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No. 10 Men’s Tennis preview: Michigan [Feb. 7], No. 22 Illinois [Feb. 9]
02.06.2014 | Men's Tennis
Longhorns hit the road to face Michigan on Friday and Illinois on Sunday.
Season Stats: HTML | PDF
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Match 7: No. 10 Texas at Michigan
Friday, Feb. 7, 2014 • 5 p.m. CT
Ann Arbor, Mich. • Varsity Tennis Center
Live Scoring
Match 8: No. 10 Texas at No. 22 Illinois
Sunday, Feb. 9, 2014 • 12 p.m. CT
Urbana, Ill. • Atkins Tennis Center
Live Scoring
No. 10 Texas Men's Tennis (6-0) begins a two-match road swing on Friday in Michigan, followed by a matchup with No. 22 Illinois on Sunday.
Series Info
Texas leads both the all-time series with Michigan (15-3) and Illinois (6-1). Last season Texas defeated Michigan, 4-3, in the first match ever played at UT's new indoor Weller Tennis Center. Sunday will mark the first meeting between Illinois and Texas since 2011, when the Longhorns defeated the Illini, 4-3, at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship in Seattle, Wash.
Strong Start
The Longhorns are off to their best start since 2011 after winning the first six matches of the season, including five shutout victories. The Longhorns started 8-0 in 2011 and 15-0 in 2002.
Texas did not allow a point in the first four dual matches of the season, marking the first time in the modern era that the Longhorns began a season with four consecutive shutout victories.
Moving up in the Rankings
Texas moved up four spots to No. 10 in the ITA rankings on Tuesday. The Longhorns began the dual match season ranked No. 20 in the poll, followed by a No. 14 ranking on Jan. 29.
It is the Longhorns' first return to the top-10 since Feb. 28, 2012, when UT received a No. 8 ranking.
Singles
During dual match play this season, Texas holds a combined 27-3 record (.900) in singles. The Longhorns boast four players with 13 overall singles wins or more -- No. 75 Søren Hess-Olesen (13-4), No. 24 George Goldhoff (14-6), No. 35 Lloyd Glasspool (14-6) and Adrien Berkowicz (14-4).
Doubles
Texas has not surrendered the doubles point in all six dual matches this season (to earn the doubles point, a team must win two of three doubles matches in the dual). The Longhorns hold a 12-4 record (.750) in doubles.
Hess-Olesen and Glasspool makeup the 5th-ranked doubles team in the nation with a 16-2 overall record, including a 5-0 mark in dual match play. The pair holds a 6-1 record against nationally ranked teams and have won five consecutive matches entering the weekend.
No. 55 George Goldhoff and Jacoby Lewis hold an 8-3 record together, including a 3-1 mark during dual match play.
Glasspool also holds a national doubles ranking with David Holiner at No. 35, despite playing just two overall matches together this season (2-0).
Next up: ITA National Team Indoor Championship (Feb. 14-17)
Texas earned a bid to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship after winning the Nashville ITA Kick-Off site by defeating host No. 15 Vanderbilt, 4-0, and No. 19 Wake Forest, 4-3. The 16-team National Indoors starts on Feb. 14 in Houston, Texas at The Met.
In the ITA Rankings
Team
10. Texas
22. Illinois
31. Michigan
Singles
4. Jared Hiltzik (Illinois)
24. George Goldhoff
35. Lloyd Glasspool
46. Tim Kopinski (Illinois)
75. Søren Hess-Olesen
106. Farris Gosea (Illinois)
Doubles
4. Tim Kopinski / Ross Guignon (Illinois)
5. Lloyd Glasspool / Søren Hess-Olesen
27. Farris Gosea / Blake Bazarnik (Illinois)
31. Jared Hiltzik / Alex Jesse (Illinois)
35. David Holiner / Lloyd Glasspool
55. George Goldhoff / Jacoby Lewis
