Texas Tech Athletics
Michigan State
Tech heads to Arizona for Diablos Tennis Tournament
March 08, 2023 | Men's Tennis
LUBBOCK, Texas – The No. 50-ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders (6-6) travel to Tempe, Ariz., for the Diablos Tennis Tournament on March 10-12. The Red Raiders are set to face the No. 67 Michigan State Spartans on Friday, March 10 at 2 p.m. at the Kiwanis Tennis Center.
Tech is coming off a two-week break after last playing No. 38 Alabama at the Blue Gray Tennis Classic on Feb. 25. The Red Raiders closed out the tournament with a huge win against the Crimson Tide. In the match, Alabama went ahead 1-0 when they won the doubles point. The Red Raiders had to fight back and win four singles matches to claim the match and they did just that.
With Alabama holding a 3-1 lead, Olle Wallin delivered a clutch performance at court one when he picked up his second ranked win of the tournament after defeating No. 94 Filip Planinsek, 2-6, 7-5, 6-2. At court six, Sebastian Abboud collected a straight-set victory against Joao Ferreira, 7-5, 6-3, to give Tech its third point and tie the match. It would be freshman Lorenzo Esquici who would clinch the match for the Red Raiders when he beat Yair Sarouk at court five, 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-4.
Both Esquici and Franco Ribero lead the team with seven dual singles wins, followed by Tyler Stewart with six and Wallin with five. In doubles, the duo of Ribero and Piotr Pawlak boast a team-best seven dual wins. In the ITA rankings, Wallin made his debut this season at No. 123 after his two ranked victories at the Blue Gray Classic. The tandem of Dimitrios Azoidis and Reed Collier also checked back into the doubles rankings at No. 45.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Michigan State is coming into the weekend with a 5-5 overall record and ranked No. 67 by the ITA. The Spartans have wins over Brown, Bellarmine, Ball State, Drake and Western Michigan, while dropping matches to No. 25 Middle Tennessee, No. 24 Auburn, Alabama, No. 23 Louisville and No. 37 Notre Dame. For the Spartans, Max Sheldon leads the team with six dual singles wins, mostly coming from the two spot. In doubles, Sheldon and Ozan Baris have a team-high four dual wins all at the top of the lineup. Baris is the lone Spartan ranked in singles at No. 29 with a 3-3 record at court one, while Baris and Sheldon are also ranked No. 20 in doubles.
The remaining teams in the ASU Spring Break Tournament are: No. 31 Arizona State, Boise State, No. 61 Drake, No. 69 Liberty, No. 24 Memphis and No. 55 Oregon.
Opponents in the Rankings
Singles
Arizona State
No. 57 Murphy Cassone
Drake
No. 92 Jeremy Schifris
Memphis
No. 48 Pablo Alemany
Doubles
Drake
No. 61 Oliver Johansson/Matija Matic
Liberty
No. 74 Josh Wilson/Christiaan Worst
Memphis
No. 62 Pablo Alemany/David Stevenson
Oregon
No. 8 Joshua Charlton/Quinn Vandecasteele
FOLLOW ALONG
Live video will be available this weekend here. The tournament central page can be found here. Follow @TexasTechMTEN on Twitter for updates and scores of the matches.
Players Mentioned
