The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Florida State
No. 9 Men’s Tennis defeats Florida State, advances to National Indoors
01.25.2015 | Men's Tennis
Junior Nick Naumann clinches the Longhorns’ victory to close out the ITA Kick-Off Weekend.
#9 TEXAS def. Florida State, 4-3
RESULTS
SEASON STATS
AUSTIN, Texas – Ninth-ranked Texas Men's Tennis concluded the ITA Kick-Off Weekend with a grueling 4-3 victory over Florida State on Sunday afternoon at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center. The win advanced the Longhorns to the ITA National Indoor Championship.
Florida State (6-1) won the doubles point in a tiebreaker, but the Longhorns (4-0) fought back in singles competition to advance to the national round in Chicago. Junior Nick Naumann sealed the deal for the Longhorns with a 6-7, 7-5, 6-1 victory on court four.
"Florida State has always competed very well against us and once again they fought really hard," said Head Coach Michael Center. "This team has a lot of heart, a lot of determination, and when things didn't look good, they just kept battling and kept fighting. We persevered and we got through and now we get to play at the National Indoors, which is where we feel like we belong."
After clinching the win against Minnesota on Saturday, freshman John Mee responded with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Florida State's Terrance Whitehurst at No. 6 singles to give the Longhorns their first point.
Senior All-American Søren Hess-Olesen won his sixth-straight match with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Benjamin Lock at No. 1 singles to improve to 14-2 on the year.
48th-ranked Adrien Berkowicz registered his team-high 16th win of the year by defeating 99th-ranked Marco Nunez, 6-3, 6-3.
Although Texas led, 3-2, after Berkowicz's win, Florida State had won the first set of the two remaining matches, but Naumann rallied back to win the second set and clinched the win in style by taking a 5-0 lead in the final set.
"Nick has just been a warrior for us. I just kept telling him, 'You're tougher, you're tougher. Just keep going and keep competing,' and that's what he did," Center said. "And to win decisively in the third set like that, after the first two were so close, shows his determination."
Texas will compete in the ITA National Indoor Championship beginning on Feb. 13-16 in Chicago, but first the Longhorns head to Dallas to face SMU on Saturday, Jan. 31.
Players Mentioned
