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No. 2 Men’s Tennis heads to the NCAA Championship semifinals
05.16.2019 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns defeated No. 9 TCU, 4-1, to reach the Final Four for the fifth time in tournament history.
Post-match quotes | Post-match press conference (Video) | Photo Gallery
Orlando, Fla. – The No. 2 Texas Men's Tennis team reached the NCAA Championship semifinals for the fifth time in tournament history after defeating No. 9 (10 seed) TCU, 4-1, on Thursday in Orlando. The Longhorns will play the winner of the match between Florida and Baylor on Saturday at 11 a.m. CT/12 p.m. ET.
It is the first appearance for Texas in the semifinals since 2009 when it capped three trips in four years (2006, '08). The other occasion came in 1993. Prior to the formation of the tournament when the final standings were determined by a poll, the Longhorns finished fourth or better five times, including 1946 (fourth), 1952 (t-fourth), 1955 (second), 1957 (third), and 1960 (t-fourth).
Unlike the regular-season meeting with TCU that Texas won, 6-1, the Longhorn jumped out early and grabbed the doubles point. They then picked up singles wins from senior Rodrigo Banzer, junior No. 12 Yuya Ito and senior No. 55 Harrison Scott for the overall victory.
"We knew TCU was going to play good tennis against us," interim head coach Bruce Berque said. "We had a similar match earlier in the season, which was 6-1, but it was highly competitive. All the sets were close, and we edged them out at the end of the sets, luckily that happened again today. Our guys were tough and they earned it."
After Texas took a 1-0 lead with that doubles point, TCU evened the match with a win by No. 4 Alex Rybakov over junior No. 7 Christian Sigsgaard, 6-4, 6-2, at first singles. Banzer almost immediately answered, topping Sander Jong by the same score at sixth singles to put the Longhorns back in front for good. Banzer broke for the first game of the match and moved out to a 2-0 lead, and from there, the rest of the set stayed on serve to the 6-4 win. In the second, Banzer once again broke early for a 2-0 lead. Jong took the next game, but Banzer ran off three-straight games to a 5-2 lead. Jong got the next one, but Banzer finished it on a deuce-point game. He is now 7-1 in his last 10 singles matches.
Soon after, Ito extended the lead with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over No. 28 Alastair Gray at second singles. The first set stayed on serve to a 4-4 tie when the players combined for three-straight breaks, two of which were deuce points, that left Ito up, 6-5, before he held in the final game to win. The second set was a different story as Gray won the first game, but Ito took it from there with six-straight games, finishing it on a deuce point for a 3-1 Texas overall lead. Ito is now 26-3 in dual match singles play with 11 wins over ranked opponents.
The clincher went to Scott, who downed Bertus Kruger, 7-6 (4), 6-3, at fourth singles. His first-set tiebreaker was one of two the Longhorns won in the match. Scott won the first two games, while Kruger won the next two and from there they alternated games up to the tiebreaker. In that frame, the points also alternated up to a 4-3 lead for Scott when he was able to extend to 5-3. Kruger took the next point but then Scott closed it out at 7-4. The second set started much like the first with Scott winning the first two games and Kruger answering with the next two. Later up 4-3, Scott finished off the final two games with the last coming on a deuce point. He is now 19-5 in dual match singles play.
In the two remaining unfinished matches, senior No. 80 Leonardo Telles was close to a win, up 7-6 (3), 4-3 over Reese Stalder at third singles. Senior Colin Markes also won his first set, 6-4, but was trailing, 5-6, in the second when play stopped.
In doubles, the Longhorns took down a pair of ranked duos. No. 5 Scott and Sigsgaard struck first with a 6-2 win over No. 15 Gray and Rybakov to avenge a loss in the regular season match-up. The match stayed on serve with Scott and Sigsgaard holding a 2-1 lead when they first broke on a deuce point for a 3-1 lead, and then held on a deuce point for a 4-1 advantage. TCU picked up the next game before the Texas pair held and then broke again for the victory. It was their second-straight win over a top-30 team and they are now 5-1 in their last six matches against ranked foes.
The clincher for Texas came from Markes and Telles, who also avenged their regular-season loss to No. 22 Kruger and Reese, 6-3. It snapped a streak of three-straight defeats for Markes and Telles, who jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the match with a pair of breaks. TCU got one game back, and from there, each team grabbed a deuce-point game, first Texas for a 5-2 lead and then TCU for 5-3 before the Longhorns finished it at 6-3 for a 1-0 team lead. In the remaining match, Ito and freshman Chih Chi Huang were trailing, 5-3, to Fomba and Jong.
The Longhorns await the winner of tonight's match between No. 3 seed Florida and No. 6 seed Baylor and will play on Saturday, May 18, at 11 a.m. CT/12 p.m. ET.
No. 2 (2 seed) Texas 4, No. 9 (10 seed) TCU 1
Singles – Order of Finish (1,6,2,4)
1. #4 Alex Rybakov (TCU) def. #7 Christian Sigsgaard (UT), 6-4, 6-2
2. #12 Yuya Ito (UT) def. #28 Alastair Gray (TCU), 7-5, 6-1
3. #80 Leonardo Telles (UT) vs. Reese Stalder (TCU), 7-6 (3), 4-3, unf.
4. #55 Harrison Scott (UT) def. Bertus Kruger (TCU), 7-6 (4), 6-3
5. Colin Markes (UT) vs. Luc Fomba (TCU), 6-4, 5-6, unf.
6. Rodrigo Banzer (UT) def. Sander Jong (TCU), 6-4, 6-2
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2)
1. #5 Harrison Scott/Christian Sigsgaard (UT) def. #15 Alastair Gray/Alex Rybakov (TCU), 6-2
2. Colin Markes/Leonardo Telles (UT) def. #22 Bertus Kruger/Reese Stalder (TCU), 6-3
3. Chih Chi Huang/Yuya Ito (UT) vs. Sander Jong/Luc Fomba (TCU), 3-5, unf.
(UT)
Players Mentioned
