The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Tulsa
No. 4 Men’s Tennis Preview: Tulsa and No. 19 Arkansas
01.19.2017 | Men's Tennis
Fourth-ranked Longhorns wrap up road swing this weekend against the Golden Hurricane and Razorbacks.
WHEN/WHERE:
No. 4 Texas (3-0) at Tulsa (1-1)
Friday, Jan. 20 – 6 p.m. CT
Michael Case Tennis Center – Tulsa, Oklahoma
LIVE SCORING/VIDEO: http://streamingtennis.com/Tulsa/dual.html
No. 4 Texas (3-0) at No. 19 Arkansas (1-0)
Sunday, Jan. 22 – 1 p.m. CT
Dills Indoor Tennis Center – Fayetteville, Arkansas
LIVE SCORING: www.ArkansasRazorbacks.com
LAST MEETINGS
Texas defeated Tulsa by a 4-2 count on March 26, 2016 in Austin. Arkansas defeated Texas 4-3 on March 23, 2016 in Austin.
LAST TIME OUT
Texas dropped the doubles point but responded with four singles wins as the Longhorns dealt host SMU a 4-1 defeat Sunday in Dallas.
PRE-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Michael Center
It's still early in the season and we're trying to figure some things out, but the guys continue to come in and compete and work hard. I think our team will continue to grow. Playing on the road is never easy. We just had a challenge at SMU and we expect the same from Tulsa and Arkansas this weekend. We want to find out how good we can be, and we're excited to learn more about our team in Tulsa and Fayetteville.
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. UT remained at No. 4 in the latest ITA team poll released Wednesday.
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 last Thursday against UTSA and Abilene Christian before adding another win Sunday against SMU's Ronald Slobodchikiv.
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
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. Admission is free for all matches.
Players Mentioned
