Texas Tech Athletics
Oklahoma
Sooners Dodge Red Raiders 4-3
April 27, 2007 | Men's Tennis
April 27, 2007
LUBBOCK, Texas - With rainy conditions delaying the match to a 6:30 p.m. start, the Texas Tech men's tennis team couldn't quite hold off the Oklahoma Sooners in their last regular season match yesterday, April 26, in Kansas City, Mo. The Raiders head to the Big 12 Tennis Championships with a 13-8 overall record, 2-4 in conference and tied for fourth, giving them the No. 6 seed in this year's tournament.
After dropping the doubles point in the No. 2 and 3 positions, Tech relied on singles to turn the match around for them. TTU's No. 37 Bojan Szumanski found a win in three sets at No. 1 over No. 60 Vaclav Kucera, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5. Captain Dimitrio Martinez suffered a 6-4, 6-2 loss to Marek Velicka, falling to 13-5 in dual matches this season.
At No. 3 sophomore Sinisa Markovic ended his Big 12 regular season play flawless, taking down OU's ranked Andrei Daescu, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2. Markovic leads Tech in singles with an impressive 6-0 conference record, taking the Big 12 title in the No. 3 position. He heads to the Big 12 Championships with a 25-8 overall record, 15-2 in dual matches.
Playing No. 4 singles, Michael Breler ended his sophomore campaign unable to secure a Big 12 win falling 6-3, 6-1 to the Sooner's Rob McKenzie. Tech luckily was able to find a win at No. 5 as Christian Rojmar moved his way past OU's Sergey Avdeyev, 6-2, 6-3. Unfortunately, the No. 6 player Milos Kustudija couldn't quite stall Sooner Ondrei Kacmar, losing in the third set for the fourth time this season.
"It was an incredibly hard fought tennis match," said head Coach Tim Siegel. "This was our sixth and final conference match, with three of our four losses ending 4-3. Overall, it was a great college tennis match and a tremendous effort on the part of both teams, and now all we can do is turn around and try to do it again tomorrow against Texas."
Tech ended the season in a three-way tie for fourth with Nebraska and Oklahoma. The Big 12 tiebreaker policy put Nebraska in the No. 4 seed in total singles and doubles wins, and because OU won today's match they fall into the No. 5 seed leaving Tech with No. 6.
The Red Raiders will take on the Longhorns today, April 27, at noon in Kansas City, Mo. Traveling to Austin in this year's regular season match-up, TTU suffered a close 4-3 loss at the hands of the Longhorns. Texas leads the series 31-3 over the Raiders, with freshman No. 2 player Dimitar Kutrovsky leading his team in singles competition this season.
Live updates and results will be available at http://kuathletics.cstv.com/sports/w-tennis/spec-rel/032707aaq.html. For more information and complete results, visit www.texastech.com or www.big12sports.com.
Texas Tech, 3
Oklahoma, 4
Kansas City, Mo.
Doubles:
1. Rojmar/Szumanski (TTU) vs. Federico Chavarria/Daescu (OU), 6-5 (DNF)
2. McKenzie/Kucera (OU) def. Breler/Markovic (TTU), 8-5
3. Ryan Thomas/Velicka (OU) def. DiBlasi/Martinez (TTU), 8-3
Singles:
1. #30 Bojan Szumanski (TTU) def. #60 Vaclav Kucera (OU), 4-6, 6-4, 7-5
2. Marek Velicka (OU) def. #79 Dimitrio Martinez (TTU), 6-4, 6-2
3. Sinisa Markovic (TTU) def. #117 Andrei Daescu (OU), 6-7, 6-4, 6-2
4. Rob McKenzie (OU) def. Michael Breler (TTU), 6-3, 6-1
5. Christian Rojmar (TTU) def. Sergey Avdeyer (OU), 6-2, 6-3
6. Ondrej Kacmar (OU) def. Milos Kustudija (TTU), 6-7, 6-1, 7-5
Players Mentioned
