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The Blue Raiders look to gain win 21 on the season against No. 42 Texas Tech Friday

MTN Sports. Reporter


MURFREESBORO, Tenn.--After a two-game road trip the No. 19 ranked MTSU Men's Tennis Team looks to increase their current win streak to 15 on Friday, against No. 42 ranked Texas Tech, at the ATC.

This game will serve as the first time the Blue Raiders will face off against the Red Raiders since 2020, where Texas Tech won the match 4-1.

"We play the exact same crew two years ago when COVID hit and they spanked us pretty bad," said MTSU Men's Tennis Head Coach Jimmy Borendame.

This match is expected to be the first outdoor home game for the Blue Raiders this season if weather conditions are above 50 degrees at the match's 5pm start time.

"It's obviously going to be a windy day tomorrow," said this weeks Conference USA Player of the Week Stijn Stump when asked about playing outdoors."So it's going to be accepting that, moving on, and just playing our game."

This is Slump's second time this season being recognized as the C-USA Player of the Week, as five other Blue Raider players have also been given this award since the season started in January.

"It's just very pleasing that the hard work is recognized," said Slump. "I'm enjoying it, having fun on court, and playing well."

Slump is 15-5 in singles play this season and Coach Borendame credited Slump's increasing maturity as a role in helping the Blue Raiders win.

"He's so much more mature than he's been in years past and it's translated into his tennis," said Borendame.

Borendame noted the matchup against TTU would be a tough one even with their opponent having a lower ranking.

"I belive Texas Tech is way better than 42 in the country," said Borendame. "He's (TTU Head Coach Daniel Whithead) got a top twenty recruiting class and none of his freshmen are playing in the lineup. It's just an older more mature team with a lot of experience."

TTU is currently the 12-6 on the season having faced several nationaly ranked programs.

The Red Raiders are coming into Murfreesboro having won their last matchup against Wichita State, 4-2.

A player the Blue Raiders will need to pay close attention to is TTU Junior Isaac Arevalo, who recently gained membership into the ITA Singles Players Ranking at the No. 109 spot.

The Blue Raiders also have ITA Ranked Players for Singles play in Chris Edge (No.123), Stijn Slump (No. 90) and Francisco Rocha (No. 86), while also having a ranked Doubles Team in Oskar Brostrom Poulsen/ Francisco Rocha (No. 66).

Friday's match will be streamed live on the MTN Sports' YouTube Channel and on the CUSA.tv website.

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