Red Raiders Conclude Year at No. 12 in Final Poll
June 03, 2005 | Men's Tennis
June 3, 2005
LUBBOCK, Texas - The final 2005 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings came out and the Texas Tech men's tennis team finished the year ranked No. 12 in the country, its highest finish in school history.
Tech also had two players finish the year in the top 50 as sophomore Radek Nijaki was No. 28 and sophomore Bojan Szumanski was No. 47. Both competed in the singles portion of the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships this year.
The 2005 season marked the best year for the Red Raiders. 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. Head coach Tim 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. Innerebner and Szumanski were both selected to the District VI All-Academic team.
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.
For a complete listing of the final top 75 teams, please log on to www.itatennis.com.
Players Mentioned
