43 in the ITA rankings coming into the selection show, so we were right on the bubble when it came to at-large selections. Our team deserved to be in based on what we've accomplished this season. We're just excited to get in and it's a good opportunity for us. This team knows and is extremely confident that we can do some damage here in the postseason. Auburn is a really good team and had a great year, but we believe that we can go in and win that match."
On what he has learned about his team this season:
"We had a little bit of an up-and-down season. The second half of the season was stronger than the first, and we were more consistent both emotionally and physically. In Big 12 play we had a couple of good wins and played the top teams well. We lost to TCU 6-1, but we forced multiple third sets against the No. 1 team in the country. Baylor we put a few points on the board which I think was a common theme toward the end of our season against good teams. We know what we're capable of. We won our opening match a year ago and have most of the same guys returning and coming with us this year. So, we should have some confidence. It should be a fun match against Auburn." Â
