LUBBOCK, Texas -- After toppling No. 2 Pepperdine on Friday night in Austin, No. 3 Texas (18-2, 5-0) eliminated any chances of a letdown Sunday by jumping on No. 42 Texas Tech (12-9, 1-4) early en route to a 5-1 victory at Tech's McLeod Tennis Center. At 5-0 in conference play, Texas is off to its best start in league play since 2004, when the Longhorns also opened at 5-0.
Texas captured the doubles point in dominant fashion, posting victories at all three positions. Sophomore Travis Helgeson (Overland Park, Kan.) and freshman Michael Venus (Orlando, Fla.) opened the session with an 8-4 win at the third slot over Teddy DiBlasi and Sinisa Markovic. Senior Callum Beale (Adelaide, Australia) and freshman Miguel Reyes Varela (Cuernavaca, Mexico) followed with an 8-3 win at the second slot over Michael Breler and Dimitrio Martinez. Senior Roger Gubser (Laredo, Texas) and junior Hubert Chodkiewicz (Corpus Christi, Texas) completed the doubles sweep with an 8-5 win at the first position over Adrian Prpic and Christian Rojmar.
The Longhorns tallied straight-set victories at the third, sixth and fourth positions to clinch the match. Beale dealt Rojmar a 6-1, 6-3 setback at the third position before Venus defeated DiBlasi by a 6-1, 6-4 count at the sixth position. Junior Milan Mihailovic (Nis, Serbia) provided the match-clinching point with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Markovic at fourth singles, marking his 14th win in his last 15 matches.
With the outcome of the match decided, two of the remaining three matches were decided by third-set super-tiebreakers. Reyes Varela finished off Michael Breler at the fifth slot, but Helgeson fell victim to Prpic at the first position. The final match between UT's Gubser and Texas Tech's Martinez was suspended.
Texas returns to the courts on Wednesday, April 18 in a crucial Big 12 contest. UT heads to Waco to take on No. 5 Baylor (16-5, 3-1) at 6 p.m. CDT.
No. 3 Texas 5, No. 42 Texas Tech, 1
Doubles (Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1)
1. Chodkiewicz/Gubser (UT) def. Prpic/Rojmar (TTU) - 8-5
2. Beale/Reyes Varela (UT) def. Breler/Martinez (TTU) - 8-3
3. No. 38 Helgeson/Venus (UT) def. DiBlasi/Markovic (TTU) - 8-4
Singles (Order of Finish: 3, 6, 4, 5, 1)
1. No. 86 Adrian Prpic (TTU) def. No. 7 Travis Helgeson (UT) - 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-5)
2. Dimitrio Martinez (TTU) vs. No. 36 Roger Gubser (UT) - Unfinished
3. No. 39 Callum Beale (UT) def. Christian Rojmar (TTU) - 6-1, 6-3
4. Milan Mihailovic (UT) def. Sinisa Markovic (TTU) - 6-2, 6-2
5. Miguel Reyes Varela (UT) def. Michael Breler (TTU) - 6-2, 1-6, 1-0 (10-5)
6. Michael Venus (UT) def. Teddy DiBlasi (TTU) - 6-1, 6-4
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