The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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Mississippi State (NCAA Championships Round of 16)
No. 11 Men's Tennis falls to No. 6 Mississippi State, 4-1 in NCAA round of 16
05.18.2018 | Men's Tennis
Longhorns’ season ends in the third round of the NCAA Championships
Highlights
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – No. 11 Texas picked up a singles win from junior Rodrigo Banzer and challenged for victories on several singles courts, but sixth-seeded Mississippi State (23-2) emerged with a 4-1 win over the Longhorns Friday in the third round of the NCAA Championships. Texas completes its season with a 19-7 overall record, a Big 12 tournament title and likely a top-15 final ranking.
Friday's match was scheduled to be contested outdoors at Wake Forest, but rain forced the relocation of the match 90 miles east to the indoor tennis facility at The University of North Carolina. MSU's Florian Broska and Trevor Foshey led off with a 6-4 win at third doubles over UT sophomore Yuya Ito and junior Colin Markes. At second doubles, Texas juniors Leonardo Telles and Adrian Ortiz broke for a 4-2 lead over MSU's 38th-ranked duo of Niclas Braun and Giovanni Oradini and went on to a 6-3 victory.
In the deciding match at first doubles, State's top-ranked duo of Nuno Borges and Strahinja Rakic picked up the one break they needed in the match's first game and held on for a 6-4 win over UT's 39th-ranked tandem of Harrison Scott and Christian Sigsgaard to take the doubles point.
The Bulldogs pushed their lead to 2-0 by way of Oradini's 6-2, 6-3 victory over UT's Ito at second singles. Banzer put the Horns on the board with his win over Broska at fifth singles. Banzer held serve for a 5-4 first-set lead and broke Broska in the ensuing game to take the set, 6-4. Banzer overpowered Broska in the second set and posted a 6-4, 6-1 win to cut the Bulldogs' lead to 2-1.
At third singles, UT's Scott dropped the first set to State's Rakic, 6-3. At 4-all in the second set, Scott broke Rakic's serve and served out the following game to close out a 6-4 second-set win. Rakic took control early on in the third set and put away the set 6-2 to give MSU a 3-1 match lead.
Mississippi State's Foshey took the first set off of UT's Ortiz at sixth singles, 6-4. Ortiz broke Foshey midway through the second set and cruised to a 6-3 second-set win. Ortiz broke for a 4-3 third-set lead, but Foshey broke back, held serve and broke Ortiz once more to close out a tight three-set win and finish off the victory for Mississippi State. The remaining two matches were suspended. Sigsgaard and State's second-ranked Borges engaged in a tight three-setter at first singles where Borges led 5-4 in the final set. Telles and State's Braun were knotted at four in the final set when their match was called.
Ito will contest the NCAA 64-player singles draw beginning next Wednesday in Winston-Salem. Banzer and Telles will compete in the 32-team doubles draw beginning next Thursday.
POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Michael Center
Mississippi State deserves a lot of credit. They've got a very good team. They sustained their level better than we did today. We got behind and we had opportunities in doubles. We had multiple opportunities at third doubles to get some breaks and we didn't quite execute. We had some lapses competitively that put us behind. We lost five first sets and we were up breaks in the third sets on all of the remaining matches. It looked like we had opportunities. We just didn't execute well enough all day long. Mississippi State sustained its level a little bit better than we did and that was the difference.
NCAA Championships Third Round (Round of 16)
No. 6 Mississippi State 4, No. 11 Texas 1
Doubles – Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1
1 No. 1 Nuno Borges/Strahinja Rakic (MSU) def. No. 39 Harrison Scott/Christian Sigsgaard (UT), 6-4
2 Leonardo Telles/Adrian Ortiz (UT) def. No. 38 Niclas Braun/Giovanni Oradini (MSU), 6-3
3 Florian Broska/Trevor Foshey (MSU) def. Yuya Ito/Colin Markes (UT), 6-4
Singles – Order of Finish: 2, 5, 3, 6
1 No. 2 Nuno Borges (MSU) vs. No. 110 Christian Sigsgaard (UT), 7-6 (3), 4-6, 5-4, susp.
2 No. 23 Giovani Oradini (MSU) def. No. 52 Yuya Ito (UT), 6-2, 6-3
3 No. 84 Strahinja Rakic (MSU) def. No. 89 Harrison Scott (UT), 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
4 Niclas Braun (MSU) vs. No. 93 Leonardo Telles (UT), 6-1, 4-6, 4-4, susp.
5 No. 104 Rodrigo Banzer (UT) def. Florian Broska (MSU), 6-4, 6-1
6 Trevor Foshey (MSU) def. Adrian Ortiz (UT), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
Players Mentioned
