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No. 7 Men’s Tennis closes regular season with 4-1 win at No. 21 Texas Tech
04.18.2021 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns won their fourth-straight Big 12 match and will await the result of today’s Baylor-TCU match with a Baylor win giving Texas share of the Big 12 regular season championship.
Lubbock, Texas – No. 7 Men's Tennis closed the regular season with a 4-1 victory at No. 21 Texas Tech to win their fourth straight Big 12 match to finish conference play with a 4-1 record. They will now await the result of today's Baylor-TCU match (3 p.m. CT) with a Baylor win giving Texas a share of the Big 12 regular season championship.
After falling in the doubles point, the Longhorns rebounded with singles wins from sophomore No. 20 Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1, sophomore Evin McDonald at No. 5, junior Nevin Arimilli at No. 6 and sophomore No. 81 Siem Woldeab at No. 2, which provided the clinching point. Freshman No. 26 Micah Braswell was a late scratch from the lineup due to injury.
For Spizzirri, his 6-4, 6-2 win over Parker Wynn was his fourth-straight singles victory and his third consecutive in straight sets. Spizzirri took a 3-1 lead on a break early in the match, but Wynn immediately responded with a break of his own on a deuce point to put the set back on serve. That's where it stayed until Spizzirri's second break gave him the win at 6-4 on a deuce point. In the second, Spizzrri once again broke for a 3-1 lead, but this time held in the next game to extend to 4-1. Wynn picked up the following game on a deuce point hold, but Spizzirri closed from there on a hold and a break to even the overall match at 1-1.
Not long after that, McDonald, who played above the No. 6 position for just the sixth time this season, registered a 6-4, 6-4 win over Dimitrios Azoidis. With Azoidis serving first, the opening set stayed on serve all the way to 4-4 when McDonald grabbed the break he needed and closed the frame on serve. The second set also featured only one break, but this time it came earlier for McDonald, who used it for a 2-1 lead and then held on a deuce point for 3-1. The set stayed on serve the rest of the way as McDonald finished it on another deuce point to give Texas a 2-1 lead.
Arimilli, who was playing his first singles match since clinching a win over No. 15 Arizona on March 19, then extended the lead to 3-1 with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Isaac Arevalo. Arimilli had actually trailed, 3-1, in the first set following a break in the third game, but turned it on from there with a 5-0 run that included two deuce points to win it. Arimilli also trailed in the second set, but only at 2-1 with the frame still on serve. He won the next game on a deuce point and did not look back, starting another 5-0 run to the final. He won all four deuce points in the set with three of those coming during the run.
Of the three remaining matches, two had extended to three sets, including Woldeab, however that would be the only match of those to finish with Woldeab clinching by way of a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 win over Ilgiz Valiev. Valiev opened on serve, but the first three games were all breaks, including a deuce point for Valiev in the second, before Woldeab held to break the streak and go up, 3-1. The rest of the set stayed on serve from there to give Woldeab the win. Each player held starting with Valiev to open the second set, but Valiev closed it on a 5-0 run to force the third. There, four out of the first give games went to a deuce point, including the first one for Woldeab, a break for Valiev that put him up 2-1, and then the next two for Woldeab for his 3-2 lead. Valiev got the next game on serve, but that would be it as Woldeab closed on a 3-0 run for the overall win. It was Woldeab's third-straight singles victory and the fifth in his last six matches.
The two remaining matches were at Nos. 3 and 4 where sophomore No. 124 Cleeve Harper split his first two sets at 6-2 against Franco Ribero and was trailing 5-2 in the third at No. 3, and Reed Collier led junior Chih Chi Huang, 7-6 (4), 6-5, at No. 4 when play stopped. Ribero had won all three deuce points in the third set against Harper for his lead, while Huang had used a 3-0 run for a 4-1 lead in his first set, but Collier answered it and put it back on serve headed toward a breaker in which he got out to a 4-0. Huang got back within 4-3, but Collier was able to hold on. Huang used a deuce point break to take a 3-1 lead in the second, but Collier used a late 3-0 run to take a 6-5 lead on a deuce point before play stopped.
Earlier in doubles, Texas Tech used wins at Nos. 1 and 2 to secure the point. No. 2 finished first where No. 76 Harper and Huang fell to Collier and Arevalo, 6-4. The match stayed on serve up to 4-4 when Texas Tech picked up the lone break and then held for the win.
At No. 1, the No. 81 duo of Ribero and Wynn downed No. 10 Spizzirri and Woldeab, 7-5. The Red Raiders opened the match with a break, which they maintained up to a 5-4 lead when the Longhorns reclaimed it to even the score. However, Texas Tech got it right back on a deuce point in the next game and then held to clinch the point.
The match at No. 3 with McDonald and senior Payton Holden facing Azoidis and Valiev went unfinished with Texas Tech leading, 6-5. The teams each held their opening serve starting with Texas and then each earned a break to even it at 2-2. They then exchanged deuce point wins on serve where the match stayed until the Red Raiders broke again for their 6-5 lead.
The Longhorns (19-4, 4-1 Big 12) now head to the Big 12 Tournament which will be played from April 24-26 in Waco. Seeding will be based on the outcome of the Baylor at TCU match, which will take place later today.
#7 Texas 4, #21 Texas Tech 1
Singles – Order of Finish (1,5,6,2)
1. #20 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Parker Wynn (TTU) 6-4, 6-2
2. #81 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Ilgiz Valiev (TTU) 6-4, 1-6, 6-3
3. Franco Ribero (TTU) vs. #124 Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-2, 2-6, 5-2, unf.
4. Reed Collier (TTU) vs. Chih Chi Huang (UT) 7-6 (4), 6-5, unf.
5. Evin McDonald (UT) def. Dimitrios Azoidis (TTU) 6-4, 6-4
6. Nevin Arimilli (UT) def. Isaac Arevalo (TTU) 6-3, 6-2
Doubles – Order of Finish (2,1)
1. #81 Parker Wynn/Franco Ribero (TTU) def. #10 Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) 7-5
2. Reed Collier/Isaac Arevalo (TTU) def. #76 Cleeve Harper/Chih Chi Huang (UT) 6-4
3. Dimitrios Azoidis/Ilgiz Valiev (TTU) vs. Evin McDonald/Payton Holden (UT) 6-5, unf.
Players Mentioned
