Texas Tech University Athletics
Ribero claims final Big 12 Player of the Week award
April 18, 2023 | Men's Tennis
LUBBOCK, Texas – After an undefeated weekend in singles and doubles that helped Texas Tech win two crucial road matches, fifth-year senior Franco Ribero has earned his first career Big 12 Player of the Week honor as announced by the conference office on Tuesday afternoon.
Junior Olle Wallin also won the award back on March 14 as this marks the first time since 2019 that two Red Raiders were named Big 12 Player of the Week in the same season (Tommy Mylnikov and Parker Wynn).
Ribero got things started last Friday with a doubles win at court two against Oklahoma State's Alex Garcia and Francisco Pini. Paired with Piotr Pawlak, the duo would tie it at 3-3 with the Cowboys before winning the next three games to take the match, 6-3, and help Tech claim the doubles point.
Moving on to singles play, Ribero posted a quick, straight-set victory at court two against No 78-ranked Isaac Becroft. The Argentina native only gave up three games in the entire contest to pick up his first ranked singles win of the season, 6-1, 6-2, as the Red Raiders would go on to sweep Oklahoma State by a 4-0 score.
Two days later, Texas Tech would face the No. 34 Oklahoma Sooners in Norman. Ribero and Pawlak steamrolled through their doubles match at line two against Alex Martinez and Justin Schlageter. Taking a 4-2 lead, the Red Raider tandem won the next two games to clinch the team's 14th doubles point of the year with a 6-2 victory.
Singles against the Sooners was a tough outing from start to finish for the Red Raiders, but Ribero would give Texas Tech the lead after his fourth overall win of the week. Taking on Jordan Hasson at court two, Ribero took the first set by a 6-4 score before Hasson evened the match with a 6-2 second set. In the third and final set, Ribero posted a 6-4 win to collect Tech's third point of the match for a 3-2 advantage before the Red Raiders would win the contest, 4-2.
Ribero ranks tied for second on the team with 12 dual singles wins and tied for first with 13 dual doubles wins. He has now pushed his overall career wins total to 116 with 72 singles victories and 44 doubles victories.
The Red Raiders are set to face Oklahoma State on Friday, April 21 at 9 a.m. in Lawrence, Kan., in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament.
