Red Raiders fall in heartbreaker to Charlotte

Texas Tech Athlerics

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Texas Tech Red Raiders battled the Charlotte 49ers but fell just short by a score of 4-3 at the Goodfriend Tennis Center on Tuesday afternoon.

The Red Raiders (0-2) started the match off strong with a dominant show of doubles against Charlotte (1-1). First, the duo of Piotr Pawlak and Franco Ribero knocked off the 49ers pairing of Ivan Dreycopp and Matias Iturbe with a 6-3 score on court two.

Then, Dimitrios Azoidis and Reed Collier secured the doubles point when they defeated Charlotte’s Coy Simon and Abhimanyu Vannemreddy, 6-2, on court one. Over at court three, Sebastian Abboud and Tyler Stewart were up against Brett Gloria and Vasco Prata, 5-4, when the point was won.

Tech headed into singles with a 1-0 lead over the 49ers, but Charlotte would get three unanswered points to take the lead at 3-1.

First, Dreycopp defeated Abboud, 7-6 (1), 6-3, on court five, then Iturbe beat Stewart, 7-5, 7-5, on four. Charlotte got its third point at court one when Simon won the match against Collier, 7-6 (6), 6-4.

The Red Raiders rallied back to ties things up at 3-3 thanks to victories by freshman Lorenzo Esquici and fifth-year senior, Ribero.

Esquici, who made his Red Raider debut at court six, took on Gloria of the 49ers. Gloria went out to an early lead with he won the first set in a breaker, 7-6 (3). But, Esquici came back firing, only allowing the 49er to win two games in back-to-back sets, and won the match, 7-6 (3), 6-1, 6-1 to give Tech another point.

Over at court three, Ribero was locked in a battle with Vannemreddy. Ribero took the first set by a 6-4 score, before going back-and-forth with the Niner in set two. Both were grinding it out and eventually pushed the set into a tiebreaker, the fifth of the afternoon between both teams. Ribero would come out on top with the only straight-set victory of the day for Tech, 6-4, 7-6 (5).

Even at three, it all came down to court two where Azoidis was taking on Prata. Prata was able to go ahead after winning the first set in a tiebreak, 7-6 (4), but Azoidis made quick work of the next set with a 6-2 win. In the last and final set, both players traded blows, before Prata was able to pull away by a 7-5 score when he broke Azoidis’ serve.

The Red Raiders welcome the Louisiana Rajin’ Cajuns to Lubbock on Sunday, Jan. 15 for a match at The Falls Tennis & Athletic Club at 10 a.m.

RESULTS

Singles

1. Coy Simon (CLT) def. Reed Collier (TTU), 7-6 (8-6), 6-4

2. Vasco Prata (CLT) def. Dimitrios Azoidis (TTU), 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 7-5

3. Franco Ribero (TTU) def. Abhimanyu Vannemreddy (CLT), 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)

4. Matias Iturbe (CLT) def. Tyler Stewart (TTU), 7-5, 7-5

5. Ivan Dreycopp (CLT) def. Sebastian Abboud (TTU), 7-6 (7-1), 6-3

6. Lorenzo Esquici (TTU) def. Brett Gloria (CLT), 6-7 (3-7), 6-1, 6-1

Doubles

1. Dimitrios Azoidis/Reed Collier (TTU) def. Coy Simon/Abhimanyu Vannemreddy (CLT), 6-2

2. Franco Ribero/Piotr Pawlak (TTU) def. Matias Iturbe/Ivan Dreycopp (CLT), 6-3