The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
SMU
No. 4 Men’s Tennis Preview: SMU
01.13.2017 | Men's Tennis
Fourth-ranked Longhorns head to Dallas for challenging road contest at SMU.
WHAT: Fresh off of a season-opening doubleheader sweep, No. 4 Texas (2-0) takes to the road to meet SMU. The Mustangs received votes in the preseason ITA top-25 team poll and, like the Longhorns, advanced to the third round (round of 16) of the 2016 NCAA Championships.
WHEN/WHERE:
No. 4 Texas (2-0) at SMU (0-0)
Sunday, Jan. 15 – 4:30 p.m. CT
SMU Tennis Complex – Dallas, Texas
LIVE SCORING: http://smumustangs.com/sports/2017/1/12/sports-mten-live-scoring.aspx
LAST MEETING
Texas topped SMU by a 4-2 count on Jan. 28, 2016 at UT's Weller Indoor Tennis Center.
LAST TIME OUT
Texas opened its 2017 dual-match season on Thursday (Jan. 12) and posted 7-0 wins over UTSA and Abilene Christian in Austin. The Horns claimed all but one doubles contest in the wins over the Roadrunners and Wildcats.
LONGHORNS FEATURED PROMINENTLY IN I.T.A. PRESEASON RANKINGS
Texas boasts a top-five team ranking, three top-50 singles placings and two top-50 doubles ranks in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) preseason men's tennis rankings.
The Longhorns came in at No. 4 in the preseason national team poll, which marked the highest preseason ranking for Texas since 2009, when UT ranked second. Texas returns all but one letterwinner from the 2016 squad that reached the NCAA Championships' round of 16 and came within a third-set tiebreaker from advancing to the NCAA quarterfinals.
At No. 6 nationally in singles, Danish freshman Christian Sigsgaard gives Texas its highest singles ranking since 2015, when his fellow countryman Soren Hess-Olesen ranked sixth in the final singles rankings.
Freshman Yuya Ito joins his classmate Sigsgaard in the top-40 of the ITA singles rankings at No. 36, and sophomore Harrison Scott comes in at No. 47. Ito joins Scott to rank 38th nationally in doubles, while sophomores Rodrigo Banzer and Leo Telles hold the No. 44 slot.
Sigsgaard posted an impressive 16-3 fall singles record and played in both fall national championship events – the ITA All-American Championships and the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships.
Sigsgaard won his first 14 matches, including 11 singles contests at the All-American, where he advanced all the way from the pre-qualifying and qualifying draws to the semifinals of the main draw. Sigsgaard won both of his matches Thursday against UTSA and Abilene Christian.
Ito notched a 12-6 singles record and joined Sigsgaard in the main draws of the All-American and the National Indoors.
Scott closed the fall with a 10-3 singles mark and won the main singles draw at the Cajun Tennis Classic. He teamed with Ito to register a 5-2 fall record in doubles. Banzer and Telles added a 3-1 doubles mark in fall tournament play.
MORE ON THE LONGHORNS
UT returns senior George Goldhoff, who ended his junior year with a No. 40 national ranking after defeating Texas A&M's Arthur Rinderknech and Ohio State's then-No. 1 Mikael Torpegaard in the Longhorns' final two matches of the season.
Sophomore Rodrigo Banzer won seven dual-matches last season in his first semester of collegiate tennis while junior Adrian Ortiz posted a 14-7 mark in dual matches. Sophomore Julian Zlobinsky notched 13 dual-match wins last season as a redshirt freshman.
UT also saw dual-match contributions last season from sophomores Johnny Goodwin and Colin Markes and juniors William Jou and John Mee.
A LOOK AHEAD
Texas continues its road swing next weekend at Tulsa (Jan. 20) and No. 19 Arkansas (Jan. 22).
The Longhorns return home on Saturday, Jan. 28 for the first leg of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend event at UT's Weller Indoor Tennis Center. Texas takes on Drake on Jan. 28 and will meet either Rice or Oregon on Jan. 29.
Players Mentioned
