Men's Tennis preview: New Mexico, Marquette
WHAT: No. 13 Texas (9-5) takes on No. 40 New Mexico (11-3) and Marquette (9-6). WHERE: Penick-Allison Tennis Center - Austin, Texas WHEN: New Mexico - Saturday March 24 - 1 p.m. Central; Marquette - Saturday March 24 - 6:30 p.m. Central LAST MEETINGS AGAINST NEW MEXICO/MARQUETTE: Texas defeated New Mexico by a 6-1 margin on Feb. 2, 1997 in Austin; UT owns a 13-0 series lead over the Lobos; Saturday's match will mark the first men's tennis match between Texas and Marquette. ABOUT TEXAS: UT opened the 2007 season on Sunday, Jan. 21 with a 5-2 win at SMU. The Longhorns returned to action on Saturday, Jan. 27 when they suffered a 5-2 loss at Michigan. Texas scored a 4-3 victory over host Tulsa on Friday, Feb. 9 before defeating No. 25 California by the same margin on Feb. 10 in Tulsa. Texas made its first appearance in three years at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships last month, posting one win and two losses. UT opened the event with a 4-0 loss to Virginia before defeating Boise State by a 4-1 count on Saturday, Feb. 17. Notre Dame handed Texas a 4-1 defeat on Sunday, Feb. 18. UT opened the home portion of its schedule on Saturday, Feb. 24 when it handed Georgia Tech a 6-1 defeat at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center. Rice defeated Texas by a 4-3 count the next day. The Longhorns returned to the courts on March 10 when they dealt Arkansas a 6-1 defeat at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center. Texas picked up a big win on March 10 when it dealt No. 16 Duke a 5-2 defeat in Austin. UT began a two-match road swing when it defeated BYU, 5-2, on Monday, March 12 in Provo, Utah. Defending NCAA Champion Pepperdine defeated Texas by a 5-2 margin on Thursday, March 15 in Malibu, Calif. The Longhorns made a winning return to the Penick-Allison Tennis Center on March 18 when it defeated then-No. 2 Virginia, 4-3. Junior Milan Mihailovic (Nis, Serbia) now holds a No. 58 ITA singles ranking after defeating Virginia's 22nd-ranked Treat Huey on Saturday. Freshmen Dimitar Kutrovsky (Sofia, Bulgaria) and Josh Zavala (Amarillo, Texas) moved up to No. 42 in the latest ITA doubles rankings. Texas returns three letterwinners from the 2006 squad that advanced to the NCAA Final Four in Palo Alto, Calif. Sophomore doubles All-American Miguel Reyes Varela (Cocoyoc, Mexico) totaled a 45-12 overall record a season ago, good for a team-best .789 winning percentage. Mihailovic totaled a 28-10 singles mark last season and will move higher in the singles lineup after playing mostly at the No. 4 spot in 2006. Junior Bernhard Deussner (Vienna, Austria) has played sparingly during his first two seasons in Austin but likely will see more time on the courts in 2007. Senior Hubert Chodkiewicz (Corpus Christi, Texas) will red-shirt during the 2007 season. Kutrovsky will make his way toward the top of the singles lineup after turning in a solid fall season, which included his first collegiate singles title at the Texas Invitational.
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