Texas Tech Athletics
Oregon
Red Raiders in Oregon for two matches
March 15, 2023 | Men's Tennis
LUBBOCK, Texas – After winning the Diablos Tennis Tournament in Tempe, Ariz., this past weekend, the No. 40-ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders have two more matches starting on Thursday. First, the Red Raiders take on the No. 56 Oregon Ducks on March 16 at 7 p.m., then will face the BYU Cougars the following day this Friday, March 17 at 6 p.m., both in Eugene, Ore.
The Red Raiders claimed the tournament title over the weekend with three wins against ranked opponents. In the first round, Tech would defeat No. 67 Michigan State, 4-0, then overtake No. 31 Arizona State by a 4-3 score. The No. 24-ranked Memphis Tigers awaited Tech in the finals, where the Red Raiders would get wins at courts one, four, five and six to clinch the match and championship, 4-2.
After winning three singles matches against ranked opponents at the top of the lineup, junior Olle Wallin was named the Big 12 Player of the Week on Tuesday. Wallin, as well as freshman Lorenzo Esquici, lead the team with 10 total singles wins, while Esquici has a team-high 10 dual singles wins. In doubles, the duo of Piotr Pawlak and Franco Ribero post a team-best nine dual wins and are 7-2 at the two position.
In the ITA rankings, Wallin made his debut this season at No. 123, while the tandem of Dimitrios Azoidis and Reed Collier also checked back into the doubles rankings at No. 45.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
No. 56 Oregon comes into the week with an 8-5 overall record. They have wins over Tulsa, Gonzaga and Drake, but also have losses against No. 2 Ohio State, Washington, San Diego, No. 24 Memphis and No. 31 Arizona State. Oregon was also at the Diablos Tennis Tournament last weekend and went 1-2. The Ducks are led in singles by Quinn Vandecasteele who has nine dual wins, followed by Jesper Klov-Nilsson and Vlad Breazu with eight. In doubles, the duo of Vandecasteele and Joshua Charlton lead the team with a 9-2 record and are the only pair ranked for the Ducks at No. 8 nationally.
BYU has a 3-7 overall record heading into Friday. The Cougars' three victories have come over Idaho State, Weber State and Saint Mary's, while they have lost to teams such as Utah, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and UTRGV. BYU will also play Oregon this Saturday.
Opponents in the Rankings
Doubles
Oregon
No. 8 Joshua Charlton/Quinn Vandecasteele
FOLLOW ALONG
Live video and live stats will be available for the Oregon match. Follow @TexasTechMTEN on Twitter for updates and scores of the matches.
Players Mentioned
