The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
North Carolina
No. 8 Men’s Tennis preview: No. 6 North Carolina
01.31.2019 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns host a Top 10 matchup against the Tar Heels on Saturday at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center.
No. 8 Texas vs. No. 6 North Carolina
When: Sat., Feb. 2, 2019, 1 p.m.
Where: Weller Indoor Tennis Center, Austin, Texas
Live Stats: hookem.at/MTN-In-Stats
*Note: With the match taking place at the Weller Indoor Courts, there will not be a live stream available.
Notes
-North Carolina Series: Texas leads, 15-4
The Longhorns are looking for their third straight win over the Tar Heels after claiming 4-3 victories in 2018 in Chapel Hill and in 2015 at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center.
Last Meeting
No. 20 Texas 4, No. 6 North Carolina 3
March 4, 2018 • Chapel Hill, N.C.
Singles – Order of Finish: 5, 2, 6, 4, 1, 3
1. No. 1 William Blumberg (UNC) def. No. 118 Yuya Ito (UT), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
2. No. 44 Benjamin Sigouin (UNC) def. Christian Sigsgaard (UT), 6-3, 6-2
3. No. 62 Harrison Scott (UT) def. No. 105 Robert Kelly (UNC), 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3
4. No. 43 Leonardo Telles (UT) def. Simon Soendergaard (UNC), 7-6 (5), 6-4
5. Blaine Boyden (UNC) def. Adrian Ortiz (UT), 6-2, 6-0
6. No. 111 Rodrigo Banzer (UT) def. Joshua Peck (UNC), 6-4, 6-4
Doubles – Order of Finish: 2, 1
1. No. 3 Rodrigo Banzer/Leonardo Telles (UT) def. No. 6 William Blumberg/Robert Kelly (UNC), 6-3
2. Adrian Ortiz/Christian Sigsgaard (UT) def. Anu Kodali/Benjamin Sigouin (UNC), 6-2
3. Yuya Ito/Colin Markes (UT) vs. Simon Soendergaard/Mac Kiger (UNC), 5-5, unfinished
-The last time Texas defeated a top-10 team, it was No. 6 North Carolina in 2018 in Chapel Hill. Prior to that was in the third round of the 2017 NCAA Championships, when the Horns knocked out seventh-seeded Baylor.
-So far this season, the Longhorns have compiled a 25-2 singles record and a 13-1 doubles mark in dual match play while getting off to a 6-0 start. Texas is outscoring its opponents 31-2 in its first six matches.
-Texas will play its first indoor match of the spring season against No. 6 North Carolina in the Weller Indoor Tennis Center. The last time the two teams played there was in 2015 when the No. 10 Longhorns rallied to defeat the No. 8 Tar Heels, 4-3.
-The Longhorns are in their second season at the Texas Tennis Center. During its inaugural season, Texas posted a 10-2 record, including winning the 2018 Big 12 Tournament. Texas opened its home season with a 6-1 win over SMU on January 20, and swept the ITA Kickoff Weekend with wins versus Washington and Miami (Fla.) before sweeping a doubleheader against UTSA and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to move to 5-0 at home and 6-0 overall.
-Texas punched its ticket to the ITA National Indoor Championship with 4-0 sweeps over Washington and Miami (Fla.) in the Austin ITA Kickoff Weekend on Jan. 25-26. The ITA Indoors will take place in Chicago from Feb. 15-18. The Longhorns return to the national event after missing it in 2018 following a loss to Notre Dame in that year's Kickoff Weekend.
-Texas topped Ole Miss in the first dual match of the 2019 season, 7-0, on Jan. 16 at the USTA National Campus Collegiate Center in Orlando, Fla. The Longhorns took all six singles points plus the doubles point without dropping a set. Texas now holds a 4-1 all-time dual match record against Ole Miss.
It was the second time Texas and Ole Miss competed against each other in this first week of the spring season. The Longhorns posted 6-1 singles and 3-1 doubles marks against the Rebels in individual play at the Miami Invitational.
-No. 8 Texas' match versus Ole Miss was part of the United States Tennis Association Collegiate Series, which includes a total of 12 matches featuring 22 different teams throughout the season. It was the first of four matches in the series to be part of the introduction of the PlayFair Challenge System using PlaySight SmartCourt technology. The mission of PlayFair is to improve the level of sportsmanship throughout tennis with the goal of increasing participation in, enjoyment, and viewership of the sport. PlayFair is a feature of PlaySight's SmartCourt technology, enabling players to challenge line calls made by their opponents or an official's overrule using instant video replay (a concept in sports known as Video Assistant Refereeing, or VAR). Players and officials can review where the ball landed by looking at a multi-angle video replay on the PlaySight touchscreen kiosk or an iPad/tablet device. The other three contests will include the Florida State-Miami men's match on March 10, and two women's matches, Michigan-Duke on March 9 and Notre Dame-Iowa on March 12.
-Texas finished the Miami Invitational (Jan. 11-13) with an 18-5 singles record and an 11-1 doubles mark, earning more victories than its opponents (Miami, Ole Miss, Wisconsin) in each section of singles and doubles of the three-day tournament. In singles, the Longhorns finished with a 5-1 mark against Wisconsin, 7-3 against Miami, and 6-1 against Ole Miss, while in doubles they swept both Miami and Wisconsin in four matches and were 3-1 against Ole Miss.
-Texas was ranked No. 8 in the preseason Oracle Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division I Rankings released Jan. 9. It marked the second straight season the Longhorns have opened in that spot and they moved back into the Top 10 after finishing last season at No. 12. Texas was the top-rated Big 12 team in the poll, which featured five of the six conference members. Texas held that spot in each of the most recent rankings released Jan. 23 and 30.
-The Big 12 Conference men's tennis coaches unanimously selected Texas as the No. 1 team in the preseason conference poll, the league announced on Jan. 8. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team, so the Longhorns took all five first-place votes available to them and 25 points overall. Baylor and Oklahoma tied for second with 18 points.
-The Longhorns return a talented and experienced lineup that includes seven juniors or seniors back from its 2018 Big 12 title team, along with three newcomers. Head coach Michael Center enters his 19th season leading the team.
-Three singles players and two doubles pairs were rated in the post-fall Oracle/ITA Division I Men's Rankings. Junior Christian Sigsgaard jumped to No. 4 in singles after being rated No. 54 in the preseason rankings, while junior Yuya Ito also rose to No. 18 from No. 29. That made Texas one of four teams to have two players ranked in the Top 20, along with Georgia, Ohio State and USC. Freshman Chih Chi Huang entered the rankings for the first time in his career at No. 103.
-In doubles, senior Harrison Scott was ranked with two different partners, first with Sigsgaard at No. 33 and then with Colin Markes at No. 59.
-Prior to the fall, Scott (No. 47) and seniors Rodrigo Banzer (No. 61) and Leonardo Telles (No. 62) also appeared in the singles rankings.
-Full records of the Longhorns' fall season can be found here.
Players Mentioned
