The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Florida
Men’s Tennis Preview: ITA Kick-Off Weekend
01.19.2016 | Men's Tennis
Longhorns welcome Florida, Texas Tech and Ole Miss, play for berth in next month’s ITA National Team Indoor Championship.
WHAT: No. 20 Texas (3-1) hosts one of 15 four-team tournament sites for the annual ITA Kick-Off Weekend event contested across the nation. The Longhorns welcome No. 21 Florida, No. 15 Texas Tech and No. 17 Ole Miss to play for one of 15 berths available in next month's ITA National Team Indoor Championship at The University of Virginia.
WHEN
Saturday, Jan. 23
10 a.m. CT
No. 20 Texas vs. No. 21 Florida (2-0)
1 p.m. CT
No. 17 Ole Miss (0-0) vs. No. 15 Texas Tech (6-0)
Sunday, Jan. 24
10 a.m.
Texas/Florida losing team vs. Ole Miss/Texas Tech losing team
1 p.m.
First round winners
WHERE:
Weller Indoor Tennis Center (The University of Texas Golf Club)
2200 University Club Drive
Austin, Texas 78732
LIVE SCORING
Available for all matches at TexasSports.com
LAST TIME OUT
Texas contested a pair of matches in Seattle last weekend. The Longhorns met UC Santa Barbara (Jan. 16) in a neutral-site match at The University of Washington and came away with a 6-1 win to improve to 3-0.
Texas wrapped its road swing on Sunday (Jan. 17) against host Washington, who prevailed by a 4-3 count.
LAST YEAR AT THE ITA KICK-OFF WEEKEND
Texas hosted a 2015 ITA Kick-Off Weekend tournament site and came away with a pair of wins at Weller Indoor Tennis Center. The Longhorns opened with a 4-1 win over Minnesota and wrapped the event with a 4-1 win over Florida State that sent UT to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship.
Texas won two of three matches at the ensuing ITA National Team Indoors in Chicago and defeated Penn State and Columbia.
TEXAS OFF TO STRONG START
Texas began the 2016 dual-match season with a busy but productive opening week. The Horns swept their season-opening, day-night doubleheader and dropped only one point in wins over Abilene Christian and Lamar.
UT wrapped the week with a trip to Seattle to take on UC Santa Barbara and host Washington. The Longhorns knocked off the Gauchos by a 6-1 count, and though the Longhorns won the doubles point and picked up two singles wins against Washington, Texas suffered a narrow 4-3 defeat to the Huskies.
Head coach Michael Center has seen contributions from all areas of the doubles and singles lineups. UT's No. 2 doubles tandem of junior George Goldhoff and redshirt freshman Julian Zlobinsky is off to a 4-0 start, while the No. 1 duo of sophomore Adrian Ortiz and senior Michael Riechmann is out to a 3-1 start. Texas has played two doubles pairs at third doubles and has won all three decisions this season.
Goldhoff holds a 3-1 mark at first singles while freshman Harrison Scott holds an identical mark at second singles. Ortiz and Riechmann collectively are 4-0 at third singles, and Riechmann boasts a pair of wins at fourth singles, as well. Freshman Colin Markes, sophomore John Mee and Zlobinsky have one win apiece at fifth singles.
LONGHORNS FEATURED IN PRESEASON SINGLES AND DOUBLES RANKINGS
Texas opened at No. 12 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) preseason men's tennis team poll, which ranks the nation's top-75 teams. Virginia tops the preseason team poll, which includes three Big 12 schools among the nation's top-five and all six Big 12 men's tennis schools among the nation's top-28 teams.
Freshman Harrison Scott ranks No. 94 in the ITA men's singles rankings after posting a 10-2 fall record and winning the Racquet Club Collegiate Invitational title last September. The Canadian defeated a pair of ranked foes in 82nd-ranked Romain Kalaydjian of San Diego and 73rd-ranked Trevor Johnson of TCU. Scott also ranks 46th in doubles with John Mee.
Senior Michael Riechmann ranks 114th in the ITA men's singles rankings after producing an 11-4 fall singles record. Riechmann opened his fall season by winning the main singles draw at the Rice Invitational. He added a pair of wins at the Porsche Napa Valley Tennis Classic and reached the qualifying singles draw at the ITA All-American Championships.
CENTER RETURNS FOR 16TH SEASON, WELCOMES NEW STAFF
Michael Center returns for his 16th season at the helm of the Texas men's tennis program. The four-time Big 12 Coach of the Year led the Longhorns to their second-straight top-10 final ranking last season as Texas reached the round of 16 at the 2015 NCAA Championships. A pair of Center's pupils reached the pinnacle of their sport last May when Soren Hess-Olesen and Lloyd Glasspool won the first NCAA doubles title for Texas since 1944.
Center turned to a pair of familiar faces to fill the vacancies on his coaching staff. Bruce Berque, who served as a volunteer coach at Texas last season, is in his first season as an associate head coach under Center.
Berque filled the position previously held by longtime associate head coach Ricardo Rubio, who accepted his first head coaching position last summer with The University of Denver men's tennis program.
Berque served 10 seasons (2004-14) as the head men's tennis coach at Michigan and led the Wolverines to the NCAA Championships in his final nine seasons in Ann Arbor. He helped the Illinois men to the 2003 NCAA title during his six-season stint (1999-2004) as an associate head coach for the Fighting Illini.
Chris Camillone, a former ITA doubles All-American at Texas, returns to the Longhorns as a volunteer assistant coach.
MORE ON THE LONGHORNS
Along with the aforementioned Riechmann and Mee, Texas welcomes three additional veterans from the 2015 squad that posted a 21-7 record and finished the season ranked ninth nationally.
George Goldhoff posted a 17-10 singles mark, including an 8-6 record in dual matches last season a junior. Sophomore Adrian Ortiz went 3-2 in dual-match play last season, and redshirt sophomore William Jou added three singles wins as a freshman.
UT also welcomes redshirt freshman Julian Zlobinsky and freshmen Rodrigo Banzer, Johnny Goodwin, Colin Markes and Leonardo Telles along with the freshman Scott.
Next week, Texas welcomes SMU (Jan. 28) before hitting road for its final match of the month, a road contest at Ohio State (Jan. 31).
Players Mentioned
