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No. 4 Men’s Tennis falls to top-seeded Florida in NCAA Semifinals
05.22.2021 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns complete their season with a second-straight appearance in the Final Four, a Big 12 regular season title and a 24-6 record.
Orlando – No. 4 Men's Tennis fell to top-seeded Florida, 4-0, in the NCAA Semifinals at the USTA Campus in Orlando on Friday. The Longhorns complete their season with a second-straight appearance in the Final Four, a Big 12 regular season title and a 24-6 record.
It was the sixth time Texas has reached the NCAA semifinals in school history, while the 24 wins are the second-most since 2010, trailing only the 29 by the 2019 National Championship team.
Despite the 4-0 score, the Longhorns still had chances all the way up to the end of the match to turn things around. When play stopped, freshman No. 38 Micah Braswell at No. 2 and sophomore Evin McDonald at No. 6 held leads in their matches, while sophomore No. 23 Eliot Spizzirri had just taken a 6-5 lead in his second set attempting to force a third at No. 1, and in the clinching match at No. 3, sophomore No. 75 Siem Woldeab had been at 5-5 in his second set before slipping in the final two games.
Along with No. 3, Florida had used the doubles point and singles wins at Nos. 5 and 4 to take the overall match. After winning doubles, Florida pushed its lead to 2-0 as Ben Shelton downed junior Chih Chi Huang, 6-3, 6-0, at No. 5. The first set stayed on serve up to a 4-3 lead for Shelton, who grabbed the lone break of the frame before closing it on serve and then taking the second set.
The Gators extended the lead to 3-0 with a 6-1, 7-5 win by No. 51 Blase Bicknell over sophomore No. 108 Cleeve Harper. It was yet another match that was close to being flipped by the Longhorns. After falling 6-1 in the first set, Harper won the opening game of the second, but Bicknell put together a 3-0 run with a break in the third game. The set stayed on serve up to a 5-4 lead for Bicknell when Harper used a deuce point win to break and even it. However, Bicknell answered with a deuce point break and then held serve for the win.
That left four tight sets on the court with Texas making moves in all of them, but Woldeab came up just short in his second, falling to No. 18 Andy Andrade, 6-3, 7-5. Andrade captured deuce point wins in each of the first two games of the match, including an opening break, and then used a second break to extend to 5-2. The final three games were all breaks leading to his win. In the second set, Andrade held on a deuce point to start, and the players alternated 2-0 runs all the way to a 5-4 lead for Andrade, which he took on a deuce point hold. Woldeab answered the deuce point hold in the next game, but a final 2-0 run gave Andrade and the Gators the win.
On the remaining courts, McDonald was closest to victory, leading No. 79 Josh Goodger, 6-2, 4-6, 4-3 when play halted. McDonald opened the match with a quick 4-0 run, including the last game on a deuce point break, but Goodger responded with his own and then held for 4-2. McDonald then reversed those two games with a hold and another deuce point break to win. In the second, it was Goodger who jumped out to a 4-0 lead, using three deuce points to do it, but McDonald went on a 3-0 run to cut it to one. The final three games stayed on serve with Goodger getting the last of those on a deuce point to win, while all of the third set was on serve, resulting in McDonald's 4-3 lead.
Braswell may have had the strongest singles play of the night for Texas as he was leading No. 6 Sam Riffice, 7-6 (3), 3-2, at the end. Braswell trailed 4-1 early, but fought back to even it at 5-5 on a deuce point. Riffice reclaimed the lead on a deuce point hold, but Braswell also held to send it to a tiebreaker. There, Braswell took a 2-0 lead, which he maintained to 4-2 and then expanded to 5-2. Riffice got one point back, but Braswell finished the frame with the next two. Meanwhile the second set stayed on serve up to a 3-2 lead for Braswell when play concluded.
At No. 1, Spizzirri faced off against his second top-five opponent in the last three matches in No. 4 Duarte Vale, who won the first set, 6-4, but trailed Spizzirri in the second, 5-6. The first four games were on serve before Vale broke for a 3-2 lead, but Spizzirri broke right back on a deuce point and then held on another for the lead. However, Vale used a 5-0 run to close the first set and record a 2-0 lead in the second. That set stayed on serve up to 5-4 for Vale when Spizzirri fended off three match points to break on a deuce point and then held for the 6-5 lead when play stopped.
Earlier in doubles, Florida took the point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3. The match at No. 3 concluded first with a 6-2 win for Brian Berdusco and Will Grant over Braswell and senior Payton Holden. The Gators opened on a 3-0 run that included two breaks with the second on a deuce point. The Longhorns got one of the breaks back on a deuce point in the next game, but Berdusco and Grant broke again and then held on another deuce point for a 5-1 lead. Braswell and Holden got one game back on serve, but Florida held in the following game for the win.
The match at No. 2 finished next and featured six deuce points, four of which were won by Sam Riffice and Ben Shelton in a 6-3 win over No. 78 Harper and Huang. The first two of those deuce points gave Florida a 3-1 lead after the first two games were on serve starting with Texas. The rest of the match stayed on serve, but the final four games were all deuce points.
The final match between No. 11 Spizzirri and Woldeab against Vale and Johannes Ingildsen went unfinished at 5-5. The Longhorns opened on a 3-0 run and expanded that lead to 5-1 with the use of two deuce point wins, however the Gators closed on a 4-0 run that evened it when play stopped.
The Longhorns will now get ready for the NCAA Individual Singles and Doubles Championships, which run from May 23-29. They will be represented by Spizzirri and Braswell in singles, along with the duo of Spizzirri and Woldeab in doubles in a field that is composed of 64 singles players and 32 doubles teams. All three were chosen as at-large selections and will be making their first appearances in the tournament after it was not held in 2020 due to the pandemic.
#2 (1 seed) Florida 4, #4 (4 seed) Texas 0
Singles – Order of Finish (5,4,3)
1. #4 Duarte Vale (UF) vs. #23 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 6-4, 5-6, unf.
2. #6 Sam Riffice (UF) vs. #38 Micah Braswell (UT) 6-7 (3), 2-3, unf.
3. #18 Andy Andrade (UF) def. #75 Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-3, 7-5
4. #51 Blaise Bicknell (UF) def. #108 Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-1, 7-5
5. Ben Shelton (UF) def. Chih Chi Huang (UT) 6-3, 6-0
6. #79 Josh Goodger (UF) vs. Evin McDonald (UT) 2-6, 6-4, 3-4, unf.
Doubles – Order of Finish (3,2)
1. #16 Duarte Vale/Johannes Ingildsen (UF) vs. #11 Siem Woldeab/Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 5-5, unf.
2. Sam Riffice/Ben Shelton (UF) def. #78 Cleeve Harper/Chih Chi Huang (UT) 6-4
3. Brian Berdusco/Will Grant (UF) def. Micah Braswell/Payton Holden (UT) 6-2
Players Mentioned
