The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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Northwestern
No. 4 Men’s Tennis advances to NCAA Tournament Round of 16
05.09.2021 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns swept Northwestern, 4-0, on Sunday to reach the Round of 16 for the seventh-straight year.
Austin – No. 4 Men's Tennis advanced to the NCAA Tournament Round of 16 with a 4-0 sweep of Northwestern on Sunday at the Texas Tennis Center. It marks the seventh-straight year the Longhorns have reached the Round of 16, which this year will be played in Orlando as opposed to campus sites as in the past.
Texas opened by taking the doubles point and then followed with singles wins by junior Chih Chi Huang at No. 5, sophomore No. 75 Siem Woldeab at No. 3, and sophomore No. 108 Cleeve Harper at No. 4.
After having three of his last four matches go unfinished, Huang broke through and was first off the court in singles with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Trice Pickens. The first set stayed on serve with no deuce points all the way to a 5-4 lead for Huang when he picked up the first break to win it on what would be the only deuce of the match. The first two games of the second set were also on serve, but Huang put together a 3-0 run to establish a 4-1 lead with the rest of the match staying on serve for his victory and a 2-0 Texas lead.
Woldeab followed just behind Huang with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Nick Brookes. That match also stayed on serve for a large portion of the first set, up to a 4-3 lead for Woldeab, but that trend flipped with the final three games all being breaks. Woldeab claimed the last of those on a deuce point for the set, and it started him on a 4-0 run for a 3-0 lead in the second. However, after that lead extended to 4-1, Brookes collected a 3-0 run of his own, including one deuce point break, to even it. Woldeab regained the lead on serve in the next game and the set stayed that way until Woldeab got the break he needed in the last game to close it out.
With Texas leading 3-0, the clincher came down to Harper, who sealed it with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Chris Ephron. After the first four games stayed on serve starting with Harper, Ephron captured a deuce point break and then held to lead 4-2. However that be his last win until the fourth game of the second set as Harper went on a 7-0 run that included three deuce points. Ephron would win his next two service games, the second of which came on a deuce point, to trail 4-2, but Harper held on a deuce point in the next game and then broke for the victory to advance the Longhorns.
The remaining unfinished matches were all extremely close with sophomore No. 23 Eliot Spizzirri even with Steven Forman, 6-3, 3-6, 3-3 at No. 1, freshman No. 38 Micah Braswell even with Dominik Stary, 4-6, 6-2 at No. 2, and sophomore Evin McDonald leading Presley Thieneman, 7-6 (2), 4-5.
Spizzirri finished his first set with a 3-0 run, the last of which was a deuce point, and won the first game of the second also on a deuce point on serve, however Forman answered with a 3-0 run that included two deuce points for a 3-1 lead. The rest of that set stayed on serve until Forman broke to win it, and then each player picked up a break in the last two games of the third set when play finished. Braswell's first set featured six deuce points, five of which were won by Stary, but he was able to establish a 3-0 lead in the second and did not look back to take that frame. McDonald turned a 2-0 deficit in his first set to a 5-3 lead before Thieneman went on a 3-0 run. McDonald recovered to send it to a tiebreaker where he lost the first point, but compiled a 6-0 run on his way to a 7-2 win. In the second set, the players exchanged three 2-0 runs starting with Thieneman with his last two coming on deuce points for a 4-2 lead. They then alternated the final three games on serve to 5-4 for Thieneman when play stopped.
Earlier in doubles, the Longhorns used wins at Nos. 2 and 3 to clinch the point, starting with the No. 78 duo of Harper and Huang at No. 2 defeating Ephron and Stary, 6-3. Northwestern earned a break to open the match, but Harper and Huang then set out on a 5-0 run, the last two of which were on deuce points. Those two started a string of five deuce points in a row with the next two going to the Wildcats, but the Longhorns took the final one to close the match. At No. 3, Braswell and senior Payton Holden clinched the point with a 7-5 win over Forman and Natan Spear. The entire match stayed on serve, with each team winning one deuce point, until the final game when Braswell and Holden secured a break for the win and a 1-0 lead for Texas. In the remaining match at No. 2 that went unfinished, No. 11 Spizzirri and Woldeab trailed No. 34 Brookes and Simen Bratholm, 6-5, when play stopped. That match also stayed on serve all the way to 5-5 when Northwestern earned a break for the lead.
The Longhorns (22-5) now head to Orlando for the Round of 16 where they will face No. 13 South Carolina on at 3 p.m. CT on Monday, May 17, at the USTA National Campus, which was the site of their 2019 National Championship victory.
#4 Texas 4, Northwestern 0
Singles – Order of Finish (5,3,4)
1. #23 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) vs. Steven Forman (NUM) 6-3, 3-6, 3-3, unf.
2. #38 Micah Braswell (UT) vs. Dominik Stary (NUM) 4-6, 6-2, unf.
3. #75 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Nick Brookes (NUM) 6-4, 7-5
4. #108 Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Chris Ephron (NUM) 6-4, 6-2
5. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Trice Pickens (NUM) 6-4, 6-3
6. Evin McDonald (UT) vs. Presley Thieneman (NUM) 7-6 (2), 4-5, unf.
Doubles – Order of Finish (2,3)
1. #11 Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) vs. #34 Nick Brookes/Simen Bratholm (NUM) 5-6, unf.
2. #78 Cleeve Harper/Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Chris Ephron/Dominik Stary (NUM) 6-3
3. Micah Braswell/Payton Holden (UT) def. Natan Spear/Steven Forman (NUM) 7-5
Players Mentioned
