The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
South Carolina
No. 4 Men’s Tennis completes epic comeback to advance to NCAA Quarterfinals
05.17.2021 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns trailed No. 13 South Carolina, 3-0, but rallied for four singles wins to advance to the quarterfinals for the fourth time in the last seven years.
Orlando – No. 4 Men's Tennis completed an epic comeback to advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals by overcoming a 3-0 deficit to rally for a 4-3 win at the USTA National Campus in Orlando on Monday. It was another magical moment at those courts after their last match there captured the program's first team championship in 2019.
The Longhorns used four singles victories by freshman No. 38 Micah Braswell at No. 2, and sophomores No. 108 Cleeve Harper at No. 4, No. 23 Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1 and Evin McDonald at No. 6. In addition to the team trailing the overall match, Spizzirri came back from being down 3-0 in his third set, and McDonald trailed, 3-1, in his second set after having lost the first. It was the seventh match the Longhorns have won this year that was decided in the final singles contest to just one defeat. It was also the ninth 4-3 victory of the year with two others clinched prior to the last singles match.
After winning the doubles point, South Carolina extended its overall lead to 3-0 with a 6-3, 6-2 win by Jake Beasley over junior Chih Chi Huang at No. 5, and a 6-4, 6-3 win by No. 67 Toby Samuel over Siem Woldeab at No. 3.
That's when the comeback began with Braswell getting the Longhorns on the board by downing No. 22 Connor Thomson, 6-3, 6-4. Braswell took the opening game on serve on a deuce point, but the next three games were all breaks, leaving Braswell with a 3-1 advantage. He expanded that lead to 4-1 with a hold, and the rest of the set stayed on serve from there, along with the first eight games of the second set. That left that frame tied, 4-4, when Braswell captured the break he would need to secure the match with one more hold in the next game.
Harper was next and pulled Texas within one by topping No. 54 Raphael Lambling, 6-2, 6-4. Harper used a break in the second game to jump out to a 3-0 lead, and then another to close the first set, which stayed on serve other than that. The first three games of the second set were also on serve to give Harper a 2-1 lead, with the last of those on a deuce point for him, and then he used another deuce point for the first break and a 3-1 margin. Lambling answered with a deuce point break in the next game, and then bookended a 3-0 run with another for a 4-3 lead. However, Harper took it from there with a 3-0 run of his own to finish the match.
That left Spizzirri and McDonald going back and forth with whose match would finish first. Both had gone to third sets, but Spizzirri ended up first off the court with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 win over No. 2 Daniel Rodrigues. It marked the highest-ranked opponent Spizzirri has beaten so far in his early career. Remarkably, the first four games to open the match all were breaks starting with Rodrigues on a deuce point and closed by Spizzirri on one. Spizzirri finally ended the streak, holding for a 3-2 lead, and after Rodrigues also held, Spizzirri used two consecutive deuce point wins to mount a 3-0 run and take the set. In the second, Rodrigues used a deuce point to take a 3-2 lead and close the last of a streak of five games on serve between the players. It was also the start of a 7-0 run for him that sent the match to a third set and established a 3-0 lead for him there. However, Spizzirri was able to flip the script with a 5-0 run of his own. Rodrigues got back within 5-4 on a hold, but Spizzirri served it out in the next game to tie the overall match at 3-3 and turn the focus to McDonald at the other end of the six courts.
After falling, 6-3, in the opening set to Thomas Brown, and then trailing, 3-1, in the second, McDonald found what he was looking for, starting with a 3-0 run on his way to winning five of the last six games of that set. Five of six then became 10 of 12 overall as he used a 5-0 run to bolt out to a 5-1 lead in the third, only dropping the first game on a deuce point. He then won three deuce points of his own during the run. Brown then had a comeback of his own in him, going on a 4-0 run to tie it with the last two on deuce points. Not to be outdone, McDonald regained the lead with a hold and then completed the 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 comeback with a break to send his teammates streaming onto the court.
Earlier in doubles, South Carolina claimed the point with wins at Nos. 1 and 2. At No. 1, the No. 13 duo of Rodrigues and Thomson downed No. 11 Spizzirri and Woldeab, 6-2. South Carolina earned a break in the opening game and took another for a 4-0 lead and the margin they would need, with the rest of the match staying on serve. At No. 2, Beasley and Samuel defeated No. 78 Harper and Huang, 6-3, to clinch the point. The Gamecocks also got out to an early lead in that match with a break in the second game for 3-0, but the Longhorns answered with a 3-0 run of their own, including a deuce point break. However, South Carolina earned a deuce point break that gave them a 5-3 lead before closing the match on serve. In the unfinished match at No. 3, Braswell and senior Payton Hold held a 5-1 lead over Lambling and Phillip Jordan after opening the match with a deuce point break that started them on a 5-0 run.
Texas (23-5) now advances to the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals the fourth time in the last seven years and will have a rematch with No. 12 USC from earlier in the year. That was another stirring 4-3 comeback win by the Longhorns over the then top-ranked Trojans at the ITA National Indoor Championships on Feb. 13 in Champaign, Ill. The match will be on Thursday, May 20, at 4:30 p.m. CT/5:30 p.m. ET and air on the Tennis Channel.
#4 Texas 4, #13 South Carolina 3
Singles – Order of Finish (5,3,2,4,1,6)
1. #23 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. #2 Daniel Rodrigues (SC) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
2. #38 Micah Braswell (UT) def. #22 Connor Thomson (SC) 6-3, 6-4
3. #67 Toby Samuel (SC) def. #75 Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-4, 6-3
4. #108 Cleeve Harper (UT) def. #54 Raphael Lambling (SC) 6-2, 6-4
5. Jake Beasley (SC) def. Chih Chi Huang (UT) 6-3, 6-2
6. Evin McDonald (UT) def. Thomas Brown (SC) 3-6, 6-4, 7-5
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2)
1. #13 Connor Thomson/Daniel Rodrigues (SC) def. #11 Siem Woldeab/Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 6-2
2. Jake Beasley/Toby Samuel (SC) def. #78 Chih Chi Huang/Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-3
3. Micah Braswell/Payton Holden (UT) vs. #80 Phillip Jordan/Raphael Lambling (SC) 5-1, unf.
Players Mentioned
