The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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Stanford
No. 4 Men’s Tennis sweeps No. 8 Stanford, 4-0
02.28.2020 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns downed a top-10 Cardinal team for the second time in 12 days.
Austin, Texas – The No. 4 Texas Men's Tennis team swept No. 8 Stanford, 4-0, in front of a packed house at the Texas Tennis Center on Friday. It was the second win for the Longhorns over the Cardinal in the last 12 days after a 4-2 victory at the ITA National Indoor Championships in Madison, Wis., on Feb. 16.
Texas captured the doubles point for the second time in those two matches with wins at No. 3 by freshman Cleeve Harper and sophomore Chih Chi Huang, and at No. 2 by freshmen Jacob Bullard and Eliot Spizzirri. The Longhorns followed with singles wins by senior No. 6 Christian Sigsgaard at No. 2, freshman No. 45 Siem Woldeab at No. 4, and Huang at No. 5.
"I was really proud of the guys today," head coach Bruce Berque said. "Stanford is a really good team, and to beat them twice in two weeks is not easy, in fact it's not easy to beat them once. In the doubles it was really nice to see Jacob and Eliot come through again. They've been really clutch in our last three ranked matches. After they lost their break at the end, they stepped up and played a great game to break right back, so that was good momentum. The singles were tight. I know the score says 4-0, but it didn't feel like that. Chih Chi was hanging in there in the first set, and Cleeve lost the first set, Yuya (Ito) was down, Eliot (Spizzirri) was down, so it didn't feel like we were in control of the match until the very end. I was happy that the guys who were down found a way to stay in the match and had a legitimate chance to turn things around, and of course, I was very happy with how well Christian and Siem played. I think everybody fought, everybody had a presence and we used the crowd to our advantage, and I was really proud of the team."
Sigsgaard was the first off the court in singles with a 6-3, 6-1 win over a top-five opponent in No. 5 Alex Rotsaert. It was an impressive turnaround for Sigsgaard after he had been downed by Rotsaert in their previous meeting, 6-4, 6-4. The first two games were both decided by deuce points but stayed on serve starting with Rotsaert, while Sigsgaard's hold was the beginning of a 4-0 run for him. Rotsaert then broke and held to pull within 4-3, but Sigsgaard ran off three more straight games to close the set. The players also split the first two games of the second set, but it was all Sigsgaard from there as he closed on a 5-0 run to give Texas a 2-0 overall lead. It marked his 102nd career singles victory as a Longhorn, putting him alone in 12th place all-time in school history.
Shortly after that, Woldeab finished with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Neel Rajesh. The first set stayed on serve starting with Woldeab all the way to a 4-3 advantage for him when he captured a break on a deuce point to lead, 5-3. Rajesh answered the break, but Woldeab secured one more deuce-point break to win the set. Woldeab kept it going in the first two games of the second set for a 2-0 edge, and after Rajesh claimed a break to get within 2-1, Woldeab grabbed another two games on break points for a 4-1 lead. The rest of the set stayed on serve and Woldeab closed out for the win and a 3-0 lead for Texas.
With Sigsgaard's full match almost complete, Huang was just finishing extended first set that was part of a 7-5, 6-3 clinching win over Timothy Sah. Five out of the first six games between the two were decided by deuce points with only the third game not reaching that point. Huang opened on serve and held, as did Sah in the next game, but Sah broke in the one non-deuce game for a 2-1 lead. Huang broke back to even it, and the set stayed on serve with no deuce points all the way to 5-5. In the next game it appeared as if the streak of games on serve might end, but Huang fought off three break points and turned it into another deuce-point win. He then ended the streak himself with a break and took the frame. The second set was a different story, as Huang continued the momentum and opened with a 3-0 lead on the strength of a break in the second game. Rajesh held to cut it to 3-1, but would get no closer as the match stayed on serve the rest of the way and Huang secured the sweep for Texas on serve.
Stanford had won the first set in all three remaining matches, however Texas also fought back in the second set of all three. Senior No. 2 Yuya Ito was attempting to come back against No. 29 Axel Geller for the second-straight time at No. 1. It was Ito who clinched the previous match against Stanford, coming back from down a set and two breaks at 5-2. This time, Geller also won the opening set at 6-4 and was leading 4-2 when Ito rallied for three-straight games to take the lead and was up 6-5 when play stopped. As he did in the previous match, Spizzirri played No. 3 for Texas, but this time faced No. 75 Sangeet Sridhar who missed the last meeting. Sridhar took the opening set, 6-2, and held a 5-2 lead in the second when Spizzirri answered with three-straight games to even it at 5-5 when it ended. No. 6 was the only court to reach three sets, as Harper dropped his first to Filip Kolasinski, 6-4, but sprinted out to a 5-0 lead in the second to take that frame, 6-1. Kolasinski led 2-1 in the third at the finish.
Much like the first meeting, Texas won the doubles point in dramatic fashion for the initial 1-0 lead. Stanford struck first at No. 1 as Geller and Rajesh topped No. 13 Ito and Sigsgaard, 6-3. The match was on serve starting with Stanford through first three games, however the next three games were all breaks, the first two of which were deuce points, putting Stanford up 4-2. The final three games were also on serve leading to the win by the Cardinal.
Harper and Huang were next with a 6-3 win of their win of their own over Sah and Tomas Kopczynski at No. 3. The first two games of that match were on serve starting with Stanford, however it was Texas that took the first break and then held to lead, 3-1. The Cardinal picked up the next game on a deuce point, but the match stayed on serve to a 5-3 lead for the Longhorns. Harper and Huang grabbed a final break for the win and sent the doubles decision to No. 2.
Once again, it was up to Bullard and Spizzirri to close, and they did just that with a 6-4 win over Rotsaert and Sridhar. The first three games were on serve with the last of those a deuce point win by Texas. The Longhorns then broke and held on another deuce point to take a 4-1 lead. Stanford got one break back to get within 5-4, but Bullard and Spizzirri answered that break for the victory and a 1-0 overall lead for Texas.
Texas will now have a quick turnaround and go on the road for their second top-10 match in three days as they face No. 9 NC State in Cary, N.C., on Sunday at 12 p.m. ET/11 a.m. CT.
No. 4 Texas 4, No. 8 Stanford 0
Singles – Order of Finish (2,4,5)
1. No. 2 Yuya Ito (UT) vs. No. 29 Axel Geller (STAN), 4-6, 6-5, unf.
2. No. 6 Christian Sigsgaard (UT) def. No. 5 Alex Rotsaert (STAN), 6-3, 6-1
3. Eliot Spizzirri (UT) vs. No. 75 Sangeet Sridhar (STAN), 2-6, 5-5, unf.
4. No. 45 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Neel Rajesh (STAN), 6-4, 6-3
5. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Timothy Sah (STAN), 7-5, 6-3
6. Cleeve Harper (UT) vs. Filip Kolasinski (STAN), 4-6, 6-1, 1-2, unf.
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,3,2)
1. Neel Rajesh/Axel Geller (STAN) def. No. 13 Yuya Ito/Christian Sigsgaard (UT), 6-3
2. Jacob Bullard/Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Alex Rotsaert/Sangeet Sridhar (STAN), 6-4
3. Chih Chi Huang/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Timothy Sah/Tomas Kopczynski (STAN), 6-3
Players Mentioned
