The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Florida
01.15.2020 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns used five singles victories against ranked opponents to capture a win in their first dual match since the 2019 National Championship.
Gainesville, Fla. – The No. 2 Texas Men's Tennis team opened the 2020 team season with a 5-2 win on the road at No. 1 Florida on Wednesday night in Gainesville. The Longhorns used five singles victories, all against ranked opponents, to secure a win in their first dual match since capturing the 2019 National Championship. It was also their second-straight win over a top-ranked team after defeating No. 1 Ohio State in Austin last March.
Last season's championship match, a 4-1 win over Wake Forest, also took place in the state of Florida in Orlando and followed a similar script. Texas dropped the doubles point and trailed in several singles matches before mounting comebacks, highlighted by senior Yuya Ito rebounding from a first-set defeat to earn a three-set win and clinch.
It also marks the second time Texas and Florida have met in the last three overall matches for the Longhorns, as they faced the Gators last year in the national semifinals, a match which the Longhorns won, 4-2.
Despite the similarities from the previous year, the Texas lineup looked significantly different as four freshmen made their dual match debuts, including Siem Woldeab at No. 3 singles, January enrollee Eliot Spizzirri at No. 4 singles and No. 2 doubles, redshirt freshman Cleeve Harper at No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles, and Jacob Bullard at No. 2 doubles. Ito played at No. 1 singles and paired with senior Christian Sigsgaard at No. 1 doubles, while Sigsgaard was at No. 2 singles. Sophomore Chih Chi Huang completed the lineup at No. 5 singles and No. 3 doubles.
"I was super proud of our team today and the way they responded," head coach Bruce Berque said. "We had four guys compete tonight who were playing in their first college (dual) match. To play that match against the No. 1 team in the country on the road in front of a big crowd, and to be down on a lot of courts and stay the course and battle and compete and stay positive and finish, I couldn't have asked for more from them. Of course, it's never perfect and we can always take lessons from the match, but overall, it was a great team win and one of the better ones I've been a part of. For Christian to step up and play a fantastic match against (No. 4 Sam) Riffice, and of course, for Yuya with ice in his veins to finish it out, there were so many positives out of it."
After Texas fell in doubles to trail, 1-0, Woldeab was one of the players who was trailing in his first set, falling behind 5-1 to No. 17 Duarte Vale at No. 3 singles. From there though, Woldeab turned it on and put together a string of 11-straight games that included deuce points in four of the final six games of the first set, one of which giving him a 7-5 win. He also won a deuce point in the first game of the second set on his way to a 5-0 lead before Vale picked up a deuce-point win of his own to make it 5-1. Woldeab finished the match in the next game for a 7-5, 6-1 decision.
A few minutes later, Sigsgaard came off the court at No. 2 singles by securing a win over a top-five opponent in Riffice in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4. Like Woldeab, Sigsgaard used deuce-point wins to close out his first set, capturing three-straight to take the frame after having opened it with one, as well. Riffice answered in the beginning of the second set by taking three-straight games of his own, but Sigsgaard rebounded with the next five. Riffice was able to cut it to 5-4 on serve, but Sigsgaard held after that for the win and a 2-1 overall Texas lead.
At No. 5 singles, Huang took on No. 71 Lukas Greif and despite deuce points deciding four-straight games, the duo stayed on serve up to a 3-3 tie. Greif picked up a break and then held for a 5-3 lead, but Huang took it from there with four-straight games to end the first set and four-straight to begin the second for a 7-5 win and 4-0 lead. Greif rallied for the next two games and could have cut the lead to one on a deuce point, but Huang secured it and a 5-2 lead on his way to a 6-3 win. That gave Texas a 3-1 lead, which Florida cut to 3-2 after Harper fell to No. 118 Blaise Bicknell, 7-5, 6-2, at No. 6 singles.
The stage was then set for Ito, who fell behind 5-1 in his opening set to No. 31 Oliver Crawford at No. 1 singles, including two deuce points at the front and back ends of that score. Ito attempted to recover with two-straight wins, along with sending the next game to a deuce point, but Crawford prevailed for a 6-3 win. Starting with Ito, each player held serve to open the second set, but Ito was able to hit his stride and run off five-straight games, including two deuce points to take the set, 6-1. The third set stayed on serve up to a 3-3 tie, but Ito got the edge he needed with a deuce-point break for a 4-3 lead and then held for a 6-4 win and the clincher for Texas. It was his 15th-straight singles win with 11 of those coming against top-50 foes.
The final 5-2 margin was provided by Spizzirri at No. 4 singles, who like Woldeab, found himself with a 5-1 deficit his first dual match set as a Longhorn. Spizzirri made a strong push to get back in the frame against No. 72 Andy Andrade, cutting the lead to 5-4, but Andrade held in the final game of the set for a 6-4 win. Spizzirri again fell behind in the second set, 4-1, but after a 4-0 run provided him the lead, the set stayed on serve resulting in a tiebreaker. Spizzirri jumped out 2-0 in that frame, and although Andrade was able to tie it, 3-3, Spizzirri never gave up the lead and went on to a 7-4 win. The final set stayed on serve through the first four games, but Spizzirri broke for a 3-2 lead and did not look back to close the match, 6-3.
Earlier in doubles, the deuce points went Florida's way in both of the deciding matches. Harper and Huang dropped three of four in their match at No. 3, which resulted in a 6-3 win for Vale and Josh Goodger. At No. 2, Bullard and Spizzirri then lost five of the six deuce points against Johannes Ingildsen and Will Grant. Despite that, the Texas duo secured one of their own for a 5-4 lead, but Florida denied them a match point on one in the next game, and then took the lead on one in the game after that before holding serve for a 7-5 win. No. 1 singles went unfinished with Ito and Sigsgaard trailing No. 14 Riffice and Crawford, 6-5.
The Longhorns will next travel from Florida to Dallas to face SMU on Saturday, Jan. 18, at 2 p.m. CT.
No. 2 Texas 5, No. 1 Florida 2
Singles – Order of finish (3,2,5,6,1,4)
1. No. 2 Yuya Ito (UT) def. No. 31 Oliver Crawford (UF), 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
2. No. 13 Christian Sigsgaard (UT) def. No. 4 Sam Riffice (UF), 6-1, 6-4
3. No. 53 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. No. 17 Duarte Vale (UF), 7-5, 6-1
4. Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. No. 72 Andy Andrade (UF), 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2
5. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. No. 71 Lukas Greif (UF), 7-5, 6-3
6. No. 118 Blaise Bicknell (UF) def. Cleeve Harper (UT), 7-5, 6-2
Doubles – Order of finish (3,2)
1. No. 14 Sam Riffice/Oliver Crawford (UF) vs. No. 4 Yuya Ito/Christian Sigsgaard (UT), 6-5, unf.
2. Johannes Ingildsen/Will Grant (UF) def. Eliot Spizzirri/Jacob Bullard (UT), 7-5
3. Duarte Vale/Josh Goodger (UF) def. Chih Chi Huang/Cleeve Harper (UT), 6-3
