Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Athletics
Wichita State
Red Raiders remain undefeated to open season
January 20, 2024 | Men's Tennis
LUBBOCK, Texas – The Texas Tech Red Raiders won both matches of their doubleheader against Wichita State, 5-2, and New Mexico State, 7-0, on Saturday at the Lubbock Country Club.
The first doubles matches of the day started off strong for Texas Tech (2-0) as the court one pairing of Reed Collier and Jonas Gundacker dominated Wichita State's (1-3) Vanja Hodzic and Misha Kvantaliani, 6-1, while court two's duo, Olle Wallin and Lorenzo Esquici, battled it out with the Wichita State pair of Richey King and Marcelo Sepulveda, 6-4, to clinch the doubles point. Sebastian Abboud and Piotr Pawlak began to rally from down 0-2, making it 4-5 before being declared unfinished at court three due to Tech winning the doubles point and leading 1-0.
Wichita State grabbed their first point of the contest on court three when Minarik overtook Esquici, 3-6, 1-6, to tie it up at 1-1. Momentum swung in the direction of Texas Tech when court two's No. 114 Collier dominated Kvantaliani in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6 (4), to retake the lead. Court one went into three sets when No. 71 Wallin grinded out a win over the Shockers' Alejandro Jacome, 6-4, 6-7 (8), 6-4. Court four saw a battle in a three-set match between Gundacker and Hodzic where the freshman fell behind and dropped the contest, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 4-6, to give Wichita State their second point of the dual.
Despite the close match, courts five and six never gave in. On court six, Pawlak overcame a 2-4 deficit against Wichita State's Luke Bracks and won a first set tiebreaker before pulling away in the second set, 7-6 (7), 6-3, to clinch the Red Raiders fourth point and win over the Shockers. Abboud on five worked close games against Sepulveda and eventually pulled away in a second set tiebreaker, 7-5, 7-6 (7), to give Texas Tech their fifth and final point of the contest, solidifying the Red Raiders an opening day victory, 5-2.
The second set of doubles matches against New Mexico State (0-1) was even more dominant for the Red Raiders. Collier and Gundacker on court one went on a five game run before giving up their first game and eventually defeated Gustavo Campos and Tobias Wallin, 6-1. Court two's pair of Pawlak and Abboud rattled off four-straight to end their match against Itay Feigin and Luca Fe D'Ostiani, 6-2, and clinched the doubles point. Olle Wallin and junior Takeyasu Sekiguchi finished up their match, 6-2, to give Texas Tech a 5-0 overall record for doubles on the day.
Domination continued to be the word of the day for the Texas Tech Red Raiders as the first three singles matches ended in straight sets. Esquici ended D'Ostiani's day on court three, 6-2, 6-2, and was never down in a set. Collier blanked Feigin in his first set before winning Tech's third point of the contest, 6-0, 6-3. In a battle between Wallins, Texas Tech's came out on top with Olle winning his match by a score of 6-4, 6-4.
Freshman Gundacker won his first match of the dual season against the Aggies' Campos, eventually defeating him in a 10-point tiebreaker, 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (7) at court four. In his first dual singles since the 2021-22 season, Sekiguchi beat New Mexico State's Ricardo Mercado in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3. Serbian freshman Niksa Arsic made his collegiate debut with perfection on the line. The newcomer did enough to help Tech stay perfect against New Mexico State and earned his first collegiate win in straight sets, 6-2, 7-6 (6), at court five. With that win, Tech would improve to 2-0 on the young season after the 7-0 trampling over the New Mexico State Aggies.
Up next, the Red Raiders finish their opening weekend stint at the Lubbock Country Club against Abilene Christian on Sunday, January 21 at 4 p.m.
RESULTS
Texas Tech 5, Wichita State 2
Singles
1. #71 Olle Wallin (TTU) def. Alejandro Jacome (WSU) 6-4, 6-7 (8-10), 6-4
2. #114 Reed Collier (TTU) def. Misha Kvantaliani (WSU) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4)
3. Kristof Minarik (WSU) def. Lorenzo Esquici (TTU) 6-3, 6-1
4. Vanja Hodzic (WSU) def. Jonas Gundacker (TTU) 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-4
5. Sebastian Abboud (TTU) def. Marcelo Sepulveda 7-5, 7-6 (9-7)
6. Piotr Pawlak (TTU) def. Luke Bracks (WSU) 7-6 (9-7), 6-3
Doubles
1. Reed Collier/Jonas Gundacker (TTU) def. Vanja Hodzic/Misha Kvantaliani (WSU) 6-1
2. Olle Wallin/Lorenzo Esquici (TTU) def. Richey King/Marcelo Sepulveda (WSU) 6-4
3. Sebastian Abboud/Piotr Pawlak (TTU) vs. Alejandro Jacome/Kristof Minarik (WSU) 4-5, unfinished
Order of finish
Doubles (1,2); Singles (3,2,1,4,6,5)
Texas Tech 7, New Mexico State 0
Singles
1. #71 Olle Wallin (TTU) def. Tobias Wallin (NMSU) 6-4, 6-4
2. #114 Reed Collier (TTU) def. Itay Feigin (NMSU) 6-0, 6-3
3. Lorenzo Esquici (TTU) def. Luca Fe D'Ostiani (NMSU) 6-2, 6-2
4. Jonas Gundacker (TTU) def. Gustavo Campos (NMSU) 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-7)
5. Niksa Arsic (TTU) def. Patrick Lohmann (NMSU) 6-2, 7-6 (8-6)
6. Takeyasu Sekiguchi (TTU) def. Ricardo Mercado (6-1, 6-3)
Doubles
1. Reed Collier/Jonas Gundacker (TTU) def. Tobias Wallin/Gustavo Campos (NMSU), 6-1
2. Olle Wallin/Takeyasu Sekiguchi (TTU) def. Itay Feigin/Luca Fe D'Ostiani (NMSU), 6-2
3. Sebastian Abboud/Piotr Pawlak (TTU) def. Patrick Lohmann/Ricardo Mercado (NMSU), 6-2
Order of finish
Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (3,2,1,4,6,5)
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
1,2
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
3,2,1,4,6,5
Players Mentioned
