No. 22 #TexasTech at 2012 Men's NCAA Championships yfrog.com/od2xylkj
— Trenten Hilburn (@tlhilburn) May 12, 2012
First off, a huge congratulations to Raony Carvalho and Gonzolo Escobar for even making it to the National Championship match, an incredible achievement in any season and congrats to head coach Tim Siegel and assistant coach Marcelo Ferreira for turning this program around.
The official site has a short story from yesterday and recaps the accomplishments of Carvalho and Escobar:
Escobar closes out his senior season with a school record in single-season singles wins (31), career singles wins (99) and career doubles wins (82). He is a 2012 ITA All-American in singles and doubles and recorded the best finishes ever for Texas Tech at the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships. He finished in the Sweet Sixteen at the singles event. He also is a two-time ITA Texas regional Champion and a three-time All-Big 12 singles honoree and a 2012 All-Big 12 doubles honoree
Carvalho closes out his career with the second-most career wins in singles (95) and doubles (72). He was Texas Tech first All-American in 2010 in singles and a 2012 All-American in doubles. Carvalho is the first Red Raider to earn All-Big 12 honors in singles and doubles for four straight years. He also has the highest career winning percentage in program history.
I'd also add this bit from the LAJ from head coach Tim Siegel:
"We had two incredible seniors that had four amazing years at Texas Tech and put us on a map that we’ve never been on before," Siegel said. "I’m sitting with two All-Americans in singles and two guys who reached the NCAA finals in doubles. It’s a great day, a great year and a great career for these two guys."
As an aside, Siegel is doing a coaches show on Double-T 104.3 called Coach Speak that was a good listen.
I really felt a renewed sense of pride when I watched this RaiderPower episode. Most of the men's players are from Brazil, Carvalho didn't even know English before arriving at Texas Tech, but they are as fired up as I've ever seen to beat UT and are incredibly proud and appreciative of Texas Tech.
Bravo gentlemen! Wreck 'em!