The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Oklahoma
No. 18 Men's Tennis falls to No. 10 Oklahoma in Big 12 Championships quarterfinals
04.29.2016 | Men's Tennis
Longhorns begin play at the NCAA Championships in two weeks.
STILLWATER, Okla. – No. 18 Texas (17-11) suffered a 4-1 defeat at the hands of No. 10 Oklahoma (15-9) Friday morning in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Big 12 Championships at Oklahoma State's Greenwood Tennis Center.
Thunderstorms forced league officials to relocate all six men's and women's quarterfinals matches indoors Friday at Greenwood Tennis Center. Given that six indoor courts were available instead of the usual 12 outdoor courts, the schedule was altered to play singles matches first in each match, with doubles to be contested if the two teams split their six singles matches.
At fourth singles, OU's 51sth-ranked Florin Bragusi broke UT's Rodrigo Banzer for a 3-2 first-set lead. Bragusi yielded nothing further and took the first set, 6-2. The ensuing set played out in identical fashion with Bragusi breaking Banzer for a 3-2 lead and running out a 6-2 win to give the Sooners a 1-0 lead.
OU's Andre Biro took the first set from UT's Julian Zlobinsky at sixth singles, 6-0. Down a break early in the second set, Zlobinsky broke Biro for three-all and held serve for a 4-3 lead. Both sides held serve until Biro broke for a 6-5 lead. Biro held serve in the following game to close out a 7-5 win and give Oklahoma a 2-0 lead.
At first singles, OU's 25th-ranked Axel Alvarez Llamas broke UT's 59th-ranked George Goldhoff for a 3-1 first-set lead, and he went on to close out the opening set, 6-3. Alvarez Llamas broke Goldhoff at 3-all in the second set, and he took the remaining two games to close out his match and push the Sooners' lead to 3-0.
UT freshman Harrison Scott broke OU's 81st-ranked Alex Ghilea for a 2-1 first-set lead, and he cruised through the remaining four games to seal the first set, 6-1. Ghilea assumed a 4-2 second-set lead before Scott held serve and registered a service break to even the set at four. Ghilea broke for a 6-5 lead, but Scott returned the favor and forced a second-set tiebreaker.
Ghilea held three set points after taking a 6-3 lead in the tiebreak, but Scott saved the next two points on Ghilea's serve and evened the tiebreak on the third set point, when Ghilea smacked an errant return. Ghilea went wide on the next point for a 7-6 Texas lead, and Scott closed out the tiebreak and match win when a Ghilea forehand went just long.
OU's Maxime Mora took the first set from UT senior Michael Riechmann at fifth singles, 6-2. Riechmann broke for a 3-1 second-set lead and polished off the second set 6-2 to stay in the match.
Riechmann held a 5-2 second-set lead, but Mora held serve, broke Riechmann and held serve once more to even the set at five. Mora registered another service break for 6-5 and held serve once more to close out a three-set win and a 4-1 victory for Oklahoma.
UT sophomore Adrian Ortiz held a 4-2 third-set lead over OU's 91st-ranked Spencer Papa at second singles, but the match was abandoned once the Sooners clinched the team victory.
Texas awaits the NCAA Championships selection announcement set for Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. CT. The selections will be revealed on a live video stream available at NCAA.com.
POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Michael Center
Oklahoma played very well. I thought they got on top of us early. We had chances there to push back and get into the match and we just didn't capitalize today. They just outplayed us. We struggled to finish a match. We had opportunities to split sets at some spots and we didn't get the job done. It's a credit to them (Oklahoma). We've got two weeks now to get ready and wait for our NCAA Championships draw. Most likely we'll be heading over to College Station (Texas A&M) to play (NCAA first/second rounds). Whoever we play, we'll be ready to go. The guys have done a good job this year, but that one was a little disappointing. I thought we could have capitalized on our opportunities a little better today.
2016 Big 12 Championships
Men's Quarterfinals
No. 10 Oklahoma 4, No. 18 Texas 1
Singles – Order of Finish: 4, 6, 1, 3, 5
1 No. 25 Axel Alvarez Llamas (OU) def. No. 59 George Goldhoff UT), 6-3, 6-3
2 Adrian Ortiz (UT) vs. No. 91 Spencer Papa (OU), 2-6, 6-4, 4-2, susp.
3 Harrison Scott (UT) def. No. 81 Alex Ghilea (OU), 6-1, 7-6 (6)
4 No. 51 Florin Bragusi (OU) def. Rodrigo Banzer (UT), 6-2, 6-2
5 Maxime Mora (OU) def. Michael Riechmann (UT), 6-2, 2-6, 7-5
6 Andre Biro (OU) def. Julian Zlobinsky (UT), 6-0, 7-5
Players Mentioned
