The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Tennessee Tech
No. 2 Men’s Tennis preview: NCAA Championship First and Second Rounds
05.02.2019 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns face Tennessee Tech on Friday at noon, while also hosting No. 23 Alabama and No. 37 South Florida.
No. 2 Texas vs. Tennessee Tech
When: Friday, May 3, 2019; noon CT
Where: Texas Tennis Center, Austin, Texas
Tournament Bracket: https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/tennis-men/d1
Live Video: hookem.at/Watch-Tennis
Live Stats: hookem.at/MTN-Stats
Indoor Live Video: Should play move to the Weller Indoor Tennis Center, there will be no live video available.
Indoor Live Stats: hookem.at/MTN-In-Stats
NCAA Men's Tennis First and Second Round Schedule
All times Central
Friday, May 3 – First Round
Noon: Alabama vs. South Florida
Noon: TEXAS vs. Tennessee Tech
Saturday, May 4 – Second Round
4 p.m.: Alabama/South Florida winner vs. TEXAS/Tennessee Tech winner
NOTES
-Texas earns No. 2 overall seed for 2019 NCAA Tournament
The Longhorns earned their 28th consecutive bid to the NCAA Championships and their 37th overall selection since the NCAA bracketed tournament was introduced in 1977 and hold a 57-36 (.613) record. Texas hosts the opening rounds of the NCAA Championships for a third-straight year and for the fifth time in the last six years. The Longhorns' top finishes came in 1955 and 2008 as the national runner-up and they have reached at least the round of 16 in each of the last five years with two quarterfinals appearances in 2014 and 2017.
-Texas vs. Alabama/South Florida/Tennessee Tech in 2018-19 tournament play
The Longhorns have only had one singles match this year against any of the three regional participants. Leonardo Telles defeated Chase Ferguson of South Florida, 6-3, 6-4, in the semifinals of the Cajun Classic in Lafayette, La., on Sept. 22 and went on to win the tournament championship.
-Tennessee Tech Series: Texas leads, 1-0
This will not be the first meeting between Texas and Tennessee Tech in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The two teams met in Austin in 2006 with the Longhorns taking a 4-0 win. That year, Texas finished with a record of 26-4, a trip to the NCAA Semifinals and a No. 3 national ranking.
Last Meeting
No. 3 Texas 4, Tennessee Tech 0
May 13, 2006 • Austin, Texas • Penick-Allison Tennis Center
Singles – Order of Finish (5,6,2)
1. No. 9 Travis Helgeson (UT) vs. Shunsuke Shimizu (TTU), 6-2, 5-3, unf.
2. No. 35 Roger Gubser (UT) def. Borja Zarco (TTU), 6-3, 6-1
3. No. 47 Callum Beale (UT) vs. Tiago Gilioli (TTU), 6-2, 4-3, unf.
4. Miguel Reyes Varela (UT) vs. Juan Carlos Rebaza (TTU), 6-1, 4-2, unf.
5. Michael Venus (UT) def. Juan Pable Gomez (TTU), 6-1, 6-2
6. Hubert Chodkiewicz (UT) def. James Bennett (TTU) - 6-3, 6-2
Doubles – Order of Finish (2,1)
1. No. 29 Beale/Reyes Varela (UT) def. Shimizu/Chappell (TTU), 8-3
2. Chodkiewicz/Gubser (UT) def. Gomez/Rebaza (TTU), 8-3
3. Helgeson/Diaz Barriga (UT) vs. Gilioli/Zarco (TTU), 7-2, unf.
-Alabama Series: Texas leads, 7-0
Texas leads the all-time series with Alabama, 7-0, however the two teams have never met in the NCAA Tournament. The last meeting took place in 2014 when the Longhorns downed the Crimson Tide, 4-0, in a regular-season matchup in Austin.
Last Meeting
No. 14 Texas 4, No. 32 Alabama 0
Feb. 1, 2014 • Austin, Texas • Penick-Allison Tennis Center
Singles – Order of Finish (2,4,5)
1. #75 Søren Hess-Olesen (UT) vs. #14 Daniil Proskura (UA), 6-4, 1-2, unf.
2. #35 Lloyd Glasspool (UT) def. #51 B. O'Shaughnessey (UA), 6-3, 6-2
3. #24 George Goldhoff (UT) vs. Nikko Madregallejo (UA), 6-4, 3-1, unf.
4. Adrien Berkowicz (UT) def. Saxon Buehning (UA), 6-1, 6-1
5. Nick Naumann (UT) def. Stuart Kenyon (UA), 6-1, 6-1
6. David Holiner (UT) vs. Andrew Goodwin (UA), 6-4, 4-1, unf.
Doubles – Order of Finish (3,2)
1. #5 Lloyd Glasspool/Søren Hess-Olesen (UT) vs. Nikko Madregallejo/Daniil Proskura (UA), 5-5 (4-6), unf.
2. George Goldhoff/Nick Naumann (UT) def. B. O'Shaughnessey/Stuart Kenyon (UA), 6-5 (7-5)
3. Jacoby Lewis/David Holiner (UT) def. Saxon Buehning/Andrew Goodwin (UA), 6-3
-South Florida Series: Texas leads, 1-0
Texas leads the all-time series with South Florida, 1-0, taking a 7-0 win in Austin during a regular-season meeting.
Last Meeting
No. 20 Texas 7, No. 57 South Florida 0
March 5, 2005 • Austin, Texas • Penick-Allison Tennis Center
Singles – Order of Finish (5,3,2,4,6,1)
1. Callum Beale (UT) def. Uli Kiendl (USF) 6-0, 4-6, 6-3
2. Travis Helgeson (UT) def. Federico Barton (USF) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
3. Milan Mihailovic (UT) def. Juan Barragan (USF) 6-1, 6-4
4. Luis Diaz Barriga (UT) def. Dillon Brozyna (USF) 7-5, 6-2
5. Hubert Chodkiewicz (UT) def. Juan Carlos Gomez (USF) 4-0, ret.
6. Bernhard Deussner (UT) def. Mark Gattiker (USF) 1-6, 6-1, 7-5
Doubles – Order of Finish (2,1,3)
1. Beale/Helgeson (UT) def. Kiendl/Barragan (USF) 8-4
2. Barriga/Snyder (UT) def. Barton/Brozyna (USF) 8-4
3. Chodkiewicz/Deussner (UT) def. Gattiker/Dane Vernon (USF) 8-5
-Texas in the ITA Rankings
Texas is at No. 2 in the latest ITA Team rankings released May 1. It is the fourth-straight week for the Longhorns to be ranked either No. 1 or No. 2. Prior to that, the Longhorns were last ranked as high as No. 2 in 2009.
Texas also had five individual listings with four in singles and one pair in doubles. Texas was one of only two teams to have two singles players ranked in the top 15 (Wake Forest), and is the only one to have a doubles pair also ranked in the top 15.
Singles
No. 7 Christian Sigsgaard
No. 12 Yuya Ito
No. 55 Harrison Scott
No. 80 Leonardo Telles
Doubles
No. 5 Harrison Scott/Christian Sigsgaard
-Tennessee Tech in the ITA Rankings
Tennessee Tech is not ranked in the latest ITA Team rankings released May 1.
Singles
N/A
Doubles
N/A
-Alabama in the ITA Rankings
Alabama is ranked No. 23 in the latest ITA Team rankings released May 1.
Singles
No. 47 Mazen Osama
No. 106 Edson Ortiz
Doubles
No. 11 Mazen Osama/Patrick Kaukovalta
-South Florida in the ITA Rankings
South Florida is ranked No. 37 in the latest ITA Team rankings released May 1.
Singles
No. 15 Alberto Barroso-Campos
Doubles
No. 88 Alberto Barroso-Campos/Pierre Luquet
-Texas in the individual NCAA Championships
Texas had three singles players and one doubles pair selected to compete individually in the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championships, the NCAA announced on April 30. The singles players are juniors Yuya Ito and Christian Sigsgaard, and senior Harrison Scott, while the doubles team is Sigsgaard and Scott in a field that is composed of 64 singles players and 32 doubles teams. The first-round draws will be decided at a later date. The top eight singles seeds were established in order with Sigsgaard earning the No. 7 spot, while an undesignated grouping of seeds 9-16 was also released which included Ito. Similarly in doubles, seeds 1-4 were designated, while seeds 5-8, of which the duo of Sigsgaard and Scott were a part, was not. This is the third-straight year Ito has qualified for the NCAA singles draw, earning All-America honors two years ago as freshman, while both Sigsgaard and Scott qualified two years ago.
-Texas Big 12 Postseason Honors
Co-Player of the Year
Christian Sigsgaard
Coach of the Year
Bruce Berque
All-Big 12 Team
Christian Sigsgaard, Singles First Team (Unanimous)
Yuya Ito, Singles First Team (Unanimous)
Harrison Scott, Singles Second Team
Christian Sigsgaard/Harrison Scott, Doubles First Team
Individual Champions
Christian Sigsgaard, Co-No. 1 Singles
Yuya Ito, No. 2 SIngles
Leonardo Telles, Co-No. 3 Singles
Colin Markes, No. 5 Singles
Rodrigo Banzer, Co-No. 6 Singles
This marks the fifth time a Longhorn has been named Big 12 Player of the Year with the last coming in 2014 in Søren Hess-Olesen. It was also won by Dimitar Kutrovsky in 2010, Travis Helgeson in 2006 and Jean Simon in 2002. Sigsgaard shared this year's award with Alex Rybakov of TCU and had also previously been Freshman of the Year in 2017.
For All-Big 12 selections, this is the third time for both Sigsgaard and Scott in singles after Sigsgaard was on the first team last year and second team two seasons ago, while Scott was on the second team in both of those years. It is the second-straight time for the duo to make it in first-team doubles, while it is also the second-straight for Ito in first-team singles.
Berque becomes the third Texas coach to be named Coach of the Year for a total of eight times in the award's history with Michael Center winning it five times and Dave Snyder twice. Berque led Texas to a 5-0 record in Big 12 play en route to the outright regular-season championship.
-Big 12 All-Tournament Team
Texas had three singles players and one doubles pair named to the 2019 Big 12 All-Tournament Team. The four total selections were the most of any school. The group included junior Christian Sigsgaard at first singles, seniors Harrison Scott and Rodrigo Banzer at fourth and sixth singles, respectively, and Sigsgaard and Scott at first doubles. It marks the second-straight year for Scott and Banzer to make the team in singles, as they were at third and fifth last year, and also for Scott and Sigsgaard at first doubles.
-Big 12 Champions
With their 4-3 win at No. 26 Oklahoma State, Texas clinched a share of their eighth Big 12 regular-season championship and then won it outright with a 5-2 win at No. 21 Oklahoma. 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.
-Trending
Team: Texas is now 23-3 this season which is its best record through 26 matches since 2010 (24-2).
Rodrigo Banzer: Banzer has gone 5-1 in his last seven matches on his way to sharing the No. 6 Big 12 position championship and being named to the Big 12 All-Tournament team. Despite not being in the lineup for the two matches the previous weekend, Banzer returned against Texas Tech and topped Artem Kapshuk and then Jimmy Bendeck of Baylor at sixth singles. He remained in the lineup against TCU and defeated Sander Jong in a third set super breaker before falling in three sets against Oklahoma State. In his two matches in the Big 12 Championship, he won against Stefano Tsorotiotis of Oklahoma and was leading his unfinished match against Kyrylo Tsygura of Baylor. He also played sixth singles in a stretch of four of the previous five matches for his first action since the North Carolina match (Feb. 2). This season he is 9-3 in dual match singles play and 20-9 overall including tournaments.
Chih Chi Huang: Huang has had a solid freshman campaign, posting an 11-5 dual match singles record. He has played singles in all but seven matches this season, which all came in the second half of the season. He notched wins over three ranked opponents during tournament play, but has yet to play one in dual matches playing fifth and sixth singles. In doubles, he has paired with Yuya Ito and recorded a 13-5 mark at third doubles with losses only to pairs from Illinois, USC, Oklahoma State, Baylor and Ohio State, which they redeemed in the second meeting against the Buckeyes. They also beat No. 21 Daniel Cukierman and Tanner Smith of USC, who defeated them in the second meeting. They were sitting on triple match point against Columbia and were also leading 5-4 against Baylor when those matches went unfinished.
Yuya Ito: Ito has shown himself to be one of the top players in college tennis, rising as high as No. 7 in the rankings, while earning first-team All-Big 12 honors and a selection to the individual NCAA Championship in singles. He leads the team with 22 dual match singles wins to only three losses, all of which came against ranked foes, with 10 wins over ranked opponents, predominantly at second singles. Those include straight-sets victories over No. 10 Daniel Cuikerman of No. 15 USC, No. 16 Jack Lin in the win over No. 12 Columbia, No. 20 Alastair Gray in the win No. 10 TCU, No. 28 Kyle Seelig in the victory over No. 1 Ohio State, and No. 40 Johannes Schretter in the win over No. 6 Baylor and No. 63 Jake Van Emburgh in the win over No. 21 Oklahoma. Ito is 32-5 including tournament play. In doubles, he has paired with Chih Chi Huang and recorded a 13-5 mark at third doubles with losses only to pairs from Illinois, USC, Oklahoma State, Baylor and Ohio State, which they redeemed in the second meeting against the Buckeyes. They also beat No. 21 Daniel Cukierman and Tanner Smith of USC, who defeated them in the second meeting. They were sitting on triple match point against Columbia and were also leading 5-4 against Baylor when those matches went unfinished.
Colin Markes: Markes claimed the outright No. 5 Big 12 position championship with a 5-0 record in regular season play. He had won 15 straight singles matches going back to tournament play prior to dropping his match against James Trotter of Ohio State. He rebounded against Timonthy Wang of Columbia, fell to Riley Smith of USC, but again recovered against Sven Lah of Baylor in clinching that match, along with downing Luc Fomba of TCU, Luke Hammond of Oklahoma State and Mason Beiler of Oklahoma twice. He is now 16-3 in dual match play. During that time, he has only one unfinished match, which was left on triple match point in his favor against No. 86 Alex Kobelt of Ohio State in the first meeting. He was the only player not from Ohio State or Wake Forest named to the ITA Indoors All-Tournament Team and was at fifth singles, which is where he has primarily played for Texas. In doubles, he partners with Leonardo Telles at second doubles and the pair has amassed a 13-8 dual match record, including the clincher to give Ohio State its first doubles point loss of the season.
Harrison Scott: Scott was just named second-team All-Big 12 and was selected for the individual NCAA Championship in both singles and doubles. He has played fourth singles most of the season and registered a 16-5 dual match singles record that includes wins over No. 31 Laurens Verboven and No. 71 Logan Smith of USC, No. 61 Josh Peck of North Carolina and No. 76 Will Little of Baylor. His three losses against ranked foes all went three sets with one to a third-set tiebreaker. He was also up a set and in a second-set tiebreaker against No. 81 Alex Kobelt of Ohio State before their match went unfinished. He and Christian Sigsgaard combine to make up one of the best doubles teams in the country and were just named first-team All-Big 12 for 2019. They've posted an 11-5 record in dual match play, all at first doubles, and a 19-7 record going back to tournament play. Most recently, they've won their last three matches against ranked opponents, including shutting out No. 1 Sven Lah and Jimmy Bendeck in the Big 12 Championship final. At the ITA Indoors, they defeated a pairing of JJ Wolf and Martin Joyce of Ohio State, and against Rice downed the No. 40 duo of Sumit Sarkar and Eric Rutledge. Against Columbia, they topped the No. 12 pair Jack Lin and William Matheson impressively at 6-1, and they were leading both the No. 9 pair Bjorn Thomson and Parker Wynn of Texas Tech and the No. 16 duo Brandon Holt and Riley Smith of USC when their matches went unfinished.
Christian Sigsgaard: Sigsgaard is one of the best players in college tennis, was just named Big 12 Co-Player of the Year and was selected for the individual NCAA Championship in both singles and doubles. He has played first singles for the Longhorns in every match he has played in. In dual match play, he has faced 20 ranked opponents and is 12-5 with three unfinished. Although he fell to No. 2 JJ Wolf at ITA Indoors, he won his next two matches against No. 5 Jan Zielinski of Georgia and No. 25 Alexis Galarneau of NC State. He is 35-11 overall in singles play this year and 22-9 against ranked foes. Against Ohio State at home, he was up 2-0 in the third set against No. 27 John McNally before their match went unfinished, but in six of his next seven matches, he downed No. 41 Victor Pham of Columbia, No. 99 Parker Wynn of Texas Tech, No. 45 Matias Soto of Baylor, and No. 4 Alex Rybakov of TCU and he twice defeated No. 31 Spencer Papa of Oklahoma. He and Harrison Scott combine to make up one of the best doubles teams in the country and were just named first-team All-Big 12 for 2019. They've posted an 11-5 record in dual match play, all at first doubles, and a 19-7 record going back to tournament play. Most recently, they've won their last three matches against ranked opponents, including shutting out No. 1 Sven Lah and Jimmy Bendeck in the Big 12 Championship final. At the ITA Indoors, they defeated a pairing of JJ Wolf and Martin Joyce of Ohio State, and against Rice downed the No. 40 duo of Sumit Sarkar and Eric Rutledge. Against Columbia, they topped the No. 12 pair Jack Lin and William Matheson impressively at 6-1, and they were leading both the No. 9 pair Bjorn Thomson and Parker Wynn of Texas Tech and the No. 16 duo Brandon Holt and Riley Smith of USC when their matches went unfinished.
Leonardo Telles: Telles had a seven-match winning streak snapped against No. 6 Baylor in the regular season, however he immediately rebounded with a win over Reese Stalder of No. 10 TCU and a clincher against Mathieu Scaglia of Oklahoma State for a 4-3 win leading to a share of the Big 12 No. 3 position championship. The streak had included wins over No. 91 Adam Ambrozy when he clinched against No. 12 Columbia, No. 69 Martin Joyce when he clinched against No. 1 Ohio State, No. 30 Zeke Clark of Illinois at the ITA Indoors and No. 55 Brian Cernoch of North Carolina. He was leading No. 28 Laurens Verboven of USC, 6-4, 4-4, when his match went unfinished on March 24. He is 13-5 in dual match singles play mostly at the third position and is 20-7 this year in singles overall. In doubles, he partners with Colin Markes at second doubles and the pair has pair has a 13-8 dual match record, including the clincher to give Ohio State its first doubles point loss of the season.
-APR Public Recognition Award
Texas earned a Public Recognition Award for its latest multi-year NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate (APR), the NCAA announced May 1. The awards are given each year to teams scoring in the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sport, based on their most recent multi-year Academic Progress Rates. The most recent APRs are multi-year rates based on scores from the 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 academic years.
-Dual match success
So far this season, the Longhorns have compiled an 103-32 (.763) singles record and a 41-18 (.695) doubles mark in dual match play while building a 23-3 record. Texas is outscoring its opponents, 121-38.
-Twice as nice
Texas defeated rival Oklahoma for the second time in a week when they downed the No. 25 Sooners, 4-2, in the semifinals of the Big 12 Championship in Lawrence, Kansas, on April 20. The Longhorns won the doubles point, while Christian Sigsgaard beat No. 36 Spencer Papa at first singles and Colin Markes clinched at fifth. The two teams had closed the regular season in Norman on April 14 with the Longhorns taking that match, 5-2, and clinching the outright Big 12 title.
-Capper against the Cowboys
Up 3-1 at No. 26 Oklahoma State with a lead in a fifth match, Texas had to hold off a comeback attempt by the Cowboys that tied the match at 3-3 and went to a third-set in the final match. Leonardo Telles prevailed in the clincher for the Longhorns to help Texas clinch at least a share of the Big 12 Championship.
-Four in row for Texas in Big 12 honors
Junior Christian Sigsgaard was named the Big 12 Co-Player of the Week on April 2 and April 9. It marked his second and third conference weekly honors of the season with the previous coming on March 5. It was also the fourth straight week a Longhorn received the honor after junior Yuya Ito did the previous two weeks. For the week of April 9, Sigsgaard topped No. 4 Alex Rybakov at first singles, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, in leading Texas to a 6-1 road win at No. 10 TCU where the Longhorns swept the singles matches. For the week of April 2, Sigsgaard defeated two ranked singles players in No. 99 Parker Wynn of Texas Tech and No. 45 Matias Soto of Baylor in leading Texas to two team wins over those ranked opponents.
-Topping TCU
Texas went on the road for the first time in eight matches and the first time in Big 12 play and secured a 6-1 win over No. 10 TCU in Fort Worth on April 6. It snapped a four-match winning streak for the Horned Frogs in the series. After dropping the doubles point for just the fourth time this season, Texas stormed back and swept the six singles matches for their fifth top-10 win of the season.
-Senior Day
Texas honored six seniors after the match against Baylor including Rodrio Banzer, Johnny Goodwin, Colin Markes, Adrian Ortiz, Harrison Scott and Leonardo Telles. This group of seniors has led Texas to a Big 12 Title, three appearances in the Round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament with one quarterfinals appearance, and 83 wins over the past four years. All six seniors are on pace to graduate by next spring. Ortiz retired from this year's roster due to injury.
-Backing down the Bears
The Longhorns took down No. 6 Baylor, 4-3, in their final home regular season match at the Texas Tennis Center. It was the Horns' fourth-straight win over the Bears and their fourth top-10 victory this season. After losing only their third doubles point of the season, Texas rebounded in singles, clinching at 4-2 before winning with a 4-3 final.
-Facing the best
Texas is officially 12-3 against ranked opponents based on the rankings available at the time of the matches, however that doesn't tell the full story of the quality of their opponents since the rankings expand during the season. The Longhorns have a 16-3 mark against teams currently rated in the top 50 by the ITA including No. 1 Ohio State (win and loss), No. 6 Baylor, No. 8 USC (win and loss), No. 9 TCU, No. 10 North Carolina, No. 15 Illinois, No. 16 Columbia, No. 18 Georgia, No. 19 NC State, No. 21 Oklahoma, No. 22 Texas Tech, No. 25 Oklahoma State, No. 32 Ole Miss, No. 33 Miami (Fla.) and No. 47 Arkansas.
-Seven-match homestand
Texas opened its seven-match homestand with three wins in five days, including a 6-0 sweep over No. 35 NC State, a 5-2 win over Rice, and a 4-1 victory over No. 1 Ohio State. After an eight-day break, the Longhorns picked up where they left off with an impressive 6-1 win over No. 12 Columbia before dropping their first home match of the season to No. 15 USC, 4-2. They finished the homestand with a record of 6-1 after a 7-0 sweep of No. 29 Texas Tech and a 4-3 win against No. 6 Baylor. Of the seven opponents, six were ranked with four in the top 20.
-A sweep to open Big 12 play
Texas opened Big 12 play in emphatic fashion with a 7-0 sweep over No. 29 Texas Tech on March 29 at the Texas Tennis Center. The Longhorns established themselves early with the doubles point with wins by Chih Chi Huang and Yuya Ito, and Colin Markes and Leonardo Telles. The No. 7 pair of Harrison Scott and Christian Sigsgaard were leading the No. 9 duo of Bjorn Thomson and Parker Wynn when the point was won. Texas then got singles wins at all six spots by Sigsgaard, Ito, Telles, Scott, Huang and Rodrigo Banzer.
-Back-to-back Big 12 Player of the Week honors for Ito
Junior Yuya Ito earned back-to-back Big 12 Player of the Week honors on March 19 and March 26. For the week of March 26, Ito defeated two top-20 players in No. 16 Jack Lin of Columbia and No. 10 Daniel Cukierman of USC in straight sets. The Longhorns defeated Columbia, 6-1, but fell to USC, 4-2. For his efforts in leading Texas to wins over Rice and No. 1 Ohio State, Ito earned his first Big 12 weekly honor of the season on March 19. Ito defeated No. 28 Kyle Seelig of Ohio State in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, including opening the match with a run of seven straight games, while also pairing with freshman Chih Chi Huang in topping Seelig and John McNally (No. 27 singles). The doubles win was part of the Buckeyes' first lost doubles point all season. Earlier in the week on Tuesday, Ito also topped Jacob Eskeland of Rice, 6-2, 6-2.
-A pair of Top 15s
Texas had back-to-back top-15 foes on March 22 and 24 and picked up an impressive win on the front end of that pairing by topping No. 12 Columbia, 6-1. After grabbing the doubles point, the Longhorns took the top three singles matches, which all featured ranked players on both sides, in straight sets. They dropped a hard-fought match to No. 15 USC, 4-2, where they lost just their second doubles point of the year on a swing of dropping two late deuce-point games at second doubles. Had they taken that point, the match would have come down to the final singles match, which Leonardo Telles was leading before it went unfinished.
-Taking down No. 1
The Longhorns took down No. 1 Ohio State, 4-1, on March 14 at the Texas Tennis Center. The win included handing the Buckeyes their first doubles point loss of the season with wins by Colin Markes and Leonardo Telles at second doubles, and by Chih Chi Huang and Yuya Ito at third doubles. Texas posted singles victories by Ito over No. 28 Kyle Seeling at second singles, the clincher by Telles over No. 69 Martin Joyce at third singles, and by Rodrigo Banzer over Hunter Tubert at sixth singles. The Longhorns were also leading the two remaining matches that went unfinished with Christian Sigsgaard against No. 27 John McNally, and Harrison Scott against No. 81 Alex Kobelt.
-Flying past the Owls
The Longhorns played their second home match in three days as part of three matches in five days and earned a 5-2 win over Rice on March 12 at the Texas Tennis Center. After having two consecutive matches where doubles weren't played due to weather concerns, Texas took the doubles point highlighted by No. 13 Harrison Scott and Christian Sigsgaard downing No. 40 Sumit Sarkar and Eric Rutledge. They then won four of six singles matches with wins by Yuya Ito, Harrison Scott, Colin Markes and Chih Chi Huang in the second-fifth positions.
-Sweeping the Pack
Texas opened up its seven-match homestand with a solid 6-0 sweep of No. 35 NC State on March 10. The teams played only singles due to weather concerns and after a bit of slow start in a number of the matches, the Longhorns responded in each case, including two wins that came after dropping the opening set.
-Sigsgaard named Big 12 Player of the Week
Christian Sigsgaard was named Big 12 Men's Tennis Player of the Week on March 5. It marked his first conference weekly honor of the season. Sigsgaard, who had been No. 8 ITA singles rankings, defeated No. 5 Jan Zielinski in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, to lead Texas to a 4-2 road victory at Georgia. Sigsgaard then moved up to No. 4 in the rankings. At the time, it was Sigsgaard's fifth win over a ranked opponent in dual match play, all at first singles, and his 15th including tournament play.
-Winning in Athens
In a match that saw only singles play and was split between outdoors and indoors, the No. 3 Texas took a 4-2 road win over Georgia in Athens on March 3. In order to attempt to beat incoming rain, the teams began with singles on the outdoor courts. However, after all but one of the matches had reached the second set, the rains came and led to a brief delay before play began inside.
-Quick Change
Texas' match at Tulane scheduled for Feb. 26 was cancelled due to weather-related issues, but the Longhorns found a quick replacement match in hosting University of the Incarnate Word for that same day. Texas picked up a sweep over the Cardinals, 7-0, in the match.
-Good in the classroom
Senior Johnny Goodwin was named one of four Texas student-athletes to be named a recipient of the Big 12's 2019 Dr. Gerald Lage Academic Achievement Award. To be eligible, an honoree must have lettered, earned 100 hours of credit and have a cumulative GPA of 3.8 or better. Goodwin is majoring in humanities and government.
-Texas reaches ITA Indoors semifinals for the second time
For the second time in program history, the Longhorns got to the semifinals of the ITA National Indoor Championship, which was held Feb. 15-18 in Chicago. Texas topped a pair of ranked teams in host No. 14 Illinois and No. 5 USC before falling to the eventual champion, top-seeded No. 2 Ohio State. In order to qualify for the tournament, the Longhorns had previously swept Washington and Miami (Fla.) in the Austin ITA Kickoff Weekend on Jan. 25-26.
-On the Markes
Senior Colin Markes put together a 15-match winning streak in singles going back to tournament play and finally getting snapped against No. 1 Ohio State on March 14. He is now 15-2 in dual matches this season. Following the ITA Indoors, Markes was selected to the All-Tournament Team at fifth singles. He was the only player chosen for singles or doubles from a team other than champion Ohio State or finalist Wake Forest. Markes played fifth singles and second doubles in all three matches in helping Texas reach the semifinals for the second time in school history. He posted a 2-0 singles record that included straight-set wins over No. 116 Caleb Chakravarthi of Illinois and Riley Smith of USC, extending his singles winning streak to 11. His third singles match was left unfinished on triple match point against No. 86 Alex Kobalt of Ohio State. It had the potential to be just the fourth loss in dual match singles play for Ohio State all season at the time. During that match, Markes won a first-set tiebreaker in which he was down 5-1, but rallied for the 8-6 win.
-Fast start
Despite falling for the first time this season in its match against No. 2 Ohio State, Texas' win over No. 5 USC in its previous match on Feb. 16 moved the Longhorns to 11-0 at the time in dual match play, which was its best start since opening 15-0 in 2002. It passed the 8-0 start the team posted in 2011. The Longhorns also had back-to-back 7-0 starts in 2014-15.
-On the road again
The Longhorns hit the road and took a pair of 6-1 wins at Tulsa (Feb. 8) and Arkansas (Feb. 10) in its first two true road dual matches of the season. They had been scheduled for another pair of road matches following the ITA Indoors, but the first of those, against Tulane (Feb. 26), was cancelled. Texas will still travel to Georgia on March 3.
-Huang earns first career Big 12 Men's Tennis Player of the Week honor
Freshman Chih Chi Huang earned his first career Big 12 Men's Tennis Player of the Week honor on Feb. 5. Huang clinched the team's 5-2 win over No. 6 North Carolina in a third-set tiebreaker in fifth singles as a true freshman defeating UNC senior Blaine Boyden (6-4, 4-6, 7-6 [5]). He also paired with Yuya Ito to contribute to the doubles point with a 6-2 victory over Brian Cernoch and Mac Kiger. Earlier in the week, Huang twice stepped into the third singles spot during a Wednesday doubleheader, picking up a win over Javier Rodriguez of UTSA (6-2, 4-6, 1-0 [8]), while having to leave his match against Thomas Rodrigues of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi unfinished on a match point after the team clinched. Huang also partnered with Ito for a 6-4 doubles win over UTSA to help the team earn that point en route to four wins for the week, including two in singles and two in doubles. Overall, Huang helped the team to a 3-0 record with a combined score of 15-3.
-Texas tops No. 6 North Carolina for third straight time
Texas played its first indoor match of the spring season against No. 6 North Carolina at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center on Feb. 2. The Longhorns took a thrilling 5-2 victory for their third straight win over the Tar Heels after claiming 4-3 victories in 2018 in Chapel Hill and in 2015 at Weller. In a match that came down to the wire, the top five singles matches all went to a third set with Texas winning four of them. The last time Texas had defeated a top-10 team, it was also a No. 6 North Carolina team in the 2018 match in Chapel Hill.
-Year Two of the Texas Tennis Center
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 this 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 and then topping Incarnate Word, No. 35 NC State, Rice, No. 1 Ohio State and No. 12 Columbia. The Longhorns dropped their first match there this season to No. 15 USC before rebounding against No. 29 Texas Tech and No. 6 Baylor and are now 12-1 at the Texas Tennis Center for the season.
-Longhorns begin dual match play in Orlando
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.
-Texas part of new college tennis technology
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.
-Longhorns open season with individual play at Miami Invitational
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.
-ITA Preseason Rankings
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 rankings released Jan. 23 and 30 before moving up to No. 6 after its win over then No. 6 North Carolina.
-Big 12 Preseason Rankings
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.
-Defending Big 12 Champs
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.
Players Mentioned
