The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Baylor
No. 4 Men’s Tennis falls to No. 6 Baylor, 4-1
01.30.2021 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns took the doubles point and had three singles matches extend to a third set, but came up short in their first defeat season.
Austin – The No. 4 Texas Men's Tennis team fell for the first time this season, 4-1, in a hard-fought match against No. 6 Baylor at the Texas Tennis Center on Saturday.
In what was technically a non-conference match, the Longhorns took an early 1-0 lead by handing Baylor its first doubles point loss of the season. However the Bears put together for singles wins at Nos. 2, 4, 5 and 6 to take the overall match. When play stopped, two other matches were in a third set with freshman Micah Braswell leading, 2-1, at No. 3, and sophomore Siem Woldeab even, 2-2, at No. 1.
In the doubles matches, the Bears had gotten off the court first with 6-2 win by Charlie Broom and Matias Soto over Braswell and sophomore Cleeve Harper at No. 3 on the strength of three deuce point wins. However in the other two matches, the Longhorns were able to establish a break first in both matches for the advantage. At No. 2, senior Payton Holden and junior Chih Chi Huang's gave them a 4-2 lead over Adrian Boitan and Nick Stachowiak and then next two games were also breaks by each team for a 5-3 Texas edge. The Longhorns held on Holden's serve in the final game to even it in doubles.
That left it to No. 1, where Woldeab and sophomore Eliot Spizzirri broke the No. 10 pair of Sven Lah and Constantin Frantzen to take a 3-1 lead and then extended to 4-1 on serve. At that point, Baylor went on a 3-0 run to tie the match with the last of those coming on a deuce point. However, the Longhorns responded by holding serve in the next game and securing a break in the final one for the win and the clinch.
In singles, No. 56 Soto first downed No. 120 Spizzirri, 6-4, 6-2, at No. 2 to even the overall match, 1-1. Baylor then took the lead after No. 74 Stachowiak defeated Harper, 6-4, 6-3, at No. 4 with the first set featuring six deuce points. The next match ended in a second-set tiebreaker where Spencer Furman came out on top over sophomore Evin McDonald, 6-2, 7-6 (5). McDonald had fought back to take a 3-1 lead on a break in the second set, but Furman was able to even it on a deuce point on serve. The rest of the set also stayed on serve to send it to a tiebreaker where Furman took a quick 3-0 lead, but once again McDonald answered and pushed it to a 5-4 lead of his own. However Furman finished it on another 3-0 run and gave Baylor a 3-1 lead.
The last match came down to another three-set contest at No. 5. Huang had fallen, 6-2, in his first set to No. 103 Broom, but a 3-0 run set him up with a 5-2 lead in the second before he closed the frame at 6-3. In the third, Huang picked up a deuce-point break for a 2-1 lead, and after the next two games were also breaks, he held a 3-2 edge. The last five games all went to deuce points, however it was Broom who won the next three to go up 5-3. Huang held him off in the next game, but Broom claimed the last one to clinch.
In the remaining two matches, No. 78 Braswell won his first set over No. 43 Lah, 6-4, and had two match points up 5-4 in the second, but Lah was able to fend them off, including the second one at deuce. Lah went on to win the set, 7-5, but Braswell was leading, 2-1, in the third when play stopped. No. 57 Woldeab's scores in his first two sets mirrored Braswell's, but came in a different way, as he overcame a 3-1 deficit in the first set to win, 6-4, while in the second set he came back from down 5-2 to tie it. Boitan secured the final two games of that frame, and Woldeab won the first two of the third set before it finished at 2-2.
The Longhorns return to the court for the second of their back-to-back matches on Sunday at 12 p.m. CT against Arizona State.
#6 Baylor 4, #4 Texas 1
Singles – Order of Finish (2,4,6,5)
1. #57 Siem Woldeab (UT) vs. #46 Adrian Boitan (BU) 6-4, 5-7, 2-2, unf.
2. #56 Matias Soto (BU) def. #120 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 6-4, 6-2
3. #78 Micah Braswell (UT) vs. #43 Sven Lah (BU) 6-4, 5-7, 2-1, unf.
4. #74 Nick Stachowiak (BU) def. Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-4, 6-3
5. #103 Charlie Broom (BU) def. Chih Chi Huang (UT) 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
6. Spencer Furman (BU) def. Evin McDonald (UT) 6-2, 7-6 (7-5)
Doubles – Order of Finish (3,2,1)
1. Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) def. #10 Sven Lah/Constantin Frantzen (BU) 6-4
2. Chih Chi Huang/Payton Holden (UT) def. Adrian Boitan/Nick Stachowiak (BU) 6-3
3. Charlie Broom/Matias Soto (BU) def. Cleeve Harper/Micah Braswell (UT) 6-2
Players Mentioned
