The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Ohio State
No. 13 Men’s Tennis Preview: No. 2 Ohio State
02.01.2018 | Men's Tennis
Longhorns renew rivalry with the Buckeyes after winning last season’s thriller in Austin.
WHAT: No. 13 Texas (4-1) takes to the road for the first time this season and meets No. 2 Ohio State (4-0).
WHEN/WHERE
No. 13 Texas at No. 2 Ohio State
Saturday, Feb. 3 – Noon CT
Varsity Tennis Center – Columbus, Ohio
Live Scoring/Video: http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/m-tennis/live-stats.html
LAST MEETING
Texas and Ohio State have a history of engaging in lengthy, competitive matches, and last season's match in Austin (March 15, 2017) was no different. The Buckeyes won the doubles point for a 1-0 lead before all six singles matches played out at three sets apiece.
Ohio State pushed its cushion to 3-0 behind wins at the second and first singles, but the Longhorns ran the table and won the final four matches to close out a thrilling 4-3 victory.
SEASON NOTES
LONGHORNS POST FIRST WIN AT TEXAS TENNIS CENTER
Texas notched its first team victory at its new Texas Tennis Center last Sunday (Jan. 28) when it knocked off Tennessee in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend event. The Longhorns won the doubles point and added singles wins from Rodrigo Banzer, Yuya Ito and the clincher from Adrian Ortiz, as Texas dealt the visiting Volunteers a 4-1 defeat.
TEXAS SWEEPS OPENING WEEKEND
Wet weather forced the relocation Texas' season-opening, three-match homestand (Jan. 19 & 21), 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 hosted 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.
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.
LONGHORNS RANK NO. 8 IN ITA PRESEASON POLL
With a roster chocked full of talented, battle-tested veterans, Texas ranked No. 8 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's release of the preseason top-25 men's tennis poll.
The Longhorns carried 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 were featured in the top-25. TCU joined Texas in the top-10 at No. 10, while Baylor follows closely behind at No. 11 nationally.
Oklahoma State ranked 15th, Oklahoma came in at No. 18 and Texas Tech rounded out the Big 12 schools at the 24th slot. The Big 12 led 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.
Players Mentioned
