Austin – No. 12 Texas Men's Tennis topped No. 1 Ohio State, 5-2, at a packed Texas Tennis Center on Sunday afternoon in front of a crowd of 1,012. The Longhorns clinched the victory at 4-0 before the match reached its final score. In 10 matches against No. 1 teams since 2019, Texas is now 6-4, including 3-0 against the Buckeyes.
Texas claimed the doubles point in dramatic fashion with wins at Nos. 3 and 1 and went on to collect four singles wins from freshman No. 48 Gilles-Arnaud Bailly at No. 3, senior No. 2 Micah Braswell at No. 2, senior No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1, and senior Cleeve Harper at No. 6.
"I'm really happy for the team, because even though they've worked hard all year and are confident in their level,they have been a little frustrated with some of their results in the early part of the season," head coach Bruce Berque said. "We've had a few matches against really good teams that we didn't take advantage of opportunities, or the ball didn't quite bounce our way, so I think the team was maybe starting to feel a little bit of pressure, but I think a win like this will really take the monkey off their back and allow them to play more freely and enjoy it more. They put a lot of good work in after the TCU loss and had a very mature response to falling just one point short. I think thework they put in this week showed that. It was also an amazing crowd, and we got a big boost from them, especially after winning the doubles point."
In doubles, Ohio State's tandem of Andrew Lutschaunig and Justin Boulais won the first match, 6-2, over senior Eshan Talluri and junior Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 2. Talluri and Bailly held the first game for 1-0, but Lutschaunig and Boulais responded by winning the match's next three games, taking two deuce points in the process. At 3-1, the Longhorns managed to hold serve and narrow the Buckeyes' lead to 3-2, but the Ohio State tandem would go on to finish the match with another 3-0 run, which included a deuce-point break for 5-2.
In the other two doubles matches, Texas made a shift in its doubles partners from what it had used previously this year. The Longhorns reunited former All-American pair Spizzirri and senior Woldeab, who played at No. 1, and also rejoined Braswell and Harper, who had played together in previous seasons, at No. 3.
"We changed up the lineup quite a bit, and I think that was mostly because of two things – one, we had the ability to use Siem, which we didn't have before, he was healthy enough to play, and the second reason was that Eliot and Cleeve who are normally our strongest position, haven't been doing so well lately, and sometimes you just need a little spark and change," Berque said. "We saw Eshan and Pierre playing pretty well together, winning a few in a row, so we had confidence they could stay together, so then we went back to two old teams. Siem and Eliot have played a ton of matches together in the past and have had great success, and we put them together on different sides than they used to play with Siem on the deuce and Eliot on the ad. Then Cleeve and Micah also played together in the past, and we thought that might give our doubles lineup a little more balance and have three good shots to win, and it worked out."
Braswell and Harper proceed to even doubles with a 6-3 win over Jack Anthrop and Alexander Bernard. Both teams opened the match with deuce-point breaks for 1-1 before Braswell and Harper created separation with a 3-0 run for 4-1. Anthrop and Bernard answered with hold followed by a deuce-point break, which narrowed the Texas pair's lead to 4-3, but the Longhorns responded by breaking back for 5-3, then closing out the match on serve.
All eyes then turned to the deciding match at No. 1 between the tandem of Spizzirri and Woldeab and No. 5 Robert Cash and JJ Tracy. The match began with deuce-point holds from both teams for 1-1. The Ohio State duo seemed to take early momentum with a break followed by a deuce-point hold for 3-1, but Spizzirri and Woldeab stormed back by taking the next three games, which included a deuce-point break for 3-3, which they consolidated for 4-3. The match stayed on serve all the way to 6-6, with Spizzirri and Woldeab having had a match point at deuce at 6-5 before Cash and Tracy held, leading to a tiebreaker. In the breaker, Spizzirri and Woldeab held their opening serve for 1-0 before Cash and Tracy answered by holding both of their serves and breaking Texas' next serve for a 3-1 advantage. The tiebreaker's next two serves were held for a 4-2 Cash and Tracy lead before Spizzirri and Woldeab collected a minibreak and then held their next serve for 4-4. Cash and Tracy responded with a minibreak for 5-4, but Spizzirri and Woldeab would do the same on the following point, which began a 3-0 run to clinch the doubles point for Texas.
In singles, Gilles-Arnaud Bailly was the first off the court with an impressive 6-0, 6-2 win over No. 7 Tracy on court 3. Bailly won every game in the first set, claiming a deuce-point break for 3-0 and a deuce-point hold for 6-0 in the process. After each player held their initial serves in the second set, Bailly claimed consecutive deuce points, which contributed to a 5-0 run for the freshman. Tracy managed to hold on a deuce point for 5-2, but Bailly would close out the match in the following game.
The next Longhorn to finish was Micah Braswell, who defeated No. 32 Boulais, 6-2, 6-4, at No. 2 to give Texas a 3-0 advantage in the match. Braswell opened the first set on a 4-0 run before Boulais broke for 4-1 in the fifth game, starting a string of four-straight breaks, the last two of which were on deuce points, to give Braswell the set. In the second, Boulais got out to a 3-1 lead before Braswell would go on to take five of the last six games to win the match. Braswell finished the match having won three of the four games decided on deuce point.
The clinching match for Texas was Spizzirri's 6-3, 6-3 win over No. 17 Cannon Kingsley on court 1. The match's first four games stayed on serve, with the first two being decided on deuce points, before Spizzirri would earn a pivotal deuce-point break for 3-2. The next three games stayed on serve, and at 5-3, Spizzirri collected another deuce-point break to take the set. The first five games of the second set stayed on serve with Spizzirri holding two deuce points in the process before the senior earned the set's only break for a 4-2 advantage. The final three games stayed on serve, clinching the match for the Horns in front of an exuberant crowd.
Spizzirri put on a show for the Texas faithful #HookEm 🤘🎾 https://t.co/lh9m2u9Sqn pic.twitter.com/S6i3sT5ZAZ
— Texas Men's Tennis (@TexasMTN) March 10, 2024
The remaining matches were then played out, with Woldeab's match ending next, as he came up short to No. 91 Bernard, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3, on court 5. After Bernard held on a deuce point in the opening game, Woldeab would go on to win the match's next seven games, which included a deuce-point break to take the first set. With Woldeab leading 1-0 in the second set, Bernard managed to win 12 of the match's final 17 games, including all five of the games that were decided by deuce point in that stretch, to give Ohio State their first point in the match.
The next match to finish was at No. 4 where Pierre-Yves Bailly fell in a hard-fought match to No. 16 Anthrop, 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (5). At 2-2 in the first set, Bailly earned a deuce-point break then held serve for 4-2. Anthrop answered with a hold and a break for 4-4, but Bailly would break back then hold on a deuce-point to claim the set. After the first three games of the second set stayed on serve for a 2-1 Anthrop advantage, the next three games would be decided by deuce points. Anthrop broke the first for 3-1, but Bailly broke back then held for 3-3. However, Anthrop ended with a 4-0 run to close out the set and force a superbreaker. There, Anthrop jumped out to a 5-2 lead. Bailly clawed his way back with consecutive holds to narrow his deficit to 5-4, but Anthrop would finish by winning five of the next six points for the match.
In the final match, Harper added another win for Texas with a 7-6 (5), 7-5 victory over Bryce Nakashima at No. 6. The entire first set stayed on serve, with Harper holding on a deuce point in the eighth game, leading to a tiebreaker. In the breaker, Harper broke Nakashima's serve on the first point then held the third point and broke again for a 3-1 advantage. After Nakashima held for 3-2, the remainder of the tiebreaker followed the pattern of a hold followed by a break all the way a 7-6 (5) Harper win. In the second set, every game but the last one stayed on serve, giving Harper the break he needed to win the match and provide a 5-2 overall final for Texas.
Up next, the Longhorns will travel to Athens, Ga., where they will face No. 48 Georgia on Thursday, March 14 at 5 p.m. ET/4 p.m. CT.
#12 Texas 5, #1 Ohio State 2
Singles – Order of Finish (3,2,1,5,4,6)
1. #1 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. #17 Cannon Kingsley (OSU) 6-3, 6-3
2. #2 Micah Braswell (UT) def. #32 Justin Boulais (OSU) 6-2, 6-4
3. #48 Gilles-Arnaud Bailly (UT) def. #7 JJ Tracy (OSU) 6-0, 6-2
4. #16 Jack Anthrop (OSU) def. Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-5)
5. #91 Alexander Bernard (OSU) def. Siem Woldeab (UT) 1-6, 6-3, 6-3
6. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Bryce Nakashima (OSU) 7-6 (7-5), 7-5
Doubles – Order of Finish (2,3,1)
1. Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) def. #5 Robert Cash/JJ Tracy (OSU) 7-6 (7-5)
2. Andrew Lutschaunig/Justin Boulais (OSU) def. Pierre-Yves Bailly/Eshan Talluri (UT) 6-2
3. Micah Braswell/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Jack Anthrop/Alexander Bernard (OSU) 6-3
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