The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Notre Dame (ITA Kick-Off Weekend)
No. 8 Men’s Tennis Preview: ITA Kick-Off Weekend
01.25.2018 | Men's Tennis
Longhorns welcome Notre Dame, Tennessee and Minnesota for two-day event.
AUSTIN, Texas - No. 12 Texas (3-0) hosts one of 15 four-team sites for the annual ITA Kick-Off Weekend event being contested across the country this week. The school that wins both of its matches at the Austin site will advance to next month's ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Seattle.
Currently as scheduled, the Longhorns will take on Notre Dame Saturday at 1 p.m. while Minnesota will meet Tennessee at the same time at Texas Tennis Center. The two winners go head-to-head on Sunday at 1 p.m., as will the two losing teams in Saturday's matches.
Texas aims to play its first full match at Texas Tennis Center after opening the 12-court facility to the public last weekend. UT opened the facility with doubles play against UTSA (Jan. 19), but play was suspended after just 10 minutes due to light rain. That match and the Longhorns' subsequent matches against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and SMU were relocated indoors.
The threat of inclement weather this weekend may force the relocation of Saturday's matches indoors to Weller Tennis Center at UT Golf Club (2200 University Club Drive, Austin 78722). In that event, Minnesota would take on Tennessee Saturday at 10 a.m. with Texas facing off against Notre Dame at 1:30 p.m.
The Texas Tennis Center is located at 2100 Comal Street, just north of baseball's UFCU Disch-Falk Field and west of softball's McCombs Field. Admission is free of charge for all regular season matches. Parking is available for a small fee at the East Campus Garage adjacent to UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
The Texas Tennis Center, which will seat up to 1,200 spectators, opens to fans one hour in advance of first serve. Fans should note that the UT Athletics Clear Bag Policy will be in place for all matches at Texas Tennis Center. Concessions are available for purchase inside the facility.
CURRENT SCHEDULE (all matches at Texas Tennis Center as of Jan. 25)
Saturday, Jan. 27, 1 p.m.
No. 12 Texas vs. Notre Dame, 1 p.m., north courts
Tennessee vs. Minnesota, 1 p.m., south courts
Sunday, Jan. 28, 1 p.m.
Texas-Notre Dame winner vs. Tennessee-Minnesota winner, north courts
Texas-Notre Dame loser vs. Tennessee-Minnesota loser, south courts
Admission: Free
Parking: Available in the East Campus Garage (adjacent to UFCU Disch-Falk Field) for $5. Patrons will pull a ticket at the garage entrance and pay upon exiting.
Live Scoring: Links available at TexasSports.com and Twitter.com/TexasMTN (note: the link will vary depending on the location of the matches)
SEASON NOTES
TEXAS SWEEPS OPENING WEEKEND
Wet weather forced the relocation of all three home matches last weekend, but the eighth-ranked Longhorns took care of business nonetheless. Texas played out all seven points against UTSA and claimed a 7-0 victory over the Roadrunners. The Horns finished off a doubleheader sweep with their 4-0 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Texas opened the grand opening of the Texas Tennis Center (Jan. 21) before relocating offsite for its afternoon match against SMU. Once again, the UT never relinquished a point, as Longhorns knocked off the Mustangs, 4-0.
BANZER SELECTED AS BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
The Big 12 Conference announced the selection of Texas junior Rodrigo Banzer as the league's first Men's Tennis Player of the Week for the 2018 season (Jan. 16).
The 98th-ranked Banzer went 6-0 in singles and doubles and won the individual championship over the weekend at the Longhorn Invitational. Points were awarded for each singles and doubles win depending on their opponent's position in their lineup, and Banzer won the individual championship with room to spare.
Banzer, a native of La Paz, Bolivia, did not yield a set while winning his three singles matches. He improved to an impressive 15-3 in doubles alongside Leonardo Telles with three more doubles wins, which included a top-40 victory over Vanderbilt's 36th-ranked tandem of Lachlan McPhee and Billy Rowe.
LONGHORNS RANK NO. 8 IN ITA PRESEASON POLL
With a roster chocked full of talented, battle-tested veterans, Texas ranks No. 8 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's release of the preseason top-25 men's tennis poll.
The Longhorns carry the flag for the Big 12 Conference with their league-leading No. 8 ranking, and all six of the league's men's tennis schools are featured in the top-25. TCU joins Texas in the top-10 at No. 10, while Baylor follows closely behind at No. 11 nationally.
Oklahoma State ranks 15th, Oklahoma comes in at No. 18 and Texas Tech rounds out the Big 12 schools at the 24th slot. The Big 12 leads the nation with six schools in the preseason poll. The league's coaches took a vote for a men's tennis preseason poll, and Texas tied with TCU for the top spot, as the two schools split the six first-place votes. Baylor, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Texas Tech filled out the remainder of the coaches poll.
HORNS FEATURED PROMINENTLY IN I.T.A. INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS
In November, Texas accumulated six spots in the final ITA singles and doubles rankings of the fall. At No. 5 in doubles, juniors Rodrigo Banzer and Leonardo Telles solidify the Longhorns' highest-ranked doubles pair since September of 2014, when Lloyd Glasspool and Søren Hess-Olesen ranked fourth.
Banzer and Telles reached the quarterfinals at the ITA All-American Championships, and they knocked off the nation's top-ranked tandem from Florida at the ITA National Fall Championships. The Texas tandem won the doubles title at the Cajun Tennis Classic and reached the semifinals at the ITA Texas Regional Championships on their way to a 12-3 fall record.
Junior Harrison Scott and sophomore Yuya Ito rank 23rd in doubles after producing a 5-1 doubles record throughout the fall. Scott entered the fall with a No. 22 singles ranking, and he ended the fall still among the top-30 at the No. 27 slot. The Canadian reached the quarterfinals at the Oracle ITA Masters, the third round of the ITA All-American Championships and the second round of the ITA National Fall Championships.
Telles ranks a career-best 37th in the ITA fall singles rankings after putting together a breakthrough semester of tennis. The Brazilian won the ITA Texas Regional Championship and qualified for his first major, the ITA National Fall Championships.
Senior John Mee wrapped the fall with a career-best No. 52 singles record after compiling an impressive 12-3 fall singles mark. Banzer also notched a career best in singles with his No. 98 national ranking. The native of Bolivia posted four fall wins and defeated Kentucky's 34th-ranked Ryotaro Matsumara at the Cajun Tennis Classic. Texas also features Christian Sigsgaard, the 2017 Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year.
Players Mentioned
