The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Wake Forest
No. 26 Men's Tennis rallies for stunning 4-3 win at No. 5 Wake Forest
02.27.2016 | Men's Tennis
Longhorns finish off their incredible rally behind third-set tiebreak wins from George Goldhoff, Adrian Ortiz and Rodrigo Banzer.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Texas junior George Goldhoff, sophomore Adrian Ortiz and freshman Rodrigo Banzer capped a furious Longhorns rally with consecutive third-set tiebreak wins as Texas (7-5) capped a stunning 4-3 win over No. 5 Wake Forest (9-3) at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex.
"It was an amazing effort to win this match," said 16th-year head coach Michael Center. "Wake Forest is a legitimate national title-contending team. To come out here and beat them on its home courts and win three matches 7-6 in the third (sets)…it just takes a lot of resiliency and competitiveness to do that. We hung around and hung around and got the job done in the end. It was just a great team effort."
Wake Forest opened up a 3-1 match lead after winning consecutive singles matches at the sixth, fifth and second singles positions before Texas commenced its rally.
Goldhoff took the first set from Wake's 34th-ranked Chrysochos at first singles, 6-2 before Chrysochos took the second set, 7-5. Goldhoff picked up an early service break but Chrysochos followed suit and later forced a tiebreaker, where Goldhoff prevailed, 7-5 to cut the Longhorns' deficit to 3-2.
"George was in control to win the match in straight sets, but it got away," Center said. "He was serving 4-all, love-40 in the third set, but he managed to get back in it and force a tiebreaker. He continued to compete with tremendous effort against one of the best players, certainly one of the best freshmen in the country."
Ortiz dropped his first set to Wake's 113th-ranked Romain Bogaerts at third singles, 6-3, but Ortiz prolonged his match by winning a second-set tiebreaker. Ortiz and Bogaerts slugged it out in the third set until moving on to a tiebreaker. Ortiz pulled out the tiebreaker, 7-3 to even the match and put the contest's outcome on Banzer's racquet.
Banzer dropped his first set to Wake's Ho in a tiebreaker at fourth singles before rallying for a 7-5 second-set win. Banzer held on in the ensuing third-set tiebreaker to put away the 4-3 win for the Longhorns.
"All eyes turned to Rodrigo at that point, and this was a first-semester freshman in Rodrigo playing a senior who has beaten us in the past," Center said. "Rodrigo just played tough and aggressive, and he committed to what he has been doing so well. He handled his nerves and got the win."
"It was just one of those days where we were fighting and competing, and in the end we looked up and saw, 'Wow, we've got it.,' Center said. "I can't give the guys enough credit. Wake Forest is really good – just a very, very talented team."
The Longhorns and Demon Deacons opened the match with a hard-fought doubles session in which Texas won the doubles point. Wake Forest opened with a win at first doubles, but Texas claimed the ensuing two decisions to secure the point.
Freshman Harrison Scott and sophomore John Mee teamed up for a 6-3 win over the Deacons' Romain Bogaerts and Dennis Uspensky at third doubles. UT clinched the doubles point at the second position, where redshirt freshman Julian Zlobinsky and Goldhoff held off Wake Forest's Petros Chrysochos and Jon Ho, 6-4.
No. 26 Texas 4, No. 5 Wake Forest 3
Doubles – Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2
1 No. 21 Skander Mansouri/Christian Seraphim (WF) def. No. 44 Adrian Ortiz/Michael Riechmann (UT), 6-2
2 George Goldhoff/Julian Zlobinsky (UT) def. Petros Chrysochos/Jon Ho (WF), 6-4
3 Harrison Scott/John Mee (UT) def. Romain Bogaerts/Dennis Uspensky (WF), 6-3
Singles – Order of Finish: 6, 5, 2, 1, 3, 4
1. George Goldhoff (UT) def. #34 Petros Chrysochos (WF) 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (5)
2. #25 Skander Mansouri (WF) def. Harrison Scott (UT) 5-7, 6-2, 6-1
3. Adrian Ortiz (UT) def. #113 Romain Bogaerts (WF) 3-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3)
4. Rodrigo Banzer (UT) def. Jon Ho (WF) 6-7 (4), 7-5, 7-6 (4)
5. Dennis Uspensky (WF) def. Michael Riechmann (UT) 6-3, 7-5
6. Christian Seraphim (WF) def. Julian Zlobinsky (UT) 6-2, 6-1
Players Mentioned
