The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Indiana
No. 1 Men’s Tennis sweeps Indiana to advance to ITA Kickoff championship match
01.25.2020 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns won their 2020 home opener and will face No. 21 Florida State on Sunday at noon.
Austin, Texas – The No. 1 Texas Men's Tennis team swept Indiana, 4-0, on Saturday to win its home opener and advance to the championship match of the ITA Kickoff Weekend. The Longhorns will face No. 21 Florida State on Sunday at noon at the Texas Tennis Center.
Texas captured the doubles point in a tiebreaker of the third match by sophomore Chih Chi Huang and freshman Cleeve Harper, followed by straight-set singles wins from senior No. 2 Yuya Ito and freshmen Siem Woldeab and Eliot Spizzirri to complete the sweep and move the team's record to 3-0 this season.
"It's good to play the first home match of the year," head coach Bruce Berque said. "It feels like it's been a long season already just getting to this point. We had some good support out there, and it was nice to get the doubles point for the first time this year. I thought Chih Chi and Cleeve really came up big at the end of their match. In singles, Yuya did a great job taking care of his opponent in straight sets. Siem was the first off the court in singles, and he played really well. He was sharp from the first point, and that's how he's been in his dual matches in singles. For a freshman to be playing No. 3 with the kind of schedule we play is pretty impressive. Then Eliot had a good bounce back after the doubles and got his first home win, and he's 3-0 in dual matches, too, so that's great for him. We had a sweep in straight sets at Nos. 1, 3, and 4 so that was great for the team."
Woldeab was first off the court in singles, delivering a decisive, 6-1, 6-2 win over Luka Vukovic at No. 3 singles. Both players won their opening service game starting with Woldeab, however from there he ran off nine-straight wins to take a 4-0 lead in the second set. Vukovic took two out of the next three games, including his second on a deuce point, but Woldeab finished it on serve for the win and a 2-0 lead for Texas.
Spizzirri followed next with a similar score by downing Patrick Fletchall, 6-1, 6-3, at No. 4 singles. Despite matching Woldeab's 6-1 first-set score, Spizzirri got there in a different fashion on the strength of winning all four of the frame's deuce-point games, including in the first three games of the match. Fletchall then cut the lead to 3-1, but Spizzirri finished off the set, including the remaining deuce game that posted him to a 5-1 lead. Fletchall broke through with a deuce-point win of his own on serve to open the second set and then took another on serve for a 3-2 lead. However, Spizzirri closed on a 4-0 run with two more deuce points, including the final game, for the victory and a 3-0 Texas lead.
For the second time in the first three matches, it was Ito who secured the clinching point with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Zac Brodney at No. 1 singles. Ito broke serve in the opening game and then held on a deuce point to establish a 2-0 lead. The first set stayed on serve from there up to a 5-3 lead for Ito before he grabbed another break for the set win. Ito captured the first three games of the second set and maintained that lead on serve up to 5-2. He then broke in last game to clinch the 4-0 sweep for Texas and post his 17th-straight singles win.
In the remaining matches, senior No. 13 Christian Sigsgaard was in command at No. 2 against Haskins, 6-3, 3-2, when the match ended, while at No. 5, Huang trailed Andrew Redding 6-3, 5-1, and at No. 6 freshman Jacob Bullard dropped his first set, 6-1, but rebounded to take the second, 6-3.
Earlier in the day, Texas captured the doubles point in a more suspenseful fashion. After Ito and Sigsgaard rolled off the final five games of their match versus Brodney and Bennett Crane at No. 1 doubles to take it, 6-1, William Piekarsky and Carson Haskins of Indiana answered with a 6-3 win over Spizzirri and Woldeab at No. 2. That left it up to No. 3 doubles where Harper and Huang had taken a 5-2 lead over Fletchall and Payam Ahmadi, but the Indiana duo ran off three-straight games to even it. Each team then held starting with Texas to send it to a tiebreaker where the Longhorn duo jumped out to a 5-1 lead en route to a 7-4 win.
The Longhorns will attempt to advance to the ITA Indoor Nationals for the third-straight season, and for the fourth time in the last six years when they face No. 21 Florida State on Sunday at noon at the Texas Tennis Center.
No. 1 Texas 4, Indiana 0
Singles – Order of Finish (3,4,1)
1. No. 2 Yuya Ito (UT) def. Zac Brodney (IU), 6-3, 6-2
2. No. 13 Christian Sigsgaard (UT) vs. Carson Haskins (IU), 6-3, 3-2, unf.
3. No. 53 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Luka Vukovic (IU,) 6-1, 6-2
4. Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Patrick Fletchall (IU), 6-1, 6-3
5. Chih Chi Huang (UT) vs. Andrew Redding (IU), 3-6, 1-5, unf.
6. Jacob Bullard (UT) vs. Vikash Singh (IU), 1-6, 6-3, unf.
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2,3)
1. No. 4 Christian Sigsgaard/Yuya Ito (UT) def. Bennett Crane/Zac Brodney (IU), 6-1
2. Carson Haskins/William Piekarsky (IU) def. Siem Woldeab/Eliot Spizzirri (UT), 6-3
3. Chih Chi Huang/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Patrick Fletchall/Payam Ahmadi (IU), 7-6 (4)
Players Mentioned
