The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas Tech *
No. 19 Men’s Tennis Preview: No. 9 Texas Tech
04.20.2016 | Men's Tennis
Longhorns conclude regular season Friday evening in Lubbock.
WHAT: No. 19 Texas (17-9, 1-3 Big 12) heads to Lubbock for its regular season finale at No. 9 Texas Tech (24-4, 2-1 Big 12).
WHEN/WHERE
No. 19 Texas at No. 9 Texas Tech
Friday, April 22 – 6 p.m. CT
McLeod Tennis Center – Lubbock, Texas
LIVE SCORING
http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statmonitr.php?gid=ttu
LAST TIME OUT
The Longhorns fell to No. 2 TCU by a 4-2 count last Saturday (April 16) in Austin.
LAST MEETINGS AGAINST TEXAS TECH
Texas defeated Texas Tech during the 2015 regular season (4-1 in Austin) and at the 2015 Big 12 Championships (4-1 in the quarterfinals). Texas won the two teams' most recent meeting in Lubbock back in 2014 (5-1).
ITA RANKINGS UPDATE
April 19
Texas Players
Singles
64. George Goldhoff
Doubles
54. Michael Riechmann/Adrian Ortiz
MORE ON THE LONGHORNS
Texas wraps its run through the rugged Big 12 Conference schedule this weekend with its trip to Texas Tech, which defeated No. 8 Oklahoma on Sunday in Norman.
The Big 12 Conference features all six of its men's tennis programs in the top-50 of the latest ITA team poll, including five teams among the top-20 and three among the top-10. Texas has won 13 of its last 17 matches, including two against top-12 foes, heading into this weekend's season finale.
Back on Feb. 7, the Horns wiped out a 3-1 deficit against Stanford and put away a 4-3 win over the Cardinal. Texas sophomore Adrian Ortiz saved a match point against him and won a tiebreaker against the Cardinal's Nolan Paige to cap the Texas rally.
Two weeks later, Texas made short work of Rice and shut out the Owls by a 4-0 count in Houston. The following weekend, Texas rallied from a 3-1 deficit to post a thrilling 4-3 win at No. 5 Wake Forest behind three third-set tiebreak wins.
Texas stretched its winning streak to six matches with its victories over UTSA, Louisiana and Southern Mississippi at the H-E-B Tournament of Champions in Corpus Christi. The Horns notched another key road win on March 13 with the victory at San Diego, which ended the Toreros' 23-match home winning streak.
Texas swept a doubleheader against No. 24 Tulsa and Incarnate Word on March 26 before adding another doubleheader sweep on Saturday (April 2) against UTSA. The Longhorns posted their second victory over a top-15 opponent last season when it knocked off No. 12 Oklahoma State, 4-0.
Along with the aforementioned Riechmann, Texas welcomes four additional veterans from the 2015 squad that posted a 21-7 record and finished the season ranked ninth nationally.
George Goldhoff posted a 17-10 singles mark, including an 8-6 record in dual matches last season as a sophomore, and he scored his first ranked win of the season in late February at Wake Forest.
He added his second top-40 win in a month-long span when he knocked off Arkansas' 32nd-ranked Mike Redlicki. Goldhoff knocked off Oklahoma State's 59th-ranked Julian Cash in straight sets and vaulted 31 spots to No. 56 in the following week's ITA singles rankings.
Sophomore Adrian Ortiz went 3-2 in dual-match play last season, and redshirt sophomore William Jou added three singles wins as a freshman. Ortiz is off to a fine start in 2016 with his 12-5 singles mark at Nos. 3 and 4 singles. Sophomore John Mee notched a 16-8 overall singles record last season as a freshman and holds a 5-3 mark in dual matches this season.
UT also welcomes redshirt freshman Julian Zlobinsky and freshmen Rodrigo Banzer, Johnny Goodwin, Colin Markes, the aforementioned Harrison Scott and Leonardo Telles.
Banzer made his collegiate debut during the ITA Kick-Off Weekend event against Florida and clinched the win at No. 5 Wake Forest. Zlobinsky is off to an impressive 12-4 mark in dual-match play, and Scott boasts 12 dual-match wins at Nos. 1 and 2 singles.
Michael Center returns for his 16th season at the helm of the Texas men's tennis program. The four-time Big 12 Coach of the Year led the Longhorns to their second-straight top-10 final ranking last season as Texas reached the round of 16 at the 2015 NCAA Championships.
A pair of Center's pupils reached the pinnacle of their sport last May when Soren Hess-Olesen and Lloyd Glasspool won the first NCAA doubles title for Texas since 1944.
Center turned to a pair of familiar faces to fill the vacancies on his coaching staff. Bruce Berque, who served as a volunteer coach at Texas last season, is in his first season as an associate head coach under Center.
Berque filled the position previously held by longtime associate head coach Ricardo Rubio, who accepted his first head coaching position last summer with The University of Denver men's tennis program.
Berque served 10 seasons (2004-14) as the head men's tennis coach at Michigan and led the Wolverines to the NCAA Championships in his final nine seasons in Ann Arbor. He helped the Illinois men to the 2003 NCAA title during his six-season stint (1999-2004) as an associate head coach for the Fighting Illini.
Chris Camillone, a former ITA doubles All-American at Texas, is in his first season with the Longhorns as a volunteer assistant coach.
Players Mentioned
