The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
California
No. 26 Men’s Tennis Preview: No. 24 California, No. 18 Stanford
02.04.2016 | Men's Tennis
Longhorns host Pac-12 powers California and Stanford this weekend at Weller Indoor Tennis Center.
WHAT: No. 26 Texas (4-4) welcomes a pair of Pac-12 Conference powers to Austin this weekend in the form of No. 24 California (2-1) and No. 18 Stanford (5-1).
WHEN
No. 24 California at No. 24 Texas
Saturday, Feb. 6 – 2 p.m. CT
No. 18 Stanford at No. 24 Texas
Sunday, Feb. 7 – 1 p.m. CT
Fans will be treated to a pair of additional matches both days prior to the Texas matches. Stanford will take on TCU on Saturday at 11 a.m. CT, and TCU will meet California on Sunday at 10 a.m.
WHERE
All matches will be contested at Weller Indoor Tennis Center on the grounds of The University of Texas Golf Club.
LIVE SCORING
Live scoring will be available for both matches at TexasSports.com with additional frequent updates at the Longhorns' home on Twitter, @TexasMTN.
LAST TIME OUT
Texas suffered a 4-0 defeat at No. 8 Ohio State on Sunday (Jan. 31) in Columbus.
PRE-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Michael Center
We're excited to have Cal, Stanford and TCU here in Austin, and it's going to be a great weekend of tennis. We've played a really difficult schedule and we've got two more outstanding teams coming in this week. It's another opportunity to see where we're at this season. Stanford and Cal are littered with high-end, nationally-ranked players. This will be a great test for us, and we're looking forward to some exciting tennis this week.
LAST MEETINGS AGAINST CALIFORNIA AND STANFORD
Texas eliminated California from the second round of the 2015 NCAA Championships and dealt the Golden Bears a 4-1 defeat on May 9, 2015 in Austin.
Texas and Stanford will go head-to-head for the first time in six seasons. The Longhorns defeated the Cardinal by a 4-0 count in the opening round of the 2010 ITA National Team Indoor Championships (Feb. 12, 2010) in Charlottesville, Virginia.
LONGHORNS FEATURED IN PRESEASON SINGLES AND DOUBLES RANKINGS
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.
The ITA will release updated player rankings on Feb. 10.
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.
LOOKING AHEAD
Texas ventures to Houston to meet Rice (Feb. 21) before closing the month at Wake Forest (Feb. 27). The Longhorns play their next home contest on March 23 when they host Arkansas at Westwood Country Club.
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 as 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. Ortiz is off to a fine start in 2016 with his 4-2 singles mark at Nos. 3 and 4 singles.
UT also welcomes redshirt freshman Julian Zlobinsky and freshmen Rodrigo Banzer, Johnny Goodwin, Colin Markes and Leonardo Telles along with the freshman Scott. Banzer made his collegiate debut during the ITA Kick-Off Weekend event against Florida, and Zlobinsky delivered a win at No. 6 singles against Ole Miss.
Players Mentioned
