The Texas Tech men’s tennis team lost to the No. 8-ranked Arizona Wildcats, 4-1, on April 5 at the McLeod Tennis Center in Lubbock.
This match was important for both teams as it featured close contests, with all six singles matches going to three sets and four tiebreaker sets played.
Arizona began by securing the doubles point after victories on courts three and one. Cole Stelse and Alejandro Arcila defeated Felipe Pagnacco and Thomas Van Den Dooren, while Filip Gustafsson and Glib Sekachov clinched the point over Niksa Arsic and Thiago Guglieri. Texas Tech’s Sebastian Abboud and Tyler Stewart managed a win against Alexander Rozin and Jay Friend on court two.
In singles play, Arizona extended its lead when Arcila beat Van Den Dooren in three sets. Gustafsson added another point for Arizona by overcoming Stewart in a match that saw Stewart save three match points before falling in the third set. Ludovico Vaccari earned Texas Tech’s only point by defeating Rozin after dropping a close first-set tiebreaker but dominating the next two sets.
The deciding match came at court one where Jay Friend of Arizona overcame an initial set loss to defeat Arsic in three sets, securing victory for the Wildcats. Matches involving Pagnacco versus Zoran Ludoski and Guglieri versus Sekachov were left unfinished while both were deep into their third sets.
Looking ahead, Texas Tech will host Baylor Bears at McLeod Tennis Center on Thursday, April 9 for senior day.
