Texas Tech Athletics
Louisville
Tech drops NCAA First Round match to Louisville
May 06, 2023 | Men's Tennis
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Despite an impressive comeback attempt, the No. 31 Texas Tech Red Raiders' season would come to an end against the No. 37 Louisville Cardinals as Tech fell, 4-3, in the NCAA First Round at Auer Tennis Complex on Saturday afternoon.
Doubles was a grind from start to finish as it lasted almost an hour. Louisville (17-11) threw the first punch when Will Mayew and Matthew Fung defeated the Texas Tech (14-11) pairing of Olle Wallin and Isaac Arevalo at court three by a 6-1 score. Over at court two, the tandem of Piotr Pawlak and Franco Ribero collected their 15th win as a duo and 13th at line two when they overtook Etienne Donnet and Sergio Hernandez, 6-4, to even the score.
The top court was a battle as Dimitrios Azoidis and Reed Collier were taking on No. 12-ranked Natan Rodrigues and Fabien Salle. The Cardinal duo took a 5-1 lead and were poised to win the doubles point quickly, but the Red Raiders didn't allow that. Azoidis and Collier rallied back, winning five of the next six games to force a tiebreaker at 6-6. After going down 2-0 in the breaker, Azoidis and Collier won four-straight points for a 4-2 lead. However, the Cardinal duo fought back to take it, 7-6 (5), and give Louisville the 1-0 advantage heading into singles.
The Cardinals kept the momentum as they posted singles wins at courts two and three to take a 3-0 lead, only needing one more win to clinch the match. However, the Red Raiders put together a big rally to eventually tie the match at 3-all.
First, freshman Lorenzo Esquici earned his team-leading 16th singles victory of the season when he beat Andre Steinbach at court five in straight-sets, 6-3, 7-6 (4). Then, Azoidis put the next point on the board with a three-set win against David Mizrahi at court six, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3. Tying the match was Collier at court four after defeating Fung in an exciting, three-setter, 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (2).
It all came down to court one where No. 48 Wallin and No. 45 Donnet were battling it out. The Cardinal took set one, 6-2, before Wallin evened the playing field with a 6-3 second-set win. In the third set, the Red Raider went up 3-1 before Donnet broke and held serve to tie it up. Donnet only allowed Wallin to claim one more game before clinching the match with a 6-4 set three score.
RESULTS
Singles
1. #45 Etienne Donnet (LOU) def. #48 Olle Wallin (TTU) 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
2. #77 Natan Rodrigues (LOU) def. Franco Ribero (TTU) 6-4, 6-1
3. #73 Fabien Salle (LOU) def. Isaac Arevalo (TTU) 7-5, 6-4
4. Reed Collier (TTU) def. Matthew Fung (LOU) 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7-2)
5. Lorenzo Esquici (TTU) def. Andre Steinbach (LOU) 6-3, 7-6 (7-4)
6. Dimitrios Azoidis (TTU) def. David Mizrahi (LOU) 6-1, 1-6, 6-3
Doubles
1. #12 Natan Rodrigues/Fabien Salle (LOU) def. Dimitrios Azoidis/Reed Collier (TTU) 7-6 (7-5)
2. Franco Ribero/Piotr Pawlak (TTU) def. Etienne Donnet/Sergio Hernandez (LOU) 6-4
3. Will Mayew/Matthew Fung (LOU) def. Olle Wallin/Isaac Arevalo (TTU) 6-1
Order of finish: Doubles (3, 2, 1); Singles (2, 3, 5, 6, 4, 1)
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
3,2,1
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
2,3,5,6,4,1
Players Mentioned
