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Ohio State
No. 1 Men’s Tennis falls, 4-1, at No. 6 Ohio State
02.01.2020 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns next return to Austin to face No. 18 Georgia on Saturday, Feb. 8, at 12 p.m. CT at the Texas Tennis Center.
Columbus, Ohio – No. 1 Men's Tennis fell, 4-1, at No. 6 Ohio State in Columbus on Saturday. The loss snapped a 10-match winning streak dating back to last season that included the 2019 National Championship.
Ohio State captured the doubles point followed by singles wins at the No. 4, 5 and 6 positions, while senior No. 2 Yuya Ito accounted for Texas' point at No. 1 singles.
"I felt like our team was ready to play and confident they could compete and play well enough to win the match, but we also knew that Ohio State is a great team, and especially in their building," head coach Bruce Berque said. "We would have had to have played our best tennis, and I think we came up a little short of that, but Ohio State played really well and deserved to win. Now we're setting our sights on the next one because we've got to prepare for Georgia. We're going to play them outside on Saturday, and we're really looking forward to that match."
Ito downed No. 24 John McNally in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, for his 18th-consecutive single win. He has also won 21 of his last 22, and 29 out of his last 31 counting tournament play and dating back to last season. Of the 29 wins, 18 have been against ranked opponents with only two of those coming against players outside of the top 50, while nine of them have now been in the top 25.
Ito started the match with a deuce-point break over McNally followed by a hold for an early 2-0 lead. The set stayed on serve from there up to 5-3 when Ito completed the bookend breaks for the 6-3 win. The second set stayed on serve from the outset starting with Ito all the way to a 4-3 lead for him that included deuce-point wins on serve at 3-2 and 4-3. He then got the break he needed for a 5-3 advantage and held again for the 6-3 victory.
Texas had also secured first-set wins in singles by both senior No. 13 Christian Sigsgaard at No. 2 singles and freshman Eliot Spizzirri at No. 3 singles when play ended. Sigsgaard's first set against No. 16 Cannon Kingsley followed the exact same scoring pattern as Ito's, but included three deuce-point wins in the first, second and fourth games. In the second set, Sigsgaard trailed 5-1, but mounted a comeback to get within 5-4 before eventually falling, 6-4, in that frame. He had grabbed the first game of his third set before the stoppage.
Spizzirri posted a 3-0 lead including two breaks to start his match against Justin Boulais. Boulais pulled back within 3-2 and then 5-4 before Spizzirri closed with a 6-4 win. Spizzirri also held a 3-1 lead in the second set, however Boulais went on a 3-0 run to go up, 4-3. Spizzirri evened it at 4-4 and it then stood at 5-5 when play closed.
In the other singles matches, freshman Siem Woldeab fell, 6-0, 6-2, to No. 28 Kyle Seelig at No. 4 singles, which gave the Buckeyes a 2-0 lead. After Ito closed it to 2-1, freshman Cleeve Harper was downed by James Trotter, 6-4, 6-3, at No. 5, and sophomore Chih Chi Huang dropped his match at No. 6 to Robert Cash by the same score for the 4-1 final.
Earlier in the day, the Longhorns fell in the doubles point with a pair of 6-4 defeats, first by Harper and Huang to Kingsley and Seelig at No. 3 doubles, then by No. 4 Ito and Sigsgaard to No. 2 McNally and Cash at No. 1 doubles. The match between Spizzirri and freshman Jacob Bullard against Trotter and Boulais stood at 5-5 when play was completed.
The Longhorns next return home to face No. 18 Georgia on Saturday, Feb. 8, at 12 p.m. CT at the Texas Tennis Center.
No. 6 Ohio State 4, No. 1 Texas 1
Singles – Order of Finish (4,1,5,6)
1. No. 2 Yuya Ito (UT) def. No. 24 John McNally (OSU), 6-3, 6-3
2. No. 13 Christian Sigsgaard (UT) vs. No. 16 Cannon Kingsley (OSU), 6-3, 4-6, 1-0, unf.
3. Eliot Spizzirri (UT) vs. Justin Boulais (OSU), 6-4, 5-5, unf.
4. No. 28 Kyle Seelig (OSU) def. No. 53 Siem Woldeab (UT), 6-0, 6-2
5. No. 40 James Trotter (OSU) def. Cleeve Harper (UT), 6-4, 6-3
6. Robert Cash (OSU) def. Chih Chi Huang (UT), 6-4, 6-3
Doubles – Order of Finish (3,1)
1. No. 2 John McNally/Robert Cash (OSU) def. No. 4 Christian Sigsgaard/Yuya Ito (UT), 6-4
2. James Trotter/Justin Boulais (OSU) vs. Eliot Spizzirri/Jacob Bullard (UT), 5-5, unf.
3. Cannon Kingsley/Kyle Seelig (OSU) def. Chih Chi Huang/Cleeve Harper (UT), 6-4
Players Mentioned
