Saturday, 05/21/2011

NO. 5 BAYLOR SQUEAKS BY NO. 22 TECH IN NCAA SECOND ROUND

Red Raiders fall to Bears, 4-1, in second round action

 

WACO, Texas – The No. 22 Texas Tech men’s tennis team saw its season come to an end Saturday afternoon as it lost a tough-fought match to No. 5 Baylor, 4-1, in the second round of the NCAA Championships at the Baylor Tennis Center.

 

“This was an incredible college tennis match,” said head coach Tim Siegel. “It was a great atmosphere. I want to thank Shanon Hays for bringing the softball team out today. It was awesome to have them here. This loss really hurts because we were so close. We were just a couple of points away from winning the doubles point and the two remaining singles matches were even in the third set. I’m so proud of the way our guys fought. This was a tremendous team effort.”

 

The match started with a battle in doubles action. All three matches were close as both Tech (17-10) and Baylor (21-4) played some great tennis.

 

The Red Raiders captured the first win at No. 2 as 50th-ranked Gonzalo Escobar and Vitor Manzini defeated No. 52 Sergio Ramirez and Jordan Rux, 8-4. The Bears evened the doubles portion by picking up a victory with a win by fifth-ranked Roberto Maytin and John Peers over 20th-ranked Raony Carvalho and Rafael Garcia, 9-7, at No. 1. The deciding factor came down to the No. 3 spot. The match went into a tiebreaker and Julian Bley and Kike Grangeiro hung on to beat Tech’s Jeff Bryan and Raphael Pfister, 9-8 (4), to give Baylor a 1-0 lead.

 

The Bears took a 2-0 lead as they got a win from Rux, 6-1, 6-1, over Garcia at No. 3. Shortly after, Tech notched a point as No. 26 Escobar downed No. 68 Ramirez, 6-2, 6-0, at No. 2.

 

Baylor then went up 3-1 as No. 102 Maytin dropped Manzini, 6-3, 6-2, at No. 4.

 

The final three matches – No. 1, 5 and 6 – all went to a third set. Gabriel Wanderley and Pfister won their opening sets but dropped their second sets, while No. 23 Carvalho lost his first set and fought back to win the second set to push the match into a third set.

 

With the Bears up 3-1, they just needed to win one of the three remaining matches to clinch the match, and that’s what they did as No. 97 Grangeiro went on to beat Wanderley, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, at No. 5.

 

Tech now sends Carvalho, Escobar and Garcia to the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships May 19-24 in Stanford, Calif.

 

#5 Baylor 4, #22 Texas Tech 1

NCAA Championships – Second Round

May 14, 2011

Baylor Tennis Center – Waco, Texas

 

Doubles – 2, 1, 3

1.       #5 Maytin/Peers (BU) def. #20 Carvalho/Garcia (TTU), 9-7

2.       #50 Escobar/Manzini (TTU) def. #52 Ramirez/Rux (BU), 8-4

3.       Bley/Grangeiro (BU) def. Jeff Bryan/Pfister (TTU), 9-8 (4)

 

Singles – 3, 2, 4, 5*

1.       #23 Raony Carvalho (TTU) vs. #19 John Peers (BU), 3-6, 6-4, 4-4 unfinished

2.       #26 Gonzalo Escobar (TTU) def. #68 Sergio Ramirez (BU), 6-2, 6-0

3.       Jordan Rux (BU) def. Rafael Garcia (TTU), 6-1, 6-1

4.       #102 Roberto Maytin (BU ) def. Vitor Manzini (TTU), 6-3, 6-2

5.       #97 Kike Grangeiro (BU) def. Gabriel Wanderley (TTU), 4-6, 6-4,6-1

6.       Raphael Pfister (TTU) vs. Julian Bley (BU), 6-3, 4-6, 2-3 unfinished