The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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No. 5 Men’s Tennis preview: UIW/Texas A&M-CC
02.05.2021 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns host a doubleheader against the Cardinals (11 a.m. CT) and Islanders (2:30 p.m. CT) on Saturday.
No. 5 Men's Tennis preview: UIW/Texas A&M-CC
Texas Athletics has implemented the necessary health and safety guidelines to allow limited fan attendance at the Texas Tennis Center. For more information, click here: hookem.at/Tennis-Fans
When: Sat., Feb. 6, 2021, UIW – 11 a.m. CT/Texas A&M-CC – 2:30 p.m. CT
Where: Texas Tennis Center, Austin, Texas
Live Video: hookem.at/MTN-Watch
Live Stats: hookem.at/MTN-Stats
Team Records: Texas (5-1, 0-0 Big 12), UIW (2-2, 0-0 Southland), Texas A&M-CC (9-0, 0-0 Southland)
Notes
-UIW Series: Texas leads, 2-0
This will be just the third meeting between Texas and UIW with the Longhorns winning the previous two, including a 6-1 win at Westwood Country Club in Austin in 2016, and a 7-0 sweep at the Texas Tennis Center in 2019.
Last Meeting
No. 3 Texas 7, UIW 0
February 26, 2019 • Austin, Texas (Texas Tennis Center)
Singles – Order of Finish (1,2,3,4,5,6)
1. #12 Yuya Ito (UT) def. Gabriel Evans (UIW), 6-0, 6-0
2. #67 Leonardo Telles (UT) def. Sebastian Mortier (UIW), 6-0, 6-3
3. #59 Harrison Scott (UT) def. Paco Bendana (UIW), 6-0, 6-1
4. Colin Markes (UT) def. Dennis Boisseau (UIW), 6-0, 6-2
5. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Caleb Dyer (UIW), 6-3, 6-1
6. Rodrigo Banzer (UT) def. Oliver Valentinsson (UIW,) 6-2, 6-3
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2,3)
1. Leonardo Telles/Colin Markes (UT) def. Gabriel Evans/Sebastian Mortier (UIW), 6-1
2. #57 Yuya Ito/Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Paco Bendana/Caleb Dyer (UIW), 6-1
3. Nevin Arimilli/Johnny Goodwin (UT) def. Dennis Boisseau/Oliver Valentinsson (UIW), 7-6 (2)
-Texas vs UIW in 2020 tournament play
Did not meet
-Texas A&M-CC: Texas leads, 16-0
This will be the 17th meeting between the Longhorns and the Islanders with Texas winning the previous 16. They last met in 2019 at the Texas Tennis Center, which was a 4-0 decision for the Longhorns.
Last Meeting
No. 8 Texas 4, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 0
January 30, 2019 • Austin, Texas (Texas Tennis Center)
Singles – Order of Finish (5,2,4)
1. Leonardo Telles (UT) vs. William Mottet (TAMUCC), 6-1, 2-3, unf.
2. Harrison Scott (UT) def. Carlos Pedrosa (TAMUCC), 6-1, 6-2
3. #103 Chih Chi Huang (UT) vs. Thomas Rodrigues (TAMUCC), 6-4, 5-1, unf.
4. Rodrigo Banzer (UT) def. Okkie Kellerman (TAMUCC), 6-3, 6-1
5. Johnny Goodwin (UT) def. Kyohei Yamanaka (TAMUCC), 6-0, 6-1
6. Nevin Arimilli (UT) vs. Thibault Frumholz (TAMUCC), 2-6, 4-3, unf.
Doubles – Order of Finish (3,2)
1. #33 Christian Sigsgaard/Harrison Scott (UT) vs. William Mottet/Thomas Rodrigues (TAMUCC), 5-4, unf.
2. Colin Markes/Leonardo Telles (UT) def. Okkie Kellerman/Kyohei Yamanaka (TAMUCC), 6-2
3. Nevin Arimilli/Johnny Goodwin (UT) def. Thibault Frumholz/Carlos Pedrosa (TAMUCC), 6-3
-Texas vs Texas A&M-CC in 2020 tournament play
ITA Texas Regional Championships
Siem Woldeab (UT) def. K Yamanaka (TAMCC), 6-2, 7-5
-Ranked No. 5
Texas is ranked No. 5 in the most recent Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Rankings released Feb. 3 by the ITA. It marks the 23rd-straight time the Longhorns have been ranked in the top six dating back to January 2019 with 22 of those being in the top five.
-ITA Individual National Rankings (Jan. 13)
Texas
Singles
No. 57 Siem Woldeab
No. 78 Micah Braswell
No. 120 Eliot Spizzirri
Doubles
t-No. 43 Payton Holden/Siem Woldeab
Newcomers
No. 5 Micah Braswell
UIW
Singles
N/A
Doubles
N/A
Texas A&M-CC
Singles
N/A
Doubles
N/A
-Splitting a back-to-back
In back-to-back matches on January 30-31, Texas lost a tight contest to No. 6 Baylor, 4-1, but rebounded the next day to defeat Arizona State, 4-3. The match against Baylor was closer than the score with the Bears winning the last match in three sets and the Longhorns leading and tied in the two remaining singles matches when play stopped, while the match against the Sun Devils was clinched at 4-1 before the teams played out the last two matches. Texas gave Baylor its first doubles point loss of the season and then used four singles wins over Arizona State.
-Three straight trips to ITA National Team Indoor Championships
Texas earned its third straight trip to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships by defeating Liberty (4-1) and No. 9 Florida (4-3) in the Austin ITA Kickoff Weekend on Jan. 22-23. In a rollercoaster of a day against Florida that involved multiple weather delays and a late location change, the Longhorns persevered and topped the Gators on the strength of singles wins from Cleeve Harper, Chih Chi Huang, Siem Woldeab and finally Eliot Spizzirri over No. 8 Sam Riffice in three sets. The ITA Indoors will take place from February 12-14 in Champaign, Ill.
-Back-to-Back Sweeps
The Longhorns posted their second 7-0 sweep in as many days as they down SMU by that score at the Texas Tennis Center on Jan. 16. Texas didn't drop a set to the Mustangs and only left one doubles match unfinished at 3-3.
-Season Opening Sweep
Texas opened its 2021 dual match season with a 7-0 sweep of Louisiana at the Texas Tennis Center on Jan. 15. The Longhorns won all six singles matches on the day with four in straight sets and two that ended in third-set superbreakers. They also took two out of three doubles matches.
-Bama Spring Shootout
The Longhorns headed to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to open spring play in a tournament that was originally scheduled to host individual play between Texas, Alabama and Mississippi State. However, after Mississippi State withdrew, members of Texas and Alabama faced off with the Longhorns winning four out of five titles, including sweeping all 10 doubles matches played on the second day. All three singles champions for the Longhorns in Eliot Spizzirri, Micah Braswell and Leighton Allen posted perfect 3-0 records.
Texas Singles Champions
Flight 1 – Eliot Spizzirri, Micah Braswell (co)
Flight 3 – Leighton Allen
Texas Doubles Champions
Flight 1 – Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab
Flight 2 – Micah Braswell/Cleeve Harper
ITA Texas Region Rookie of the Year
Sophomore Siem Woldeab was honored as the ITA Texas Region Rookie of the Year in May after he posted a 21-10 overall record in singles, including 11-3 in dual matches, stepping into the starting lineup for a defending National Champion Texas team and playing mostly at No. 3. He registered a high singles ranking of 37 and a high doubles ranking of 11 during the year and collected eight wins over ranked opponents in singles, including four against the top 40, two in the top 17 and one over teammate Yuya Ito in the championship match of his first collegiate tournament at the Gamecock Fall Invitational. He then paired with Ito to win the doubles title at the same tournament, and later paired with Christian Sigsgaard to win the doubles title of the Southern Intercollegiate Championships. In dual match play, Woldeab clinched matches against No. 43 Tulane, Nebraska and Tulsa. In the first dual match of his career on the road at No. 1 Florida, he played No. 3 singles and downed No. 17 Duarte Vale in straight sets to secure the team's first point in a 5-2 win. Woldeab won his last six singles matches of the season, including against opponents on two top-10 teams in No. 8 Stanford and No. 9 NC State. Woldeab has started this dual match season 3-2 in singles, including a straight sets win over No. 12 Duarte Vale of ninth-ranked Florida.
Spizzirri Out of the Gate
So far in his early career as a Longhorn, sophomore Eliot Spizzirri has had an excellent start, registering a 24-5 singles record that includes an 16-2 mark in dual match play. In 2021, he is 5-1 in dual match singles play and clinched a 4-3 win for the team over No. 9 Florida by downing No. 8 Sam Riffice in three sets. In his first collegiate dual match he opened with a win over No. 72 Andy Andrade at No. 1 Florida to help Texas to a win last year. He had joined the team in January and made an immediate impact, playing primarily the No. 4 spot in the lineup. In tournament play in this season, he recorded a 7-1 record in singles. Recently he claimed the co-championship of the top flight in singles and the championship of the top flight of doubles with Siem Woleab at the Bama Spring Shootout. He has an 20-13 overall career record in doubles to this point.
And Here Comes Braswell
True freshman Micah Braswell posted a 12-1 singles record in his first action as a Longhorn this fall, on his way to winning the championship of the Lakes Tennis Invite and co-championships of the TCU Invite and the Big 6 Fall Invite. That included wins over players in the last rankings of last season: No. 48 Parker Wynn, No. 77 Luc Fomba, No. 87 Ilgiz Valiev, No. 104 Mason Beiler and No. 107 Charlie Broom. He followed that up with a 3-0 start to spring play at the Bama Spring Shootout to earn the co-championship with teammate Eliot Spizzirri, along with dual match wins against Louisiana, SMU and Liberty before dropping his first against No. 85 Andy Andrade of No. 9 Florida. He's now 19-2 overall in singles play and was leading No. 43 Sven Lah of Baylor before their match went unfinished.
-Defending National Champions (Still)
Without the NCAA Tournament being played last year, the Longhorns enter the season still as the defending National Champions. Juniors Chih Chi Huang and Nevin Arimilli and redshirt sophomore Cleeve Harper are the lone members remaining from the title team with an influx of new faces arriving since that time. Head coach Bruce Berque enters his third season after guiding Texas to its first team championship in school history.
-Simply the Best
This season Texas will be without two of its staples from the last four years that included a run to the program's first team National Championship in Yuya Ito and Christian Sigsgaard. Both players rank in the top 10 in all-time singles wins at Texas with Ito fifth (111) and Sigsgaard seventh (105) and would have been eligible to return, however Sigsgaard chose to begin his career in professional tennis, while Ito accepted a job opportunity in Japan.
Ito posted overall career marks of 111-34 (.766) in singles and 79-36 (.687) in doubles, including dual match records of 66-18 (.786) in singles and 48-27 (.640) in doubles. He was on pace to set the UT record for career singles victories had his final season not been cut short. His overall .766 career singles winning percentage is the best among the 22 players who have 90 victories or more. Ito was just the third three-time singles All-American (2017, '19, '20) in program history since separate singles and doubles honors began to be recognized in 1979. He finished in the top 10 of the ITA final singles rankings in both of the last two years at No. 8 in 2019 and No. 2 in 2020. He also paired with Christian Sigsgaard to rank as high as No. 4 in doubles in 2020.
Sigsgaard posted overall career marks of 105-41 (.719) in singles and 78-33 (.703) in doubles, including dual match records of 53-28 (.654) in singles and 51-21 (.708) in doubles. He departed Texas with three ITA All-America honors, earning them in singles in 2019 and 2020, and in doubles in 2019. He placed in the top 10 of the ITA final rankings in singles and doubles both of those years, finishing at No. 6 in singles in 2019 and 2020 and in doubles in 2019, along with No. 9 in doubles in 2020.
-Year Four at the Texas Tennis Center
Texas has begun its fourth season of play at the Texas Tennis Center and with a 5-1 mark in 2021 has compiled a 39-4 overall record, including a 9-0 mark in a shortened season in 2020 that featured wins against No. 8 Stanford, No. 18 Georgia and No. 21 Florida State. The Longhorns finished 2019 with a 15-1 mark there, including wins over No. 1 Ohio State, No. 6 Baylor and No. 12 Columbia, along with three NCAA Tournament victories. The lone loss came to No. 15 USC. During its inaugural season, Texas posted a 10-2 record, including winning the 2018 Big 12 Tournament.
Players Mentioned
