March 21, 2002

LUBBOCK, Texas - The Texas Tech men's tennis team prepares to take the road for one of its toughest challenges on the season this weekend as they travel to Waco, Texas and Austin, Texas to battle two of the nations top teams.

Sunday, the Red Raiders (9-5, 1-0 Big 12) will take on the Baylor Bears at the Baylor Tennis Center at 1 p.m. and on Monday, the team will take the courts at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center to battle the Texas Longhorns at noon.

The Red Raiders enter this weekend's play with a three match win streak and are ranked 67th in the latest Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings. The Bears (13-1 2-0 Big 12) are 16th in the latest rankings while the Longhorns enter Monday's match 13-0 with a 2-0 mark within in Big 12 play and are ranked ninth in the country. The match with Texas was originally scheduled to be held in Lubbock on March 2, but was rescheduled due to poor playing conditions on that weekend.

"We are not going down there to compete, we are going to win," said head coach Tim Siegel. "We know we are going up against two very competitive, hard working teams but we are coming in with a lot of confidence."

Freshman David Knaszak (New Braunfels, Texas) strained a stomach muscle during practice this week and is listed as questionable for this weekend.

The Red Raiders will return home to the McLeod Tennis Center on Sat. March 30, when they host ACU at 10 a.m. and UTSA at 6 p.m. All fans attending Texas Tech men's tennis home matches this season will receive free pizza with the first 50 fans in attendance receiving a free t-shirt.