The No. 30 Texas Tech men’s tennis team will face off against No. 41 San Diego from the West Coast Conference to begin NCAA Tournament action as part of the four-team regional running from May 12-13 hosted by No. 2 UCLA announced Tuesday by the NCAA.

The Red Raiders (19-10) secured an at-large bid and are one of six teams from the Big 12 Conference to earn a bid to the NCAA Field of 64. Texas Tech is joined by national seeds No. 9 TCU, No. 11 Texas and No. 14 Oklahoma coupled with Baylor and Oklahoma State who were placed as two seeds in regionals hosted by No. 6 Texas A&M and No. 10 USC, respectively. 

The Red Raiders have secured an NCAA Tournament selection in two of three seasons under Brett Masi. Overall, Texas Tech is making its 16 NCAA Tournament appearance highlighted by the program’s 11 trip over the last 14 seasons since 2005.

“I’m excited more than anything to be back in the NCAA Tournament,” Masi said. “Our players don’t have any room to rest, and we definitely have to be on our toes from the start. You have to go out there and play with a sense of urgency to be successful in NCAA Tournament matches. Hopefully, our guys feel that way and can get themselves up to play USD because I’m sure they’ll be gunning for us after we beat them on their home court earlier this season. They definitely have the advantage in terms of redemption. We’re hoping we can hold our ground there and get a chance to play UCLA.”

Texas Tech has won five of its last six meetings versus San Diego (16-8) going back to the 2008 season. The Red Raiders captured a 4-3 comeback win over the Toreros behind three-set wins courtesy of Tommy Mylnikov and Alex Sendegeya on March 17 in San Diego. Tech and USD will meet at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday, May 12.

“We’ve already played the Toreros once this year and had a tough match against them that went the distance,” Masi said “Obviously, I have close ties with USD as that was the last program I was with before I came here. I know their coach really well. He was my assistant while I was there. We know each other’s teams pretty well probably more than we each would like to know. This is my sixth year traveling for NCAA’s. I’ve gone either to USC or UCLA every well. I know the Bruins really well from my days at USD when we played them and also when I was an assistant coach at USC.”

No. 2 UCLA (26-2) and Idaho (15-7) are the second matchup of the single elimination event with a scheduled first serve set for 2 p.m. CT. The two winners square off Sunday at 3 p.m. CT with the advancing team punching its ticket to the NCAA Round of 16 in Winston-Salem, N.C. hosted by Wake Forest on Thursday, May 17.

The NCAA Los Angeles Regional is paired with the NCAA Ann Arbor Regional which features No. 15 Michigan, Cleveland State, Notre Dame and Western Michigan.

Visit www.TexasTech.com for the latest news and information on the men’s tennis program. Fans also can follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/TechMensTennis and @TexasTechTennis on Twitter.

2018 NCAA Los Angeles Regional

Saturday, May 12

Match 1 – Texas Tech vs. San Diego – 11 a.m. CT

Match 2 – No. 2 UCLA vs. Idaho – 2 p.m. CT

Sunday, May 13

Match 3 – Match 1 winner vs. Match 2 winner – 3 p.m. CT

COURTESY OF TEXAS TECH ATHLETICS