Golf
Men’s Golf Finishes 9th. The men’s golf team finished 9th in the Amer Ari Invitational, in Kona, Hawaii yesterday.
From there, Tech was not able to keep the momentum as a team. No Red Raider posted an under-par score on holes 1-9, and eventually Tech finished with a 2-over 290, to bring its overall team score to a 4-under 860. The Red Raiders finished one shot ahead of Auburn, which entered the tournament as the nation’s top-ranked team.
“We didn’t have the scores we wanted, but I’m proud of the effort,” Texas Tech head coach Greg Sands said. “We have many things to improve on as we move forward. It was nice, though, to see us defeat the nation’s No. 1 team even while struggling.”
Tennis
Women Battle to Defeat No. 11 Miami. Woah, this is pretty cool. The ladies defeated No. 11 Miami, 4-3 in the ITA National Indoor Championships. The ladies were down, 3-1 in the match and scratched and clawed their way back to earn the win.
“This was an unbelievable match to be a part of,” Texas Tech head coach Todd Petty said. “We were down 3-0 and a set and 5-2 on Sabrina Federici’s court. Our team did a great job of investing all the way until the end. I can’t speak more highly about the character they showed today.”
The Red Raiders found themselves down 3-1 before they won three straight matches at No. 3, No. 5 and No. 4 singles. Two of the wins came in come-from-behind fashion.
With the score deadlocked at 3-3, Federici gave Texas Tech the team win after she battled back at No. 4 singles to defeat Miami’s Wendy Zhang 1-6, 7-5, 6-3. Sarah Dvorak began Tech’s rally with a 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 win at No. 3 singles over Miami’s Clementina Riobueno and Alex Valenstein tied the match at 3-3 with a comeback 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 5 over Miami’s Clara Tanielian. Tech registered its first point at No. 6 singles when Felicity Maltby earned a 6-4, 6-1 win over UM’s Silvia Fuentes.
The ladies have one more match today, opponent and time not quite known.
Men’s Tennis Moves to 7-0. The men’s tennis team moved to 7-0 on the year after beating Abilene Christian on Saturday afternoon, 4-0.
The No. 14 Texas Tech men’s tennis team improved to an undefeated 10-0 on the season with a 7-0 win over Abilene Christian Saturday at McLeod Tennis Center. Tech’s perfect 10-0 record marks the program’s most consecutive wins to a start a season since the 2005 team with 17 straight victories.
Saturday’s match also marked the Red Raiders’ final competition before the squad travels to Charlottesville, Va. to compete in the ITA Indoor National Championships, Feb. 12-15.
“I was pleased with the results today and it was nice to give some of our players an opportunity to compete,” Texas Tech head coach Brett Masi said. “We definitely could have played better in some areas. I was really proud of Evan Nix today. It was his first singles match at Texas Tech, he’s worked really hard and I’m happy for him.”
Track & Field
Day 2 at New Mexico Collegiate Classic and Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational Meets. My head swims every time I try to recap these sorts of events, as the track team was split up in New Mexico and Nebraska, so check out the recap from Saturday’s events. Personal bests from triple jumper Viershanie Latham, Chris Caldwell and Hayley Cook.
Lady Raider Basketball
Lady Raiders in Stillwater to Face Oklahoma State. The Lady Raiders will travel to Stillwater to take on No. 25 Oklahoma State today at 1:00 pm at Gallagher-Iba Arena, the game being televised on FOX Sports Net. LAJ’s Nicholas Talbot previews the game:
“I see a good team with a not a lot weakness (when I watch Oklahoma State),” Texas Tech assistant coach Matt Corkery said. “They have quality scorers and are good defensively, but I think for us the focus in going to be the intensity level we bring and how we execute. We have to work on our stuff.
“We know it is a quality a opponent and a tough place to play but our focus is going to be on the other side of the basketball and being our best self and team.”
Men’s Basketball
Texas Tech Loses to Longhorns, 69-59.
I didn’t get to watch the game and I may not have time to watch it today. Sorry for not having a recap.
It seemed like this game was close for most of the game, but the Longhorns pulled away late, beating Texas Tech 69-59. Of all the players, Keenan Evans led the team with 14 points, including 7 of 10 from the line, but he also fouled out late in the game. Aaron Ross also had 11 points. The biggest problem for this team has been there just hasn’t been one person that’s been a dominant and consistent scorer for this team.
“I thought our guys really battled,” Texas Tech head coach Tubby Smith said. “We’re pretty thin in the frontcourt without Norense Odiase and had to play without Matthew Temple for a majority of this game. We were right there in a one-point game and did a good job of battling back. We got ourselves in position, but again it was another tough loss for us. We didn’t execute in certain situations.”
Texas Tech had to play without Matt Temple for all but 8 minutes of the game as he was hit in the eye. If you want to see a photo of it (it’s not pleasant looking), Temple posted a photo of it on Twitter. LAJ’s Krista Pirtle recapped the game.
With their two centers unable to play due to injuries, the Red Raiders had to manage with the likes of 6-foot-8 forwards Aaron Ross and Zach Smith.
At times, the mismatch worked in Texas Tech’s favor as the Texas big men couldn’t keep up with the Red Raiders’ quickness. Other times, it hurt as Texas Tech was forced to play zone due to its lack of depth inside.
As the defense stretched across the floor to try to contain the myriad of Longhorn 3-point shooters, Texas attacked the open driving lanes and finished at the basket en route to a 69-59 victory Saturday afternoon.