DENVER – The University of Denver men's tennis team kicks off its 2026 dual campaign with two home matches against Texas Tech and Montana State on January 23-25.
DU opens the season against TTU on Friday, January 23, at 12 p.m. MT – the first match of a Denver Tennis doubleheader with the DU women hosting Seattle afterward. Denver then hosts Montana State to finish the weekend on Sunday, January 25, at 10:30 a.m. MT.
All home matches are held at Denver Tennis Park, and admission and parking are free.
On Friday, free pizza will be available for fans as well to celebrate the start of the season.
Season Preview:
DU enters the 2026 season as the preseason favorite in the Summit League and is seeking to win its third consecutive Summit League title. Five of the seven Pioneers on the roster return from the team that finished last year ranked No. 59 in the country while advancing to the NCAA National Championships for a 10
th time in program history.
Helping lead the way are graduate student
Connor Robb-Wilcox and seniors
Ryoma Mishiro and
Raffaello Papajcik. A season ago, the trio of upperclassmen won a combined 56 singles matches.
Also back in 2026 are sophomores
Theo Coats and
Samuel Rovai. Coats amassed an impressive 12-2 singles record during the 2025 fall season, and Rovai was named a Summit League Player to Watch following a 23-win season as a freshman last year.
Two true freshmen join the 2026 DU roster in
Aaron Beduhn and
Joshua Aston. Beduhn began his collegiate career in the fall with 11 singles wins and nine doubles victories. Aston joined Denver in January in time for the 2026 season, having achieved a career-best No. 529 ITF junior ranking 12 months ago.
2025 Recap:
Denver successfully defended its Summit League title in 2025, booking its spot at the NCAA National Championships for a 10
th time overall and ended the year with its highest national ranking of the season at No. 59. DU finished with an 18-7 dual record including 5-0 in league play and adding wins over then-nationally ranked teams in Utah State and New Mexico.
Papajcik had a breakout campaign for DU, advancing to the NCAA Division I Singles Championships and becoming the first Denver men's player to win a singles match at NCAAs in program history. He ranked as high as No. 43 nationally and collected the ITA Mountain Region's Most Improved Player award at the end of the year.
Series History:
Texas Tech: Denver is 1-7 against TTU, though the majority of the teams' matches have come more than a decade ago. They have only played once since 2014, a 4-0 Texas Tech win at home in 2022. The Red Raiders have played in Denver just twice previously, most recently on January 22, 2012, in a 4-2 win.
Montana State: DU holds a 7-1 record against MSU, winning the last six matches including a 7-0 sweep at home last January. Prior to that, Denver and Montana State had not met during dual match play since 2001, though they have seen each other frequently during recent fall seasons.
This past fall, both DU and MSU hosted each other at their respective home tournaments while also both playing at the ITA Mountain Regional Championships in October.
Up Next:
The University of Denver men's tennis team continues its season-opening home stand with two more matches at Denver Tennis Park against Utah on February 6 and Montana on February 8.
