The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Stanford
No. 8 Men’s Tennis Preview: Stanford and No. 6 California
03.09.2017 | Men's Tennis
Longhorns head west for challenging road swing at Stanford and California.
WHAT: No. 8 Texas (13-3) heads out for its final non-conference road trip and visits No. 41 Stanford and No. 6 California.
WHEN/WHERE
No. 8 Texas (13-3) at No. 41 Stanford (7-3)
Friday, March 10 – 3 p.m. PT (5 p.m. CT)
Taube Family Tennis Center – Palo Alto, California
LIVE SCORING/VIDEO: http://streamingtennis.com/Cardinal/
No. 8 Texas (13-3) at No. 6 California (9-2)
Saturday, March 11 – 2 p.m. PT (4 p.m. CT)
Hellman Tennis Complex – Berkeley, California
LIVE SCORING/VIDEO: http://www.calbears.com/sports/2013/4/17/208195810.aspx
LAST MEETINGS
California defeated Texas by a 4-0 count on Feb. 6, 2016 in Austin. Texas defeated Stanford 4-3 on Feb. 7, 2016 in Austin.
ITA RANKINGS UPDATE (March 7, Texas players)
Singles
12. Christian Sigsgaard
34. Yuya Ito
70. Harrison Scott
108. Leonardo Telles
TEXAS TAKES ON TOUGH STRETCH
Less than a week removed from its match against No. 3 Wake Forest, Texas embarks upon a challenging stretch during which it faces top-10 opponents in five of its next eight matches. Stanford, UT's opponent on Friday, currently ranks 41st in the ITA team rankings but is sure to rise considerably in the next team poll after upsetting No. 6 California on Tuesday (March 7).
UT meets its first top-10 opponent of this stretch on Saturday when it visits No. 6 California. The Horns return home next Wednesday (March 15) to host No. 1 Ohio State in a rematch of last year's thriller in the third round of the NCAA Championships, where the Buckeyes held on for a 4-3 win.
Texas hosts No. 24 Columbia on March 17, and after another home contest against UT Arlington, the Longhorns visit No. 7 Oklahoma and No. 4 Oklahoma State. Later on, Texas welcomes No. 9 Baylor (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.
Players Mentioned
