The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Columbia
No. 8 Men’s Tennis overpowers No. 24 Columbia, 4-1
03.17.2017 | Men's Tennis
Longhorns rally from early deficit and post four straight-sets singles wins en route to third straight victory.
AUSTIN, Texas – No. 8 Texas (16-4) put together an impressive showing in singles and dealt No. 24 Columbia (10-3) a 4-1 defeat Friday evening at Caswell Tennis Center. UT records its second win in three days and its third victory in the last week over a top-25 opponent.
Columbia won doubles contests at the second and third positions to nail down the doubles point, but the Longhorns responded with authority in singles.
Sophomore Rodrigo Banzer, fresh off of his match clincher two days ago against No. 2 Ohio State, made short work of Timothy Wang at sixth singles and won 6-0, 6-2 to even the team score at one. His classmate Leonardo Telles gave Texas the lead for good with his 6-1, 6-2 win over Adam Ambrozy at fifth singles.
Senior George Goldhoff carried his momentum from Wednesday's three-set thriller and put away Alex Keyser by a 6-2, 6-2 count at fourth singles to give the Horns a 3-1 lead. Sophomore Harrison Scott put the finishing touches on the Longhorns' 4-1 win with the clincher at No. 2 singles, a 6-4, 6-2 win over the Lions' 91st-ranked Victor Pham. The remaining matches were suspended.
Texas wraps its home stand on Tuesday when it hosts UT Arlington. First serve is set for 5:30 p.m. CT at Caswell Tennis Center.
POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Michael Center
On maintaining momentum after Ohio State win on Wednesday
We talked about it right after the (Ohio State) match. I told them to enjoy the win that night but the next day, it's on to the next one. We're going to be in this situation and if we're going to be a great team, we've got to emotionally put it on the line, come back and do it again and again. If we want to be a conference championship or a national championship team, that is what it takes. I think they met the challenge today. They brought the attitude and a mindset to compete. If we keep that mindset and keep competing like this, then that is all I can ask. We'll find out how good we can be at the very end."
On the play at the Nos. 4, 5 and 6 singles spots
They were awesome. We were so good at the bottom. From the very first game, I think we broke right out of the gate, got on top of them and never let up. It was simply a great job by those guys today.
Where the team is after three straight impressive wins
We've got to improve our doubles still. I'm still not satisfied with our doubles. Our goal is to get nine really competitive spots (between singles and doubles), where we can go out there and get wins at every spot in any moment or any time. We're getting closer to that. Hopefully by April, we'll be there.
No. 8 Texas 4, No. 24 Columbia 1
Doubles – Order of Finish: 3, 2
1 Leonardo Telles/George Goldhoff (UT) vs. No. 20 Victor Pham/Richard Pham (Columbia), 6-6, susp.
2 No. 67 Shawn Hadavi/Jackie Tang (Columbia) def. Colin Markes/Yuya Ito (UT), 7-6 (3)
3 Christopher Grant/Michal Rolski (Columbia) def. Christian Sigsgaard/Julian Zlobinsky (UT), 6-3
Singles – Order of Finish: 6, 5, 4, 2
1 No. 12 Christian Sigsgaard (UT) vs. No. 72 Shawn Hadavi (Columbia), 6-1, 4-6, susp.
2 No. 70 Harrison Scott (UT) def. No. 91 Victor Pham (Columbia), 6-4, 6-2
3 No. 34 Yuya Ito (UT) vs. No. 83 Jackie Tang (Columbia), 5-7, 1-4, susp.
4 George Goldhoff (UT) def. Alex Keyser (Columbia), 6-2, 6-2
5 No. 108 Leonardo Telles (UT) def. Adam Ambrozy (Columbia), 6-1, 6-2
6 Rodrigo Banzer (UT) def. Timothy Wang (Columbia), 6-0, 6-2
Players Mentioned
