The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Florida State
No. 1 Men’s Tennis sweeps No. 21 Florida State to advance to ITA Indoor Nationals
01.26.2020 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns earned their second 4-0 sweep in as many days to move on to the ITA Indoors for the third-straight year.
Austin, Texas – The No. 1 Texas Men's Tennis team swept No. 21 Florida State, 4-0, to win the championship of the Austin ITA Kickoff Weekend on Sunday at the Texas Tennis Center. With the victory, the Longhorns advance to the ITA National Indoor Championships for the second-straight year.
"This was a really good day for us," head coach Bruce Berque said. "We showed definite improvement today from yesterday in our doubles. That was going to be a big lift to our confidence. To have Christian and Yuya struggling a bit in the beginning and have the young guys pick them up and finish off the match was a good confidence message to our team that we have a bunch of guys who can play and compete, and I was happy with a lot of them today."
Texas won doubles for the second-straight contest by posting matching 6-1 victories, first by seniors No. 4 Yuya Ito and Christian Sigsgaard at No. 1, then by sophomore Chih Chi Huang and freshman Cleeve Harper at No. 3. The Longhorns then gathered three straight-set wins in singles by freshmen Eliot Spizzirri at No. 4 and Siem Woldeab at No. 3, followed by Huang with the clincher at No. 5.
Ito and Sigsgaard opened things for Texas by claiming the first four games in their doubles match against Alex Knaff and Sebastian Arcila. The Florida State duo gained one back on serve, but Ito and Sigsgaard finished it from there. Harper and Huang started their match against Marcus Walters and Chase Wood on serve and took the first game, and after Florida State answered, the Texas pair ran off five-straight games, including the first two on deuce points, to give the Longhorns the doubles point and a 1-0 lead. Spizzirri and freshman Jacob Bullard held a 4-3 lead over Loris Pourroy and Juan Martin Jalif at No. 2 when play stopped.
In singles, Spizzirri was first off the court and registered a 6-1, 6-4 win against Walters at No. 4. Spizzirri moved out to a 3-0 lead in the first set and after Walters made it 3-1, Spizzirri went on a 5-0 run to end the first and begin the second with a 2-0 lead. The second set stayed on serve the rest of the way, starting with Spizzirri, however the last three games all went to a deuce point resulting in the 6-4 finish and 2-0 lead for the Longhorns.
Fellow freshman No. 53 Woldeab followed right behind Spizzirri, notching a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Arcila at No. 3. It was Arcila that took an early 2-0 lead after an opening break, but Woldeab got that break back to even it, 2-2. He picked up another break two games later on a deuce point for a 4-2 lead and extended to 5-2 before taking the set, 6-3. Woldeab opened the second set with another break, but Arcila answered and the set stayed on serve to 3-3. Woldeab then broke on a decue point to go up, 4-3, and captured the last two games for a 3-0 Texas lead.
That set up Huang for the clincher at No. 5 as he defeated Pourroy, 6-4, 6-2. Huang pushed out to a 5-1 lead to open the first set, but Pourroy rebounded to cut it to 5-4 on a deuce point before Huang closed it out. Huang got out to a 3-1 lead in the second set, which Pourroy made 3-2, but the next three games and the match belonged to Huang to complete the sweep over the Seminoles. In the other singles matches, Sigsgaard was just points behind Huang when play ended, leading 6-3, 5-4 against Jalif at No. 2, while Ito was trailing Knaff, 7-6 (3), 4-1 at No. 1. Harper had dropped his first set, 6-3, to No. 92 Rana Roop Bhullar at No. 6, but was leading 4-3 in the second.
The win qualified Texas for the ITA National Indoor Championship for the third-straight season with this year's taking place in Madison, Wisc., from Feb. 14-17. However, prior to that, the Longhorns will play two dual matches, starting with traveling to Columbus, Ohio, to face No. 6 Ohio State on Feb. 1, followed by hosting Georgia on Feb. 8 at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center in Austin.
No. 1 Texas 4, No. 21 Florida State 0
Singles – Order of Finish (4,3,5)
1. No. 2 Yuya Ito (UT) vs. Alex Knaff (FSU), 6-7 (3), 1-4, unf.
2. No. 13 Christian Sigsgaard (UT) vs. Juan Martin Jalif (FSU), 6-3, 5-4, unf.
3. No. 53 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Sebastian Arcila (FSU), 6-3, 6-3
4. Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Marcus Walters (FSU), 6-1, 6-4
5. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Loris Pourroy (FSU), 6-4, 6-2
6. Cleeve Harper (UT) vs. No. 92 Rana Roop Bhullar (FSU), 3-6, 4-3, unf.
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,3)
1. No. 4 Christian Sigsgaard/Yuya Ito (UT) def. Alex Knaff/Sebastian Arcila (FSU), 6-1
2. Eliot Spizzirri/Jacob Bullard (UT) vs. Loris Pourroy/Juan Martin Jalif (FSU), 4-3, unf.
3. Chih Chi Huang/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Marcus Walters/Chase Wood (FSU), 6-1
Players Mentioned
