Friday, February 24
Montgomery, Ala.
12:30 PM
Texas Tech Athletics
vs
No. 16 South Carolina
Men's Tennis Begins Blue Gray Classic on Friday
February 23, 2017 | Men's Tennis
The Red Raiders will face their fourth SEC opponent of the season in No. 16 South Carolina on Friday.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Texas Tech men's tennis team will return to action following an 11-day hiatus and take on No. 16 South Carolina to open the Blue Gray Classic on Friday in Montgomery.
First serve is set for 12:30 p.m. CT from the Lagoon Park Tennis Center. The Red Raiders (4-6) will take on either Auburn or Princeton in their second match. The doubles portion will be played Friday followed by singles action on Saturday. The two-day, eight-team event also features No. 50 Alabama, Boise State, No. 46 Rice and Virginia Tech.
South Carolina (8-1) is the fourth SEC opponent that Texas Tech will face this season. The Gamecocks have a No. 16 national ranking, the program's highest mark since 2009. South Carolina has a pair of ranked singles players in Gabriel Friedrich at No. 43 and Thomas Mayronne at No. 105, respectively.
"At the beginning of the year, we've already played three SEC schools in Alabama, Vanderbilt and Texas A&M," Texas Tech head coach Brett Masi said. "The SEC is a tough conference like ours. If you can get a win against an opponent in that conference, hopefully it will help you down the road. It will feel good to go out there first match of the weekend and play like we need it, which we do. Hopefully, the guys won't put too much pressure on themselves. We need to go out there playing loose, playing hungry and battle with them. We just want to go out there and play good tennis. This event definitely has eight good teams so we will have to go out there and earn it."
Bjorn Thomson has started the dual match season with seven consecutive victories highlighted by a three-set victory over Max Lunkin of Texas A&M last time out. He has moved up into the No. 3 singles position for the Red Raiders.
Jolan Cailleau boasts a No. 54 singles ranking from the top position. Two of four setbacks have come in three-sets during the dual match season. Alex Sendegeya has regained his rhythm on the No. 4 singles line and won three of his last four decisions whereas Ronit Bisht has tucked away a 4-2 mark dating back to the Wichita State match on Jan. 21.
"It's not necessarily what we worked on this week in practice, but the quality of the work we have put in," Masi said. "We had some longer practices and hopefully built up some toughness mentally and physically. We really stressed the importance of trying to get the doubles point and may mix up some of the lineup. I have felt pretty good about every guy the last few week. They all see where we are at now and what we need to do. They are hungry and ambitious to do well in this tournament and the weeks coming from here. I don't think you can point out one guy that's worked harder than any other, they've all done a pretty good job."
Visit www.TexasTech.com for the latest news and information on the men's tennis program. Fans also can follow the program and live match updates on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/TechMensTennis and @TexasTechTennis on Twitter.
First serve is set for 12:30 p.m. CT from the Lagoon Park Tennis Center. The Red Raiders (4-6) will take on either Auburn or Princeton in their second match. The doubles portion will be played Friday followed by singles action on Saturday. The two-day, eight-team event also features No. 50 Alabama, Boise State, No. 46 Rice and Virginia Tech.
South Carolina (8-1) is the fourth SEC opponent that Texas Tech will face this season. The Gamecocks have a No. 16 national ranking, the program's highest mark since 2009. South Carolina has a pair of ranked singles players in Gabriel Friedrich at No. 43 and Thomas Mayronne at No. 105, respectively.
"At the beginning of the year, we've already played three SEC schools in Alabama, Vanderbilt and Texas A&M," Texas Tech head coach Brett Masi said. "The SEC is a tough conference like ours. If you can get a win against an opponent in that conference, hopefully it will help you down the road. It will feel good to go out there first match of the weekend and play like we need it, which we do. Hopefully, the guys won't put too much pressure on themselves. We need to go out there playing loose, playing hungry and battle with them. We just want to go out there and play good tennis. This event definitely has eight good teams so we will have to go out there and earn it."
Bjorn Thomson has started the dual match season with seven consecutive victories highlighted by a three-set victory over Max Lunkin of Texas A&M last time out. He has moved up into the No. 3 singles position for the Red Raiders.
Jolan Cailleau boasts a No. 54 singles ranking from the top position. Two of four setbacks have come in three-sets during the dual match season. Alex Sendegeya has regained his rhythm on the No. 4 singles line and won three of his last four decisions whereas Ronit Bisht has tucked away a 4-2 mark dating back to the Wichita State match on Jan. 21.
"It's not necessarily what we worked on this week in practice, but the quality of the work we have put in," Masi said. "We had some longer practices and hopefully built up some toughness mentally and physically. We really stressed the importance of trying to get the doubles point and may mix up some of the lineup. I have felt pretty good about every guy the last few week. They all see where we are at now and what we need to do. They are hungry and ambitious to do well in this tournament and the weeks coming from here. I don't think you can point out one guy that's worked harder than any other, they've all done a pretty good job."
Visit www.TexasTech.com for the latest news and information on the men's tennis program. Fans also can follow the program and live match updates on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/TechMensTennis and @TexasTechTennis on Twitter.
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
Vaccari/ Stewart Celebration
Sunday, February 23
Pawlak/Abboud Celebration
Sunday, February 23
Thiago Guglieri Win
Saturday, February 22
Doubles Celebration
Saturday, February 22