The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Ohio State
No. 8 Men’s Tennis hosts No. 1 Ohio State
03.12.2017 | Men's Tennis
Longhorns host top-ranked Buckeyes in rematch of last year’s thriller at the NCAA Championships.
WHAT: No. 8 Texas (14-4) takes on its second top-two opponent in less than two weeks when it meets No. 1 Ohio State in Austin. Free pizza will be available beginning at 12:30 p.m. CT, and fans may pick up complimentary Bevo's Baseline Brigade t-shirts at the match.
WHEN/WHERE
No. 1 Ohio State (16-1) at No. 8 Texas (14-4)
Wednesday, March 15 – 1 p.m. CT
Caswell Tennis Center
2312 Shoal Creek Blvd.
Austin, TX 78705
LIVE SCORING: TexasSports.com
ITA RANKINGS (March 7)
Singles
1. Mikael Torpegaard, Ohio State
3. Hugo Di Feo, Ohio State
12. Christian Sigsgaard, Texas
34. Yuya Ito, Texas
66. Herkko Pollanen, Ohio State
70. Harrison Scott, Texas
108. Leonardo Telles, Texas
111. Martin Joyce, Ohio State
Doubles
15. Herkko Pollanen/Mikael Torpegaard, Ohio State
32. Hugo Di Feo/Martin Joyce, Ohio State
LAST MEETINGS
Texas and Ohio State first met last season in Columbus, where the Buckeyes prevailed by a 4-0 count (Jan. 31, 2016). The two teams met again last May in the third round of the NCAA Championships in Tulsa.
Ohio State assumed a 2-0 lead in that match before Texas pulled even at 2-all behind George Goldhoff's straight-sets win over the Buckeyes' top-ranked Mikael Torpegaard, who had not lost a match all season. Ohio State led 3-2 before Harrison Scott pulled the Longhorns even at three with his three-set win over Hugo Di Feo at third singles.
The deciding match between Texas' John Mee and Ohio State's Martin Joyce progressed to a third-set tiebreaker, where Joyce prevailed 7-3 to give OSU a 4-3 win.
PRE-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Michael Center
On Ohio State
Ohio State has one of the best if not the very best player in the country at No. 1 (singles) in Mikael Torpegaard. They have tremendous depth, and they're No. 1 for a reason. We've had some great matches with Ohio State the last few years. We'll have to come out and compete at all nine spots if we're going to have a chance against these guys.
On the 2016 NCAA Championships third-round match
It was a great match. The doubles matches were very close. George (Goldhoff) had a great win that day against (Mikael) Torpegaard, who I don't think had lost a dual match the whole year. Our senior Michael Riechmann played a great match. Harrison Scott got us the third point, and the match came down to a tiebreak. I remember we had a tremendous team effort all-around that day. Our guys have a lot of respect for Ohio State. We enjoy competing against them, but you have to bring your best or they'll get all over you.
On UT's first outdoor match this season in Austin
We've been on the road and it's hard to believe we haven't played an outdoor match at home this season. I know the guys would love for everybody to come out, have some lunch and enjoy the great weather and fantastic tennis.
TEXAS TAKES DOWN CALIFORNIA ON BAY AREA ROAD TRIP
Less than a week removed from its match against No. 3 Wake Forest, Texas took on a challenging road swing at No. 41 Stanford and No. 6 California. The Horns suffered a 4-1 defeat at Stanford but scored a big 4-3 win over the Golden Bears in Berkeley.
Texas takes on top-10 opponents in four of its next six matches starting with Ohio State. Later on, the Longhorns visit No. 7 Oklahoma (March 31) and No. 4 Oklahoma State (April 2). Texas welcomes No. 9 Baylor on April 15.
HORNS WINS TWO OF THREE AT NATIONAL INDOORS
Texas put together a productive stint at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships that yielded wins over No. 6 Florida and No. 12 Oklahoma State, and the Horns very nearly upset No. 2 Wake Forest, as well.
Texas opened the National Indoors by taking the doubles point over Florida and garnering singles wins from Harrison Scott, Leonardo Telles and Rodrigo Banzer in a 4-2 win over the seventh-seeded Gators.
The Longhorns fell just two games shy of knocking off No. 2 Wake Forest and advancing to the semifinals, but the Demon Deacons managed to edge the Longhorns, 4-3. Texas trailed 3-0 before picking up singles wins from Yuya Ito, Harrison Scott and Leonardo Telles to even the match at three. Rodrigo Banzer led Alan Gadjlev 4-3 in the third set before Gadjlev won the three ensuing games to close out the match.
Texas moved on to the consolation round on Sunday (Feb. 19) and took on Big 12 foe Oklahoma State. The Cowboys assumed a 1-0 lead after doubles, but the Longhorns answered with four wins in singles and dealt Oklahoma State a 4-2 defeat. The same two teams meet again on April 2 in Stillwater.
SIGSGAARD NAMED BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
The Big 12 Conference announced Jan. 24 the selection of Texas freshman Christian Sigsgaard as the league's Men's Tennis Player of the Week. It marked the first such honor for UT's newcomer from Denmark.
On Jan. 15, Sigsgaard defeated Arkansas' Mike Redlicki, who won the 2016 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in November and is currently ranked No. 6 in the ITA singles rankings. It marked Sigsgaard's third win over an ITA top-15 opponent this season.
Sigsgaard boasts an impressive 22-10 overall singles record after competing in the first two national championship events of the season – the ITA All-American Championships and the ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships.
PRE-SEASON NOTES
LONGHORNS FEATURED PROMINENTLY IN I.T.A. PRESEASON RANKINGS
Texas earned 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 gave Texas its highest singles ranking since 2015, when his fellow countryman Soren Hess-Olesen ranked sixth in the final singles rankings.
Freshman Yuya Ito joined his classmate Sigsgaard in the top-40 of the ITA singles rankings at No. 36, and sophomore Harrison Scott came in at No. 47. Ito joined Scott to rank 38th nationally in doubles, while sophomores Rodrigo Banzer and Leonardo Telles held 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 against UTSA and Abilene Christian before adding another win on Jan. 15 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
Texas hosts No. 24 Columbia on Friday, March 17 (4:30 p.m.) at Caswell Tennis Center and completes its home stand at Caswell on Tuesday, March 21 against UT Arlington (5:30 p.m.)
Players Mentioned
