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Oklahoma State
No. 6 Men’s Tennis secures 4-1 win at No. 26 Oklahoma State
03.05.2021 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns picked up their second-straight road victory in a non-conference win over the Cowboys in Stillwater on Friday.
Stillwater, Okla. – No. 6 Texas Men's Tennis secured a 4-1 win at No. 26 Oklahoma State in a non-conference match in Stillwater on Friday. It was the Longhorns' second-straight road victory in as many attempts to begin a four-match road stretch.
Texas captured the doubles point, including a win at No. 1 by the sophomore duo of Eliot Spizzirri and Siem Woldeab over the No. 3 doubles pair in the country, and followed with singles wins by junior Chih Chi Huang at No. 5, sophomore Cleeve Harper at No. 4 and freshman No. 78 Micah Braswell at No. 3. Braswell clinched his second-straight match to finish the win.
For Spizzirri and Woldeab, their doubles victory over Emile Hudd and Matej Vocel marked their third over a top-10 opponent in dual match play this season. That includes two over No. 10 Sven Lah and Constantin Frantzen of Baylor, while they also forced No. 1 Daniel Cukierman and Riley Smith of USC to a tiebreaker before coming up just short.
The first three games of this match stayed on serve starting with Spizzirri and Woldeab before they picked up a break for a 3-1 lead and extended to 4-1 on a deuce point on serve. The next two games also stayed on serve for 5-2 when the Texas pair grabbed another break for the win.
Harper and Huang partnered at No. 2 doubles for the second-straight match and posted their second-straight win, 6-2 over Mathieu Scaglia and Maxim Tybar. The first four games stayed on serve starting with Harper and Huang, but from there the last four all went to deuce points and all went in favor of the Longhorns to clinch the point and a 1-0 lead for Texas. In the remaining match at No. 3, Braswell paired with sophomore Jacob Bullard in a contest where the first four games all went to deuce point, however the OSU duo of Henrik Korsgaard and Etienne Donnet claimed the first three of those. Braswell and Bullard pulled back to within 4-3 and had another deuce point pending when play stopped.
In singles, after No. 49 Vocel evened the overall match at 1-1 with a 6-3, 6-3 win over No. 120 Spizzirri at No. 1, Huang regained the lead for the Longhorns for good with a 7-5, 7-6 (3) victory over Donnet. It was a return to the singles lineup for Huang after not playing against Tulane following an injury. In the first set, Huang picked up a break and followed with a hold for a 4-2 lead. Donnet got the break back to even it at 5-5, but Huang immediately reclaimed it and then held for the win. The players traded breaks in the second and third games of the second set, but after Donnet held for a 3-2 lead, the players then traded 3-0 runs starting with Huang. He pushed to a 5-3 lead and later had two match points up 5-4 on serve, but Donnet held on with a deuce point win to even it at 5-5. Donnet then took the lead on serve, but Huang also held to send it to a tiebreaker. There, Huang broke a 2-2 tie with a 3-0 run and added the final two points for the win and a 2-1 Texas lead.
Shortly after that, Harper also used a tiebreaker for a win, however his came in the first set for a 7-6 (7), 6-3 victory over Scaglia. In that first set, the opening four games stayed on serve starting with Scaglia, when he broke on a deuce point and then held for a 4-2 lead. Harper then held and broke to even it, starting a run five-straight breaks that sent it to the tiebreaker. In that frame, Scaglia was able to jump out to a 4-0 lead, but Harper came roaring back with a 5-0 run of his own. Scaglia regained leads at 6-5 and then 7-6, but Harper closed on a 3-0 run to finish it. After Scaglia held on a deuce point to open the second set, Harper used a break in the third for a 3-0 run to open a lead, and the rest of the set stayed on serve until the final game when Harper broke on a deuce point for his win and 3-1 lead for Texas.
That left it to Braswell, who like the previous two matches found himself in a tiebreaker as part of his 7-5, 7-6 (5) win over No. 86 Korsgaard. The match opened with three-straight deuce points, the first two of which went to Korsgaard on a hold and a break. Braswell was able to pull back even on a break and a hold, and then following a Korsgaard hold, put together a 3-0 run for a 5-3 lead. Two games later, Braswell had a set point on deuce up 5-4, but Korsgaard was able to fend that one off before Braswell closed with the last two games. In the second set, the first three games were breaks with Braswell winning the first and third on deuce points. He then extended to a 4-1 lead with the next two games also going to deuce points, however Korsgaard claimed both of those as part of a 3-0 run to tie it. That game was the first of three straight breaks that were followed by deuce point holds by Korsgaard then Braswell to send it to the tiebreaker. Braswell quickly got out to a 3-0 lead in that frame, but Korsgaard was able to answer and even it. The players then alternated points starting with Braswell to a 6-5 lead for him when he broke the streak to clinch the team win.
The remaining two matches had both gone to third sets with No. 57 Woldeab in a tight match with No. 101 Hudd, 4-6, 6-3, 3-4. After Woldeab took an early 3-0 lead, Hudd went on a 5-0 run before closing the first set at 6-4. In the second, Woldeab once again got out to a 4-1 lead, but after Hudd pulled back within 4-3, Woldeab closed with the last two games to force a third set that stood at 4-3 for Hudd when play stopped. Sophomore Evin McDonald also fell 6-4 in his first set and led 4-1 in his second set against Matisse Bobichon before Bobichon came back to tie it at 5-5. McDonald regained the lead at 6-5 and had a set point at deuce in the next game, but Bobichon held on to force a tiebreaker. There, Bobichon took leads of 2-0 and 3-2 before McDonald posted a 4-0 run for a 6-3 lead. Bobichon came back to tie at 6-6, but McDonald prevailed in the final two points to force a third set where he led, 3-1, when play finished.
The Longhorns now stay in the state of Oklahoma and head to Norman to face the No. 28 Sooners on Sunday in a televised match on Fox Sports Oklahoma at 12 p.m. CT.
#6 Texas 4, #26 Oklahoma State 1
Singles – Order of Finish (1,5,4,3)
1. #49 Matej Vocel (OSU) def. #120 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 6-3, 6-3
2. #101 Emile Hudd (OSU) vs. #57 Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-4, 3-6, 4-3, unf.
3. #78 Micah Braswell (UT) def. #86 Henrik Korsgaard (OSU) 7-5, 7-6 (5)
4. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Mathieu Scaglia (OSU) 7-6 (7), 6-3
5. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Etienne Donnet (OSU) 7-5, 7-6 (3)
6. Matisse Bobichon (OSU) vs. Evin McDonald (UT) 6-4, 6-7 (6), 1-3, unf.
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2)
1. Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) def. #3 Matej Vocel/Emile Hudd (OSU) 6-2
2. Chih Chi Huang/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Mathieu Scaglia/Maxim Tybar (OSU) 6-2
3. Henrik Korsgaard/Etienne Donnet (OSU) vs. Micah Braswell/Jacob Bullard (UT) 4-3, unf.
Players Mentioned
