The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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NC State
No. 4 Men’s Tennis falls at No. 9 NC State, 4-3
03.01.2020 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns faced their second top-10 opponent in three days and came up just short against the Wolfpack on Sunday.
Cary, N.C. – The No. 4 Texas Men's Tennis team fell at No. 9 NC State, 4-3, at the Cary Tennis Park on Sunday against what was the Longhorns' second top-10 opponent in three days.
The match went down to the wire with the teams tied, 3-3, including four three-set matches, when No. 37 Alexis Galarneau of NC State was able to outlast senior No. 2 Yuya Ito in three sets after their first two went to tiebreakers. Texas had held leads of 2-1 and 3-2 prior to that on the strength of singles wins by senior No. 6 Christian Sigsgaard at No. 2, and freshmen Eliot Spizzirri at No. 4, and No. 45 Siem Woldeab at No. 3.
"North Carolina State played really well," head coach Bruce Berque said. "They're a good team and the credit goes to them, for sure. I know when we look back at it and look at some of the matches, we're going to be disappointed with how we executed in some areas, most notably doubles, and individually, we didn't execute like we're capable of, but I do think North Carolina State played a really good match and they deserve all of the credit."
After NC State captured the doubles point, Sigsgaard responded quickly with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over No. 96 Tadas Babelis to even it at 1-1. The first two games of the match were on serve starting with Sigsgaard, but after that, he ran of nine-straight games to take the first set and post a 4-0 lead in the second. From there, the set stayed on serve starting with Babelis, and Sigsgaard closed it at 6-2.
Spirrizzi was up next and gave Texas a 2-1 lead with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Rafa Izquiredo Luque. The beginning of the first set was back and forth as the players exchanged breaks to open the match, starting with Luque. Spizzirri then held for a 2-1 lead, but Luque took the next three games to go up, 4-2. However, it would be all Spizzirri from there as he took off on a run of 10-straight games to finish the match and improve to 8-1 in dual match play this season.
NC State pulled even again with a win at No. 6 by Martins Rocens over freshman Cleeve Harper, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. Harper controlled the first set by starting and finishing with 3-0 runs, however the second set saw the exact same scoring, just in Rocens favor. Rocens also took a 3-1 lead in the third set, but Harper fought back to even it at 3-3 before Rocens put together a final 3-0 run to close it.
Moments after that, Woldeab responded and regained the lead for Texas at 3-2 with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win over Yannai Barkai. After finding himself down 2-0 and 3-1 to open the first set, Woldeab captured five of the last six games, including the final three to win the frame. Breaks were abundant at the start of the second set with five of the first seven games going against serve, resulting a 4-3 lead for Barkai that he extended to 5-3 on serve. The last two games also stayed on serve, leading to a third set where Woldeab opened with a hold and a break for a 2-0 lead. Barkai was able to respond with a break and a hold to even it, and the set stayed on serve until Woldeab grabbed the break he needed to take a 5-3 lead and then serve out the match.
Once again, the Wolfpack was able to pull even with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 win for Robin Catry over sophomore Chih Chi Huang at No. 5. Catry opened the match with a break and then earned another to establish a 5-2 lead and start a run of four-straight breaks between the players to finish the set and give Huang a 1-0 lead in the second. Huang then held for 2-0, and after Catry also held, Huang went on a 3-0 run for a 5-1 advantage. The last two games stayed on serve for a third set, but after Huang again opened with a break, Catry ran off five-straight games for a 5-1 lead on the way to a 6-2 win.
That left the deciding match at No. 1 where each of the first two sets went to tiebreakers with the first going to Ito at 7-4, and the second going to Galarneau at 7-5 despite Ito having held a 4-3 lead in that one. Galarneau was then able to clinch the overall match in a third set where he established a 4-0 lead on a deuce point and finished with a 6-1 win.
All three doubles matches were also close with NC State holding 5-4 leads in all of them despite different routes of getting there. At No. 2, Luque and Collin Schick of NC State got a break in the first game against Spizzirri and freshman Jacob Bullard, and then another for a 5-2 lead. Texas answered with a break to cut it to 5-3 and then held for 5-4, but Luque and Schick also held in the next game for the win. There was only one break at No. 3 where Catry and Galarneau claimed it in the fifth game for a 3-2 lead. That held up to the 6-4 win and secured the doubles point for the Wolfpack. The remaining match was left unfinished at 5-5 with No. 13 Ito and Sigsgaard facing No. 17 Barkai and Babelis. The NC State duo captured a break in the opening game and the Texas pair answered at in the last one and were on serve when play stopped.
Texas returns home to face No. 44 Tulane at the Texas Tennis Center on Friday, Mar. 6, at 5:30 p.m. CT.
No. 9 NC State 4, No. 4 Texas 3
Singles – Order of Finish (2,4,6,3,5,1)
1. No. 37 Alexis Galarneau (NCSU) def. No. 2 Yuya Ito (UT), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 6-1
2. No. 6 Christian Sigsgaard (UT) def. No. 96 Tadas Babelis (NCSU), 6-1, 6-2
3. No. 45 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Yannai Barkai (NCSU), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
4. Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Rafa Izquierdo Luque (NCSU), 6-4, 6-0
5. Robin Catry (NCSU) def. Chih Chi Huang (UT), 6-3, 2-6, 6-2
6. Martins Rocens (NCSU) def. Cleeve Harper (UT), 2-6, 6-2, 6-3
Doubles – Order of Finish (2,3)
1. No. 17 Tadas Babelis/Yannai Barkai (NCSU) vs. No. 13 Christian Sigsgaard/Yuya Ito (UT), 5-5, unf.
2. Rafa Izquierdo Luque/Collin Shick (NCSU) def. Jacob Bullard/Eliot Spizzirri (UT), 6-4
3. Robin Catry/Alexis Galarneau (NCSU) def. Chih Chi Huang/Cleeve Harper (UT), 6-4
Players Mentioned
