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

Red Raiders down Big 12 foe No. 54 Oklahoma State, 4-2

LUBBOCK, Texas – The No. 16 Texas Tech men’s tennis team advanced to the semifinals of the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic as it downed No. 54 Oklahoma State, 4-2, in the quarterfinals on Friday afternoon at the Lagoon Park Tennis Center in Montgomery, Ala.

For the 11th time this season Tech (14-1) won the doubles point to start the match. The Red Raiders won two of three matches against Oklahoma State (6-5). Tech’s two wins came at No. 2 as the 23rd-ranked team of Gonazalo Escobar and Andre Stabile beat Maxi Kuhn and Ilija Martinoski, 8-2. The doubles point came down to the No. 3 team of Vitor Manzini and David Gonzalez. The duo was down 4-0 but battled back as they defeated Eric West and Anton Bobytski, 8-5.

Tech came out in singles and picked up the first win at No. 5 as Manzini downed West, 6-2, 6-1. The Cowboys got on the scoreboard with a win at No. 1 as No. 19 Olekandr Nedovyesov beat Tech’s No. 15 Raony Carvalho, 6-2, 6-1. The Red Raiders would then go up 3-1 with a big win at No. 6 as Raphael Pfister lost the first set, 6-4, and was down 4-1 in the second set but fought back to win the next five games and win that set, 6-4, and then the third set, 6-2. Stabile fell at No. 4, 6-3, 7-6 (8), to Aleksey Bessonov. With two matches remaining, Tech needed just one win to clinch the match and it got just that as Rafael Garcia defeated Martinoski, 6-4, 6-4, at No. 3.

“Doubles was incredibly important for us today,” head coach Tim Siegel stated. “We were down 4-0 at No. 3 and came back to win it. Then in singles Raphael Pfister was down 6-4, 4-1, 40-0 and came back to win that match. Obviously, that was the key to the match. Oklahoma State is a very, very tough team and a lot stronger than its ranking. We had a great team effort. We fought hard and it was a great win for us.”

Tech enters the semifinals on a 12-match winning streak as it takes on the winner of No. 26 Fresno State-No. 38 Notre Dame match at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

#16 Texas Tech 4, #54 Oklahoma State 2

Lagoon Park Tennis Center

Montgomery, Ala.

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

1.     #12 Nedovyesov/Bessonov (OSU) def. #18 Carvalho/Garcia (TTU), 8-3

2.     #23 Escobar/Stabile (TTU) def. Kuhn/Martinoski (OSU), 8-2

3.     Manzini/David Gonzalez (TTU) def. West/Bobytski (OSU), 8-5

Singles (order of finish: 5, 1, 6, 4, 3)

1.     #19 Olekandr Nedovyesov (OSU) def. #15 Raony Carvalho (TTU), 6-2, 6-1

2.     #63 Gonzalo Escobar (TTU) vs. #75 Anton Bobytski (OSU) , 6-3, 4-6, 2-1 unfinished

3.     Rafael Garcia (TTU) def. Ilija Martinoski (OSU), 6-4, 6-4

4.     Aleksey Bessonov (OSU) def. Andre Stabile (TTU), 6-3, 7-6 (8)

5.     Vitor Manzini (TTU) def. Eric West (OSU), 6-2, 6-1

6.     Raphael Pfister (TTU) def. Maxi Kuhn (OSU), 4-6, 6-4, 6-2

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