Texas Tech University Athletics

Red Raiders travel to Oklahoma this weekend in Big 12 finale
April 12, 2023 | Men's Tennis
LUBBOCK, Texas – Coming off two close matches to No. 1 Texas and No. 2 TCU, the No. 33 Texas Tech Red Raiders (12-9, 0-3 Big 12) will head to the state of Oklahoma to close out the Big 12 regular season against the Cowboys and the Sooners.
First, the Red Raiders take on the No. 44 Oklahoma State Cowboys on Friday, April 14 at 6 p.m., then Tech will compete against the No. 34 Oklahoma Sooners on Sunday, April 16 at 1 p.m. for its last regular season conference match of the year.
Last week, Texas Tech hosted the Longhorns and Horned Frogs, who were the top-2 teams in the country. Against Texas, Both Reed Collier and Lorenzo Esquici pulled out wins against their respective opponents, but the Longhorns took the match 5-2.
Following this match, the Red Raiders played TCU last Saturday and gave the Horned Frogs everything they had. After losing the doubles point in a close tiebreaker, the Red Raiders came out firing when they won four first sets in singles, while also playing three, three-set matches. Olle Wallin collected his seventh ranked win at court one against No. 73 Jack Pinnington in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5. This would be the first point TCU has lost in conference play so far as they would get the win, 4-1, over Tech.
Leading the team in dual singles wins is Esquici with 14 on the year and 10 of those coming at court five. Following him is Wallin with 11 and Franco Ribero with 10. In doubles, the Ribero and Piotr Pawlak duo post a team-high 11 dual wins with Dimitrios Azoidis and Collier right behind with seven.
In the latest ITA rankings, the Red Raiders moved up four spots after challenging Texas and TCU. Wallin also increased his singles ranking as he now checks in at No. 47 after his ranked win on Saturday.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
No. 44 Oklahoma State is coming into Friday on a four-match losing streak as they hold a 12-10 overall record and 0-3 record in Big 12. The Cowboys have picked up wins over No. 21 Middle Tennessee, SMU, UCF and No. 43 Tulane. Some losses come against Oklahoma, TCU, Texas, UCLA and Tulsa. In the ITA rankings, OSU has two players ranked in singles as Isaac Becroft is No. 78 and Tyler Zink is No. 99. In doubles, Chase Ferguson and Zink also rank No. 71.
The Sooners are 12-9 on the year and 1-2 in conference after handing OSU a 6-1 loss last week. Oklahoma has defeated teams such as Charlotte, Alabama, Arizona State and Middle Tennessee. Their key losses are against Tennessee, Memphis, Texas A&M, TCU and Texas. In dual singles, Nathan Han leads the team with 13 wins, followed by Justin Schlageter with 11. In doubles, the tandems of Jordan Hasson and Siphos Montsi as well as Baptiste Anselmo and Schlageter each have a team-high seven wins apiece. The Sooners only have one player ranked as Alex Martinez checks in at No. 98 in singles.
Opponents in the Rankings
Singles
Oklahoma State
No. 78 Isaac Becroft
No. 99 Tyler Zink
Oklahoma
No. 98 Alex Martinez
Doubles
Oklahoma State
No. 71 Chase Ferguson/Tyler Zink
FOLLOW ALONG
Both live video and live stats will be available for the matches. Follow @TexasTechMTEN on Twitter for updates and scores of the matches.