The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
SMU
No. 6 Men’s Tennis sweeps SMU
01.16.2021 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns completed their second 7-0 sweep in as many days to move to 2-0 this season.
Austin – The No. 6 Texas Men's Tennis team completed its second 7-0 sweep in as many days after downing SMU on Saturday at the Texas Tennis Center. The win moves the Longhorns to 2-0 in dual match play this season.
Extending beyond the sweep, Texas did not drop a set to the Mustangs during the match. After winning the doubles point earlier to establish a 1-0 lead, sophomore Evin McDonald was first off the court in singles at No. 6. He was followed by a flurry of finals, including in order of finish, junior Chih Chi Huang at No. 5, sophomore No. 120 Eliot Spizzirri at No. 3, freshman No. 78 Micah Braswell at No. 2, sophomore No. 57 Siem Woldeab at No. 1, and sophomore Cleeve Harper at No. 4.
McDonald set the tone with his second-straight efficient win, downing Juan Jose Bianchi, 6-0, 6-1. Only one game in the first set extended to a deuce point for McDonald, and Bianchi's lone win of the match came on serve in the second game of the second set. Huang was up next, and like McDonald he also swept his first set against Jordi Redelijk. After splitting the first four games on serve of the second set, Huang went on a 3-0 run to establish a 5-2 lead before closing out at 6-4.
Spizzirri's first set against Liam Krall stayed on serve all the way to a 5-4 lead despite four of the games being decided on deuce points. Spizzirri finally broke the trend and Krall's serve on another deuce point for the 6-4 win. In the second set, the players took turns winning two consecutive games starting with Spizzirri to give him a 4-2 lead, which he then extended to 5-2. Krall would pick up one more game before Spizzirri finished it at 6-3 to clinch for Texas at 4-0.
Much like the day before, Braswell followed right behind Spizzirri with a similar score, topping Jan-Simon Vrbsky, 6-4, 6-2. Like Spizzirri, Braswell also saw his first set feature five deuce points, however after dropping the first three of those and trailing 3-1, Braswell picked up the next one to start a 3-0 run to a 4-3 lead. After pushing it to 5-4, Braswell also closed his first set with a deuce point win. In the second set, Vrbsky took the opening game on serve, but from there Braswell went on a 5-0 run that was only snapped by a deuce point to make the score 5-2 before ending at 6-2.
Woldeab also posted a 5-0 run, however his was to open the first set against Caleb Chakravarthi and included three deuce points on his way to a 6-1 win. In the second set, the players stayed on serve starting with Chakravarthi up to 3-2 when he captured a break on a deuce point to extend to 4-2. Woldeab then finished the match like he started it, running off four-straight games for the victory and a 6-0 lead for Texas.
That left it to Harper, who pulled out a close first set at 7-5 against Julian Steinhausen before establishing a 3-1 lead in the second. The players alternated games to a 5-3 lead for Harper when he secured the sweep at 6-3.
Doubles was completed quickly as the Longhorns picked up wins of 6-1 by Braswell and Harper at No. 3, and 6-2 by Spizzirri and Woldeab at No. 1. Braswell and Harper took the first three and last games against Chakravarthi and Huntley Allen, while Spizzirri and Woldeab took four of the first five games against Bianchi and Tomas Vaise and then the final two for the win. Huang and senior Payton Holden's match against Krall and Steinhausen at No. 2 went unfinished tied at 3-3 after the Texas duo took a 3-1 lead, but SMU grabbed deuce-point wins in the final two games.
#6 Texas 7, SMU 0
Singles – Order of Finish (6,5,3,2,1,4)
1. #57 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Caleb Chakravarthi (SMU) 6-1, 6-4
2. #78 Micah Braswell (UT) def. Jan-Simon Vrbsky (SMU) 6-4, 6-2
3. #120 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Liam Krall (SMU) 6-4, 6-3
4. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Julian Steinhausen (SMU) 7-5, 6-3
5. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Jordi Redelijk (SMU) 6-0, 6-4
6. Evin McDonald (UT) def. Juan Jose Bianchi (SMU) 6-0, 6-1
Doubles – Order of Finish (3,1)
1. Siem Woldeab/Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Tomas Vaise/Juan Jose Bianchi (SMU) 6-2
2. Chih Chi Huang/Payton Holden (UT) vs. Liam Krall/Julian Steinhausen (SMU) 3-3, unf.
3. Micah Braswell/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Caleb Chakravarthi/Huntley Allen (SMU) 6-1
Players Mentioned
