The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Oklahoma
No. 1 Men’s Tennis claims outright Big 12 title
04.14.2019 | Men's Tennis
With a with 5-2 win at No. 21 Oklahoma, the Longhorns captured their fifth outright and eighth overall regular-season Big 12 championship with a perfect 5-0 record.
Austin, Texas – The No. 1 Texas Men's Tennis team won the outright 2019 Big 12 regular-season championship with a 5-2 victory at No. 21 Oklahoma in Norman on Sunday. It is the fifth outright and eighth overall title in the Big 12 for the Longhorns, who finished a perfect 5-0 in conference play, the fourth time they have been unblemished in the Big 12.
The last time Texas won an outright title or finished undefeated in the conference was 2010, which was also the last time it reached a record of 22-2, the mark it closes its overall regular season with.
"To win the outright title means a lot, and I can see it in the faces of these guys," interim head coach Bruce Berque said. "We know how tough it is to do that in this conference with six teams who are all usually ranked at least in the top 25 and some in the top 10. Our guys are just happy and excited and having fun, and they deserve that. We talked at the beginning of the season about needing to earn everything we get and they've done that. The leadership has been outstanding, especially from the seniors, and I can't thank them enough for that, so I have nothing to say but positive about what these players have accomplished."
After taking the doubles point for a 1-0 lead, it was seniors who stepped up in singles to build on it as No. 50 Harrison Scott and Colin Markes each picked ups wins. Scott finished first by defeating Ferran Calvo, 6-2, 6-4, at fourth singes for his fifth win the last six matches. Scott established himself early in the first set, jumping out to a 5-0 lead that he turned into the 6-2 win in that frame. The second set was tighter as Scott fell behind, 2-0, but ran off three straight games to take the lead. Calvo tied it in the next game, but Scott picked up the next two to go up, 5-3. The last two games were decided on deuce points with one for each player to give the match to Scott and improve his dual match record to 15-5.
Markes followed almost immediately after with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Mason Beiler at fifth singles to give the Longhorns a 3-0 edge. Markes also got off to a quick start by taking a 4-1 lead in the first set. Beiler rallied to tie it, 4-4, but Markes retook control and grabbed the final two games. The second set went back and forth up to a 3-3 tie, but Markes once again finished strong with a 3-0 run to secure his fourth-straight singles match and his 15th this season to just two losses.
Junior No. 7 Yuya Ito then captured the clinching point, putting Texas up 4-0, with his 6-3, 7-5 victory over No. 63 Jake Van Emburgh at second singles. Ito's first set closely followed the script of Markes' second set, as he broke a 3-3 tie with a 3-0 run for the decision. Ito's second set was also tied, 3-3, but this time Van Emburgh was the one to push out to a 5-3 lead. However, he would be unable to complete the win as Ito rallied for four straight games to claim the victory and outright title for Texas. It was Ito's team-leading 22nd dual match singles win to only one loss, including 10 wins over ranked opponents.
The teams played out the remaining matches with two of the three going to third sets. After No. 67 Alex Bakshi downed senior No. 73 Leonardo Telles, 6-4, 6-2, at third singles to make it 4-1, junior No. 8 Christian Sigsgaard earned his fourth singles win in five matches of Big 12 play, all of which were against ranked opponents. This time, he defeated No. 31 Spencer Papa, 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (7), at first singles to move to 11-5 overall against ranked foes in dual matches. Each of the first two sets followed similar scripts, just in reverse, as each player took a 3-1 lead that led to a 4-4 tie that was broken by winning the last two games. With the team match clinched, Sigsgaard and Papa played a superbreaker in the third set, and Sigsgaard emerged with the 10-7 victory.
That left just sixth singles between freshman Chih Chi Huang and Stefano Tsorotiotis. Tsorotiotis won the first set 6-2, while Huang took the second, 6-3 with each player establishing early leads in their respective winning sets. Further along than the Sigsgaard-Papa match when the team match was clinch, the players completed a full third set that ended in a 7-3 tiebreaker victory for Tsorotiotis.
Earlier, the Longhorns had rebounded to take the double point for the first time in their last four matches. Oklahoma picked up the first match in it as Bakshi and Tsorotiotis downed No. 5 Scott and Sigsgaard, 6-4. After both pairs picked up breaks early, Bakshi and Tsorotiotis grabbed another to snap a 3-3 tie and then held to get up 5-3 on the way to the 6-4 win. Huang and Ito answered with a 6-4 win of their own over Papa and Max Stewart at third doubles. That match stayed on serve up to 4-4 when the Texas pair broke and then held for their victory. The point then came down second doubles, which stayed on serve up to 5-5 when Markes and Telles broke on a deuce point to separate and then win on serve, 7-5.
Texas now moves on to the Big 12 Championship, which will be played in Lawrence, Kansas, from April 19-21, however as the No. 1 seed, the Longhorns receive a bye to the semfinals and will begin play on Saturday, April 20. The bracket and schedule for the Big 12 Championship will be announced later tonight.
No. 1 Texas 5, No. 21 Oklahoma 2
Singles – Order of Finish (4,5,2,3,1,6)
1. #8 Christian Sigsgaard (UT) def. #31 Spencer Papa (OU), 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (10-7)
2. #7 Yuya Ito (UT) def. #63 Jake Van Emburgh (OU), 6-3, 7-5
3. #67 Alex Bakshi (OU) def. #73 Leonardo Telles (UT), 6-4, 6-2
4. #50 Harrison Scott (UT) def. Ferran Calvo (OU), 6-2, 6-4
5. Colin Markes (UT) def. Mason Beiler (OU), 6-4, 6-3
6. Stefano Tsorotiotis (OU) def. Chih Chi Huang (UT), 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3)
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,3,2)
1. Alex Bakshi/Stefano Tsorotiotis (OU) def. Harrison Scott/Christian Sigsgaard (UT), 6-4
2. Colin Markes/Leonardo Telles (UT) def. Jake Van Emburgh/Ferran Calvo (OU), 7-5
3. Chih Chi Huang/Yuya Ito (UT) def. Max Stewart/Spencer Papa (OU), 6-4
Players Mentioned
