TCU
No. 19 Texas Tech
TCU Drops Road Decision to No. 19 Texas Tech Sunday
3/6/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 6, 2011
LUBBOCK, Texas - The TCU men's tennis team had a tough time against No. 19 Texas Tech Sunday, dropping a 5-2 decision McLeod Tennis Center.
The two teams fought back and forth in the doubles portion. The Red Raiders took the opening match from the middle court, as the No. 44 duo of Gonzalo Escobar and Vitor Manzini defeated TCU's tandem of Cameron Nash and Slah Mbarek by the score of 8-4. The Frogs' bounced back from the No. 3 court, collecting an 8-6 win from the team of Daniel Sanchez and Zach Nichols against TTU's Raphael Pfister and Jeff Bryan.
The doubles point came down to a pair of heavyweights at the top court, pinning TCU's 27th-ranked squad of Emanuel Brighiu and Christopher Price against the Red Raiders' 20th-ranked pairing of Raony Carvalho and Rafael Garcia. After a strong battle, TTU came away with the 8-5 win and the 1-0 lead in the team scoring.
Texas Tech carried the momentum from the doubles action into singles play, taking the first three singles wins of the day at the top three courts.
The Frogs would steal a pair of matches after the team score had been sealed. Sanchez nailed down his fourth win of the year, taking down Pfister at the No. 6 court, 6-2, 2-6, 1-0. The Monterrey, Mexico native is now 3-0 when playing from the last singles court. Nichols ended the day with his fifth victory of the spring, surviving a tiebreaker and super-tiebreaker against Manzini, 7-6, 1-6, 1-0.
"It was great to see Zach and Daniel get some wins today," TCU head coach David Roditi said. "I am disappointed at our effort in some of the matches, but the road trip gave us coaches and players a chance to get to know each other better."
Following the action in Lubbock, TCU will travel to California to take on UC-Irvine and the University of San Diego, before returning to the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center to host Columbia (March 17) and New Mexico State (March 18).
No. 19 Texas Tech (9-4) def. No. 68 TCU (3-7), 5-2
McLeod Tennis Center | Lubbock, Texas
SINGLES
1. No. 20 Gonzalo Escobar (TTU) def. Emanuel Brighiu (TCU) 6-3, 6-0
2. No. 25 Raony Carvalho (TTU) def. Soren Goritzka (TCU) 6-2, 6-3
3. Rafael Garcia (TTU) def. Slah Mbarek (TCU) 6-4, 6-0
4. Zach Nichols (TCU) def. Vitor Manzini (TTU) 7-6 (5), 1-6, 1-0 (8)
5. Gabriel Wanderley (TTU) def. Christopher Price (TCU) 6-4, 6-2
6. Daniel Sanchez (TCU) def. Raphael Pfister (TTU) 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (5)
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1*, 5, 6, 4
DOUBLES
1. No 21 Carvalho/Garcia (TTU) def. No. 27 Brighiu/Price (TCU) 8-5
2. No. 44 Escobar/Manzini (TTU) def. Cameron Nash/Slah Mbarek (TCU) 8-4
3. Nichols/Sanchez (TCU) def. Bryan/Pfister (TTU) 8-6
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1*
Players Mentioned
