The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas A&M
No. 21 Men's Tennis edged in Second Round of NCAA Championship
05.11.2013 | Men's Tennis
May 11, 2013
NCAA Championship Second Round
College Station, Texas - Mitchel Tennis Center
No. 11 Texas A&M (12 seed) def. No. 21 Texas, 4-3
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - University of Texas men's tennis lost a heartbreaking 4-3 decision to 12th-seeded Texas A&M in the Second Round of the NCAA Championship on Saturday evening.
"That's a tough one," head coach Michael Center said. "In the singles, I really thought we could win all six spots. I really liked our chances. We served for the first set at No. 2 singles. We had set points at No. 3 in the second set. And multiple set points at No. 5 singles in the second set. So all three of the matches we ended up losing we had really good opportunities. And taking a step back, it was an amazing college tennis match. There was a lot of emotion and a lot of drama. It just kind of stinks because we came up a bit short."
With the team scored tied at three late in the match, sophomore Lloyd Glasspool battled back and forth with A&M's Junior Ore for the deciding point. After dropping the first set 7-6 in a tiebreaker, Glasspool came away with a 6-3 second-set win. Glasspool was down 3-1 in the third set, but won three straight games to help force another tiebreaker with a berth in the round of 16 on the line.
Ore won the third-set tiebreaker, 7-3, to give the Aggies a 4-3 team victory.
Early in the match, Texas A&M got on the board first by winning the doubles point with victories at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions. Glasspool and Søren Hess-Olesen erased a three-game deficit at the No. 3 position before the point was clinched and doubles play stopped.
Texas A&M went up 2-0 with a win at No. 2 singles as Harrison Adams defeated senior Daniel Whitehead (6-1, 7-5).
The Longhorns quickly swung momentum as Hess-Olesen defeated 18th-ranked Jeremy Efferding in straight sets in No. 1 singles - his six win over a nationally-ranked opponent. Sudanwa Sitaram followed suit with a sweep of 76th-ranke Shane Vinsant (6-4, 6-4), to tie the match at 2-2.
After falling 6-0 in the first set, David Holiner rallied to defeat Jordan Szabo in three sets (0-6, 6-2, 6-2) to tie the match at three.
The 21st-ranked Longhorns end the season with a 17-9 record.
Søren Hess-Olesen will compete in the 64-player singles draw and Chris Camillone / David Holiner will compete in the 32-team doubles draw in the 2013 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championships. The individual singles and doubles competition will be conducted May 22-27 in Urbana, Ill., following the conclusion of the team championship, which runs from May 16-21.
NCAA Championship Second Round
College Station, Texas - Mitchel Tennis Center
#12 seed Texas A&M def. Texas, 4-3
Singles
1. #37 Søren Hess-Olesen (UT) def. #18 Jeremy Efferding (A&M) - 6-3, 7-6(0)
2. #100 Junior Ore (A&M) def. #122 Lloyd Glasspool (UT) - 7-6(2), 6-3, 7-6(3)
3. #103 Harrison Adams (A&M) def. #108 Daniel Whitehead (UT) - 6-1, 7-5
4. Sudanwa Sitaram (UT) def. #76 Shane Vinsant (A&M) - 6-4, 6-4
5. Jackson Withrow (A&M) def. Nick Naumann (UT) - 6-4, 7-6(7)
6. David Holiner (UT) def. Jordan Szabo (A&M) - 0-6, 6-2, 6-2
Order of finish: 3, 1, 4, 6, 5, *2
Doubles
1. #8 Junior Ore / Jackson Withrow (A&M) def. #41 Chris Camillone / David Holiner (UT) - 8-1
2. #29 Harrison Adams / Shane Vinsant (A&M) def. Ben Chen / Daniel Whitehead (UT) - 8-2
3. Efferding / Szabo (A&M) vs. Lloyd Glasspool / Søren Hess-Olesen (UT) - 5-4, unf.
Order of finish: 1, *2
QUOTES
Head Coach Michael Center
On UT's 4-3 loss to Texas A&M: That's a tough one. I felt we got beat up in the doubles. I thought we would play better in the doubles today, I really did. We didn't have a good performance. Then in the singles, I really thought we could win all six spots. I really liked our chances. We served for the first set at No. 2 singles. We had set points at No. 3 in the second set. And multiple set points at No. 5 singles in the second set. So all three of the matches we ended up losing we had really good opportunities. And taking a step back, it was an amazing college tennis match. There was a lot of emotion and a lot of drama. It just kind of stinks because we came up a bit short.
On when he felt the momentum shift to Texas after dropping the doubles point: I thought when Søren [Hess-Olesen] and Sudanwa [Sitaram] got off the court we started to get some points on the board. So you could feel the momentum start to shift. And then David Holiner did a good job after a really slow start. It looked like Nick Naumann was going to go into a third set, and I really liked our chances at No. 2. I really felt confident all the way that we could win the match. We were there. We were there to win. It's just disappointing because I thought that the guys did a really good job the last couple of weeks. I thought we were peaking and starting to play better. But we just left a few little things slip through our fingers today where we could have put the hammer down and instead we came up a little bit short.
On the team's mentality and fight out there today: I'm really proud of the team. I'm disappointed for them. I think we set the tone that we're going to be pretty good going forward. We have a lot of guys back next year. I knew we had it in us; we just kind of hadn't really put it all together. And today I felt like we really had six guys out there battling. I don't know what to say. I feel bad for them that it had to end that way.
On team play ending but individual players continuing their seasons: Søren Hess-Olesen, David Holiner, and Chris Camillone all qualified for the NCAA Individual Tournament. So that will start after the completion of the team championship. So we'll go up there next week. It's obviously a nice opportunity for them but we wanted to keep playing as a team.
On Søren Hess-Olesen heading into individual play after defeating the 18th-ranked player today in straight sets: In the last month-and-a-half I've really seen a difference in his play. His serve has really improved. He's been much more aggressive and finishing many more balls as the net. I feel like his game has really taken a nice jump. He's starting to evolve into a real national-caliber guy, a top-20 or top-15 guy that can be anybody in the country. That's really exciting going forward. I'm happy for him.
