The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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Florida
No. 6 Men’s Tennis wins ITA Kickoff Weekend Championship, 4-3, over No. 9 Florida
01.23.2021 | Men's Tennis
With the win the Longhorns advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships for the third straight year.
Austin – In a rollercoaster of a day that involved multiple weather delays and a late location change, the t-No. 6 Texas Men's Tennis team persevered and topped No. 9 Florida, 4-3, in the ITA Kickoff Weekend championship match in Austin on Saturday. The win advances the Longhorns to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships for the third-straight year where they will play from February 12-15 in Champaign, Ill.
After falling in doubles earlier the day, the Longhorns used singles wins, in order, by sophomore Cleeve Harper, junior Chih Chi Huang, and sophomores No. 57 Siem Woldeab and No. 120 Eliot Spizzirri to rally for the victory. Texas had taken a 3-2 lead with the last two singles matches in their final sets when play paused for the third time in the match. The players returned one more time in an attempt to finish, but the conditions were still too slick and the teams headed for the indoor courts at Weller Tennis Center.
"It doesn't even seem like it was all in the same day," head coach Bruce Berque said. "It's been a long couple of days, and I think our guys were super resilient dealing with all of the delays yesterday and today."
Once there, Florida's No. 68 Blaise Bicknell, who had been leading sophomore Evin McDonald, 6-3, 4-6, 5-3, at No. 6, completed his win at 6-4 to tie the overall match at 3-3. The third set had been close throughout after McDonald made a furious rally in the second set by running off five straight games after trailing, 4-1.
That set the stage for Spizzirri, who had split his first two sets with No. 8 Sam Riffice, 5-7, 6-4. Spizzirri served first and jumped out a quick 3-0 lead in third before Riffice held to cut it to 3-1. Spizzirri also held on a deuce to point to extend back to a 4-1 lead, a score he had led by in the first set before Riffice came back for a 7-5 win. This time though, the rest of the set stayed on serve and Spizzirri served out the final game for the win before getting swarmed by his teammates.
"I was really pleased that our guys responded to the approach we tried to give them (after losing the doubles point) that no one is going to give us anything," Berque said. "If we want to accomplish something special in beating Florida for a place in the National Indoors, we were going to have to go take it and have an aggressive mindset and gritty approach, a resilient approach. I was really happy with that, and we had some great performances. Cleeve had a decisive win over a good player to get the first point on the board, Chih Chi came back from 5-1 down in the second set to send it to a tiebreaker and won, Siem responded great to how his match went yesterday and played some great tennis to close it out. Then that set the table for Eliot, and that was a super gritty, aggressive performance by him. I'm really happy for him because he puts in the work, and today he found a way to make himself play the way he's capable of playing. He and all of them should be super proud of what they accomplished."
Prior to that as the overall match began, Florida had taken the doubles point and extended its lead to 2-0 with a win by No. 85 Andy Andrade over freshman No. 78 Micah Braswell, 6-3, 6-0 at No. 3, but Harper quickly answered to get the Longhorns on the board and cut the lead to 2-1. He defeated Johannes Ingildsen, in convincing fashion, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 4. The first set between the two stayed on serve to 2-2 with Ingildsen winning the last game on a deuce point, but Harper then went on a 9-0 run to win the set and establish a 5-0 lead in the second. Ingildsen answered with two games, but Harper broke his serve in the last frame for the win.
Huang was next off for the Longhorns with a 6-4, 7-6 (3) win over Ben Shelton at No. 5. The first four games of the first set stayed on serve starting with Shelton for a 2-2 tie when Huang was able to take a 4-2 lead on a break and a hold. It stayed on serve the rest of the set for Huang's win and three games into the second for a 2-1 lead for Shelton. That was the beginning of a 4-0 run for Shelton to put him up 5-1, but Huang answered with a 4-0 run of his own to tie it, 5-5. Shelton briefly retook the lead, 6-5, on a deuce point win, but Huang came back again to send it to the tiebreaker. In that frame, Huang jumped out to a 3-0 lead and never looked back, extending it to 6-2 before winning 7-3 to tie the overall match, 2-2.
Like Spizzirri, Woldeab was facing a top-15 opponent in No. 12 Duarte Vale at No. 1. After falling in his last singles match, Woldeab responded in a big way with a 7-5, 7-5 win that gave Texas a 3-2 lead. In the first set Woldeab picked up an early break and then held on a deuce point for a 2-0 lead. Vale came back with a 3-0 run to put the set back on serve where it stayed up to a 5-5 tie before Woldeab broke and held for the win. In the second set, it was Vale who took the first two games and Woldeab who followed with a run, however Woldeab's was one of five games with the last coming on a deuce point for a 5-2 lead. Woldeab then had a chance to serve for the match, but Vale rallied with a 3-0 run, including the last two on deuce points, while fending off three match points to tie it. However Woldeab was not to be denied as he broke Vale for the lead and this time did serve out the match.
In doubles, Florida took the point with a pair of 6-2 wins, first by the No. 45 pair of Riffice and Vale over Spizzirri and Woldeab at No. 1, then by Andrade and Will Grant over Braswell and Harper at No. 3. Florida took leads of 4-1 in both, but Spizzirri and Woldeab's match featured four deuce points, three of which the Gators won. In the remaining match at No. 2 Huang and senior Payton Holden were up 5-4 and two points away from a win at 30-15 when play stopped. They had used a 3-0 run to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 lead.
The Longhorns, now 4-0 on the season, return to the court next Saturday when they host Baylor at 12 p.m. CT at the Texas Tennis Center.
No. 6 Texas 4, No. 9 Florida Gators 3
Singles – Order of Finish (3,4,5,1,6,2)
1. #57 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. #12 Duarte Vale (UF) 7-5, 7-5
2. #120 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. #8 Sam Riffice (UF) 5-7, 6-4, 6-3
3. #85 Andy Andrade (UF) def. #78 Micah Braswell (UT) 6-3, 6-0
4. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Johannes Ingildsen (UF) 6-2, 6-2
5. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Ben Shelton (UF) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)
6. #68 Blaise Bicknell (UF) def. Evin McDonald (UT) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,3)
1. #45 Duarte Vale/Sam Riffice (UF) def. Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-2
2. Payton Holden/Chih Chi Huang (UT) vs. Johannes Ingildsen/Ben Shelton (UF) 5-4, unf.
3. Andy Andrade/Will Grant (UF) def. Micah Braswell/Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-2
(UT)
Players Mentioned
