College Tennis News - No. 16 Texas Tech Wins Opening Match at Blue Gray Classic

Red Raiders get 5-0 win over No. 63 Harvard

LUBBOCK, Texas – The 16th-ranked Texas Tech men’s tennis team won its opening-round match on Thursday at the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic as it defeated No. 63 Harvard, 5-0, at the Lagoon Park Tennis Center in Montgomery, Ala.

Tech (13-1) began the day by sweeping the doubles portion of the match against Harvard (7-5). The Red Raiders’ 18th-ranked duo of Raony Carvalho and Rafael Garcia defeated Alistair Felton and Andy Nguyen, 8-3, at No.1, while the 23rd-ranked tandem of Gonzalo Escobar and Andre Stabile beat Aba Omodele-Lucien and Christo Schultz, 8-3, at No. 2. At the No. 3 spot, Vitor Manzini and Raphael Pfister also won 8-3 over Alexei Chijoff-Evans and Joshua Tchan.

Singles action saw the Red Raiders win five of six opening sets and then went on to win five matches in straight sets to claim the 5-0 victory. No. 63 Escobar got the first win as he dropped Omodele-Lucien, 6-0, 6-2, at No. 2. Next was a win at No. 6 by Raphael Pfister, 6-1, 6-4, over Schultz. The next two matches finished almost exactly at the same time with Garcia winning at No. 3 over Nguyen, 7-5, 6-1, and No. 15 Carvalho beating Chijoff-Evans, 6-4, 6-2, at No. 1.

“We played very good doubles today,” said head coach Tim Siegel. “I am very pleased with our top three players. Harvard is a good team. Tomorrow will be very tough.”

The Red Raiders will play the winner of Penn State and Oklahoma State on Friday at 2 p.m.

#16 Texas Tech 5, #63 Harvard 0

Lagoon Park Tennis Center

Montgomery, Ala.

Doubles (order of finish: 2, 3, 1)

1.     #18 Carvalho/Garcia (TTU) def. Felton//Nguyen (HAR), 8-3

2.     #23 Escobar/Stabile (TTU) def. Omodele-Lucien/Schultz (HAR), 8-3

3.     Manzini/Pfister (TTU) def. Chijoff-Evans/Tchan (HAR), 8-3

Singles (order of finish: 2, 6, 3, 1)

1.     #15 Raony Carvalho (TTU) def. Alexei Chijoff-Evans (HAR), 6-4, 6-2

2.     #63 Gonzalo Escobar (TTU) def. Aba Omodele-Lucien (HAR), 6-0, 6-2

3.     Rafael Garcia (TTU) def. Andy Nguyen (HAR), 7-5, 6-1

4.      Andre Stabile (TTU) vs. Alistair Felton (HAR), 7-6 (4), 1-4, unfinished

5.     Vitor Manzini (TTU) vs. Joshua Tchan (HAR), 4-6, 6-2, unfinished

6.     Raphael Pfister (TTU) def. Christo Schultz (HAR), 6-1, 6-4