The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Tulsa
No. 9 Men’s Tennis wins season opener at Tulsa, 4-3
01.16.2015 | Men's Tennis
Ninth-ranked Longhorns capture 18th consecutive season-opening win.
#9 TEXAS def. #40 Tulsa, 4-3
RESULTS: HTML | PDF
SEASON STATS: HTML | PDF
TULSA, Okla. -- For the 18th consecutive time, Texas Men's Tennis opened the season with a win.
The ninth-ranked Longhorns were edged in the doubles point, but rallied with four singles victories en route to a 4-3 win over No. 40 Tulsa on Friday night at the Case Tennis Center.
"This was a very hard-fought match -- Tulsa is a very difficult place to win on the road," head coach Michael Center said. "We made some mistakes and need to improve on controlling momentum, but at the end of the day we really showed a lot of depth and perseverance to get this win."
Texas used a new-look lineup as three Longhorns made their dual-match debuts.
Junior transfer Michael Riechmann, freshman John Mee and freshman Adrian Ortiz-Ruiz all made their first appearance in a dual-match lineup for Texas. Riechmann defeated Tulsa's Matthew Kirby, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, while Mee and Ortiz-Ruiz each dropped three-set decisions.
But on Friday it was the Longhorns' solid core of returners that carried the day as senior Adrien Berkowicz clinched the match at No. 2 singles by defeating Tulsa's Alejandro Espejo in three sets. After dropping the first set, Berkowicz broke serve to escape with a 7-6 second-set victory, before clinching the match, 6-2, in the third.
Senior All-American Søren Hess-Olesen defeated Tulsa's Or Ram-Harel in three sets, 6-4, 0-6, 6-4, at No. 1 singles. In the only straight-set singles match of the night, junior Nick Naumann defeated Tulsa's Dylan McCloskey, 6-2, 6-1.
Texas continues its season-opening road swing on Sunday at No. 57 Arkansas (1 p.m. Central).
Players Mentioned
