Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Athletics
Middle Tennessee
No. 24 Middle Tennessee heads to Lubbock for Sunday match
March 22, 2023 | Men's Tennis
LUBBOCK, Texas – Finally back in the Dub City, the No. 38 Texas Tech Red Raiders are taking on their fourth top-25 team this season as they welcome No. 24 Middle Tennessee to the McLeod Tennis Center this Sunday, March 26 at 2 p.m.
Tech (11-6) is coming off two wins in Eugene, Ore., this past weekend against the No. 56 Oregon Ducks and the BYU Cougars. Against Oregon, the Red Raiders won their 11th doubles point of the season with victories at courts two and three. Then, Tech picked up singles wins at courts one, five and six to clinch the match, 4-2, over the Ducks.
Against BYU, Tech would go down 1-0 after the Cougars took the doubles point. But, the Red Raiders bounced back and would collect wins at courts two, three, five and six to defeat BYU by a 4-1 score and leave Oregon with two victories.
In dual singles, freshman Lorenzo Esquici leads the team not only with 12 wins, but with five match clinches after clinching the Oregon match on Thursday night. Olle Wallin and Franco Ribero are right behind with nine dual singles wins each.
In doubles, Ribero and Piotr Pawlak are leading the team with 10 wins, eight of those coming at court two, followed by Dimitrios Azoidis and Reed Collier with six at court one. In the recent ITA rankings, Wallin moved up 81 spots to No. 42 in singles, while Azoidis and Collier are at No. 72.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
No. 24 Middle Tennessee is 15-5 on the season and 1-0 in Conference USA with a sweep over Rice. The Blue Raiders have wins over Michigan State, No. 19 Duke, Virginia Tech, Tulane, No. 41 Oklahoma and No. 19 Northwestern. Their five losses come against Tulane, No. 36 Auburn, Oklahoma State, Mississippi State and No. 10 Wake Forest. In dual matches, Ondrej Horak leads the team with 14 singles wins, followed by Pavel Mott and No. 74 Stijn Slump with 12 apiece. In doubles, the duo of Slump and Mott have a team-best 11 dual wins, all at court two, while the No. 51 team of Oskar Brostrom Poulsen and Francisco Rocha have 10 at the top of the lineup.
Opponent in the Rankings
Singles
No. 74 Stijn Slump
No. 119 Oskar Brostrom Poulsen
Doubles
No. 51 Oskar Brostrom Poulsen/Francisco Rocha
FOLLOW ALONG
Both live stats and live video will be available for the match. Admission into the match is free. Follow @TexasTechMTEN on Twitter for updates and scores of the matches.
Players Mentioned
