Nijaki and Szumanski Fall in First Round of NCAA Championships
May 25, 2005 | Men's Tennis
May 25, 2005
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The NCAA Division I Men's Singles and Doubles Championships began today at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas, and Texas Tech sophomores Radek Nijaki and Bojan Szumanski both suffered three-set losses in the first round of singles action.
No. 20 Nijaki was defeated by Jesse Witten of Kentucky, who is the No. 3 player in the country, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5. Nijaki was up 4-1 in the third set before Witten came back to win three-straight games to tie the set at 4-4. Nijaki went up 5-4 before Witten won the last three games to clinch the match. Nijaki finished the season with a 12-6 record.
In another three-set match, No. 45 Szumanski fell to No. 22 Jose Muguruza of Georgia Tech, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. After winning the first set, Szumanski struggled in the final set with cramping, but put up a battle to the end. Szumanski led 3-0 in the third set before losing six of the last seven games. He concludes the spring season with a 16-5 record and a 26-9 mark for the 2004-05 campaign.
"This was an incredibly difficult day," said head coach Tim Siegel. "Radek led 4-1 in the third against the No. 3 player in the country and had a number of opportunities to finish the match. I feel sorry for Bojan, he led 3-0 in the third and then started to cramp and did the best he could, but didn't have anything left. Both guys played three-hour matches and gave everything they had. I'm really proud of these two guys. It's tough to think our last day had to end like this, however, nothing can take away from the season we had."
The NCAA Championships mark the end of a very successful year for the Red Raiders, their best in school history. The team finished with a 25-4 record, its best in school history, and was ranked as high as No. 9 in the country at one point during the year, which was the highest ever for the men's tennis. Siegel was named Big 12 Coach of the Year and Co-Wilson/ITA Coach of the Year for the South Central Region. Nijaki and Szumanski were both selected All-Big 12 in singles and Nijkai was named Big 12 Newcomer of the Year. Nijaki, Szumanski, Michael Innerebner and Jakob Paulsen were first team Academic All-Big 12, while Esat Tanik was second team Academic All-Big 12.
The team highlights include: a 4-3 win at No. 14 Washington; winner of the HEB Invitational - defeating No. 20 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the final; winning at No. 38 Texas and No. 14 Texas A&M in consecutive nights; finished tied for second in the Big 12 - the best in school history; and capped the season off with a win over No. 17 Wake Forest in the second round of the NCAA Championship to advance to its first-ever NCAA Sweet 16.
Players Mentioned
