Rain in Orlando gave the Shockers a chance to face-off against No. 23 Texas Tech on Saturday.

The Red Raiders were added to the men’s tennis schedule a week before the match would take place – short notice when compared to the schedule that has been planned through April.

“Friday night I was having a nice dinner and I got a call from the Texas Tech coach who was in Orlando and they were playing Arizona that day” head coach Danny Bryan said. “They got rained out and they weren’t going to be able to make the match up so they ended up having an open date.”

Bryan has good relations with Texas Tech head coach Bret Massi through recruiting and other tennis events.

“We are good friends and he was like ‘hey you want to come next weekend?’” Bryan said.  “And I was like yeah that (date) works.”

WSU headed to Lubbock, Texas on Saturday for their second match of the spring season, where they received their second loss of the spring at the hands of the powerful Texas Tech team. The Shockers featured two of their new additions freshman Murkel Dellien and sophomore Marius Frosa.

The Shockers were 0-2 in doubles with the pairing of Dellien and senior Jocelyn Devilliers finished 2-6. Frosa combined with sophomore Stoica were routed 0-6.

The Shockers two wins came from the singles side. Junior Miroslav Herzan won at the two spot against Alex Sendegeya 6-0, 6-4. At the six spot, Dellien defeated Pyry Hyrkkonen 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, a close win that could give the newcomer some confidence.

Sophomore Haru Inoue was given the task of the number one singles against No. 25 Jolan Cailleau. After dropping the first set 4-6, Inoue fired back with a 6-1 second set win. Cailleau won the third and final set 6-4 to take the contested match.

Frosa and Stoica also dropped matches against Tech’s ranked player including their no. 104 Connor Curry and no. 120 Ronit Bisht.

At the end of the weekend the Shockers are now 0-2 in their spring season. However, the focus is not on winning but the experience.

“The more matches, the better for us,” Stoica said. “We will improve quicker and get used to everything faster”

The Shockers will head to Fort Worth this weekend to compete in the ITA kick-off weekend. WSU is still in pursuit of gaining momentum and match experience back after being off for a month for the break.

“We’re looking to build and be at our peak at the conference. We are at looking at [the postseason tournaments] but it’s still far away” Stoica said. “So we are focusing on every match week by week but our long term goal is to be at our peak at the NCAA’s if we make them.”