A pair of wins by senior Michael Riechmann and redshirt freshman Julian Zlobinksy weren’t nearly enough for Texas against No. 9 Texas Tech. The Red Raiders dominated from the first serve to hand the Longhorns a 5-2 loss to end the regular season.

“There were a couple of things in doubles that didn’t go our way, and that was unfortunate, but I thought the guys rebounded in the singles,” head coach Michael Center said.  “We gave ourselves a chance to win.”

The Longhorns had a chance to take the first point in the double competition.

Despite Riechmann and junior George Goldoff falling to the 85th-ranked tandem of Alex Sendegeya and Bjorn Thomson, Zloblinsky and sophomore Adrian Ortiz easily won their doubles match 6-2 to tie the doubles contest. But the duo of sophomore John Mee and freshman Harrison Scott fell 6-3 as the Red Raiders took an early 1-0 lead.

Riechmann immediately tied the match at the start of singles play, dispatching Connor Curry in straight sets.

But the Red Raiders won each of the next two singles contests to push their lead to 3-1. Zlobinsky’s three-set win against Thomson kept the Longhorns’ hopes alive, but Texas Tech won the remaining matches to seal the win.

Texas now faces Oklahoma in the conference tournament  at 9 a.m. Friday in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Despite the loss, Center said he’s looking forward to seeing what they can do in the postseason. 

“They’ve gone through a rugged season,” Center said. “We’ve played a great schedule, and the guys have improved and fought hard. We’ll go back to work and get ready for the postseason starting next week.”