SAN ANTONIO – Seven days after their last outing, the UTSA men’s tennis team (3-3) will head northwest toward the panhandle to square off with Texas Tech (4-3) for the third time in the past four years and 17th time in the series. The Roadrunners and Red Raiders will meet Sunday, Feb. 11 at 11 a.m. inside The Falls Tennis & Athletic Club, a move made this week due to projected weather challenges.
Following this Week’s Matches
UTSA is set to face Texas Tech at 11 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 11, in Lubbock at The Falls Tennis & Athletic Club. Due to the venue change, there will be no live video.
From the indoor facility, Texas Tech Athletics will have live stats to stay on top of the latest as the match progresses.
Last Time Out
Following up a 2-2 start to the season with two ranked opponents, the Roadrunners traveled to Denver for back-to-back dates, splitting the week. The Roadrunners first scored the second consecutive 4-1win over Utah – the 2023 Pac-12 Regular Season Champion, but came up just short against an undefeated Denver team in a 5-2 loss. Miguel Alonso is leading the singles squad with a 4-0 start on the bottom two courts, while Danijal Muminovic is 4-1, with a perfect 4-0 mark on court four.
About the Roadrunners
Returning seven players from last year’s Conference USA Runner-up, the Roadrunners are in the fifth season under Avdeyev and looking make their mark on 2024 early, following one of the best seasons in program history. During the 2023 season, UTSA captured the most wins since 1985 on an 18-7 record, reached the final of the Conference USA Championships and earned the program’s first At-Large bid for the school’s fifth appearance in the NCAA Championships. In addition, the Roadrunners had a doubles pair earn the ITA Texas Region Championship – a program-first – and advance to the National Quarterfinal. That same tandem earned a postseason win and reached the Round of 16 at the NCAA Doubles Championships. On top of all that, UTSA set new program records for ITA team ranking multiple times, reaching as high as 34th and ending the season at No. 42.
In the latest ITA rankings, senior Alan Magadan and sophomore Tomás Pinho notched a No. 27 national doubles ranking after starting the season at 4-1, defeating then-No. 3 Eliot Spizzirri and Cleve Harper from fourth-ranked Texas during the ITA Kickoff Weekend, after topping Oklahoma’s currently-40th-ranked pair of Alex Martinez and Kholo Montsi. Last year, Magadan reached as high as No. 6 in the doubles rankings and was one half of the 27th-ranked pair in the final 2023 standings – settling in with new partners this year, Magadan initially appearing as half of the 44th-ranked tandem in the fall alongside Tiago Torres. In the Fall 2023 ITA South Region Championships, the pairings of Magadan/Pinho and Jackson Ross/Garrett Skelly both reached the semifinal round.
On the Slate this Week
The Red Raiders finished No. 33 last year after ending their season 14-12 in the NCAA first round. TTU has opened the season at 4-3 and are fresh off a doubleheader sweep of UT Rio Grande Valley on Friday, Feb. 9, 4-0, 6-1. Ranking 55th, senior Reed Collier has taken an early standout role for Texas Tech, coming into the match with a 5-0 dual record court two and 2-0 against ranked opponents, sporting a 3-2 record in doubles play. 80th-ranked senior Olle Wallen has jumped out to a 3-1 start on the top court.
Series Against the Red Raiders
UTSA and Texas Tech will meet for the 17th time and the Red Raiders have a 16-0 advantage in the series, which has been played entirely in Lubbock. The series began in 1983 on an 8-1 TTU win and the last meeting came on March 6, 2022 with the Red Raiders edging out a 4-2 win after losing the doubles point.
Up Next
UTSA will travel next week to Kansas for a pair of matches at Wichita State. The Roadrunners will take on New Mexico in Wichita on Saturday, Feb. 17 at 1 p.m. and then turn their focus to host Wichita State on Sunday, Feb. 18, at 11 a.m.
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