The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Ito finishes season in NCAA Singles Championship round of 16
05.22.2019 | Men's Tennis
Junior Yuya Ito reached the singles round of 16 for the second time in his career, but fell to No. 6 Brandon Holt on Wednesday.
Orlando, Fla. – Texas Men's Tennis junior Yuya Ito finished his season in the NCAA Men's Tennis Singles Championship round of 16 after falling in three sets to No. 6 (5 seed) Brandon Holt of USC, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, on Wednesday in Orlando.
It marked the second time in his career Ito reached that point after doing so as a freshman in 2017. His season concludes with a 41-7 overall record after completing the dual match season, 28-3.
Ito had won eight-straight singles matches, the last five of which were against ranked opponents, including earning the clinching point of the National Championship match against defending NCAA Singles Champion No. 8 Petros Chrysochos of Wake Forest.
The match against Holt opened on serve in the first two games starting with Ito before Holt broke in the third game for a 2-1 lead. However, the rest of the set would belong to Ito as he ran off five-straight games, including the final two on deuce points, the first of which he came back from down 0-40 to win.
To open the second set, Holt produced his own 5-0 run, including deuce point breaks in the first and third games. Ito grabbed a deuce point break of his own to stay alive in the set and begin a 3-0 run, but he was unable to come all the way back as Holt finished it, 6-3.
Holt again got out quickly to open the final set, taking leads of 3-0 and 4-1. Ito picked up one more deuce point game on serve, but Holt then held and broke to close the match at 6-2.
2019 NCAA Singles and Doubles Championship
Singles – Round of 16
No. 6 (5 seed) Brandon Holt (USC) def. No. 12 (9-16 seed) Yuya Ito (UT), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
Players Mentioned
