Monday Morning Matador: post-St. Patrick’s Day

Well it’s that day of the year: the day after St. Patrick’s Day. We’re all familiar with it... the aftertaste of green beer, the splitting headaches, the expulsion of our bad choices. The good news? Texas Tech is always doing things to pick us back up (and sometimes push us down again). Let’s recap!

Women’s tennis dominates Iowa State

The No. 25 Texas Tech women’s tennis team improved to 12-4 on the season and 2-0 in Big 12 play after throttling Iowa State. The win also improves their home record to 7-0. Felicity Maltby with Reagan Collins did work in the doubles bracket along with Kennedy Bridgforth and Lana Rush. Francesca Sella won four straight games over Regina Espindola to win her match. Denise-Antonela Stoica sealed the match for the Lady Raiders, earning a substantial victory over Iowa State’s Ekaterina Repina - this makes five times that Stoica has clinched the match for the team this season. Stoica’s win streak is now at seven. Up next for the women’s tennis team they will travel to Fort Worth to face TCU on Saturday.

Run Rule! Softball takes 3 of 4 in Tiger Classic

In the Tiger Classic, Texas Tech faced off against Murray State, North Alabama, Memphis and Maine. Against Murray State, Taylor Satchell and Kelcy Leach notched a home run each in the fifth-inning to lift the Red Raiders over the Racers in an 8-0 run-rule. Erin Edmoundson notched her fifth shuout of the season, while Heaven Burton had a 2-of-2 day at the plate. Against North Alabama, it took a little for Tech to get going offensively but after Breanna Russell brought in Karli Hamilton on a sacrifice pop-fly did it get going. Tech got out to a 4-0 lead before North Alabama tried to come back - but it was too late. Tech won 5-2. Against Memphis, Tech had similar struggles but had a difficult time prevailing over them. The Tigers got the better of the Red Raiders, winning 5-3 and giving Tech it’s second loss of the season. Finally against Maine, Tech got their slow offensive outing by breaking the program RBI record off the bat of Jessica Hartwell. The Red Raiders run-ruled the Black Bears 10-2 and improved to 27-2 on the season. Up next Texas Tech faces off against Oklahoma in a conference series starting March 22.

Football begins documentary

Texas Tech will be airing a new documentary series covering the five weeks of Spring practice under new head coach Matt Wells. The documentary will be a five-part series that covers a different week of spring practice in each episode. Be ready for in-depth interviews and an inside look at staff meetings, pratices like never before. The aptly titled Saddle Up, a nod to Brent Musburger’s “when you come to West Texas, folks, you better saddle up,” debuts this evening at 7:30pm exclusively on TexasTech.TV and subsequently the social-media platforms.

Women’s golf wins Valspar Augusta Invitational

Coach Robertson notched her 13th team title with the Texas Tech women’s golf team after Sunday’s first place finish at the Valspar Augusta Invitational. ”This was a great win for our team and Sofia [Garcia]. The play this weekend was some of the best golf that I’ve seen. This was definitely a team win. Everyone did their part to help us get to the top. What a great way to end spring break.” Tech notched a program’s fourth-lowest total of 54-hole score of 860. Sophomore Sofia Garcia finished the tournament at 7-under-par, securing an individual title. Amy Taylor finished fith place overall, Louisa Brunt finished 3-over finished 14th overall, Mami Yamamoto finished 4-over to finish at 9th, and Anna Dong finished 6-over to place 27th overall. The Red Raiders will be heading into the final stretch of the regular season against San Diego State this weekend.

Texas Tech basketball takes three seed in NCAA Tournament

On St. Patrick’s Day, Texas Tech was picked by the NCAA committee to compete in Tulsa, Oklahoma as the No. 3 seed in the West Region. The Red Raiders will face off against Northern Kentucky at 12:30 p.m. on Friday to open tournament play. Currently, the Red Raiders have opened up as a 14.5 favorite.