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No. 3 Men’s Tennis edged by No. 1 Florida, 4-3
01.16.2022 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns posted singles wins at Nos. 1, 2 and 4, but came up just short against the defending champion Gators on Sunday.
Austin – No. 3 Texas Men's Tennis posted singles wins at Nos. 1, 2 and 4 against No. 1 Florida, but were edged, 4-3, by the defending champion Gators on Sunday at the Texas Tennis Center.
The singles victories included sophomores Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1 and No. 20 Micah Braswell at No. 2, along with senior Richard Ciamarra at No. 4 after Florida had won the doubles point in a tiebreaker of the deciding third match.
Braswell was first off the court of the Longhorns, downing Duarte Vale in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3. Braswell opened on a 4-0 run that included deuce point wins in the first three games and breaks in the first and third. The rest of the first set stayed on serve with Braswell closing it on another deuce point before opening the second with a break and hold. Braswell would maintain that break all the way to the final game when he secured another with a deuce point for the match to even the overall score at 1-1.
The Gators moved back in front with a win at No. 5 where No. 61 Mattias Siimar downed sophomore No. 73 Cleeve Harper, 6-4, 6-4. Siimar opened with two breaks in the first three games and won a deuce point on serve for a 3-0 lead, however Harper responded with a 3-0 run of his own that included two deuce points. Siimar regained the lead on a break and then held for 5-3 with each player holding on the next two games to finish the set. In the second, Siimar once again picked up a break and then held for 2-0, which he maintained until Harper broke to even it at 4-4. However, Siimar got the break back in the next game and served out the match.
Florida was able to briefly extend its lead as junior Chih Chi Huang fell to No. 111 Josh Goodger, 6-2, 7-6 (7), at No. 6. After Goodger was able to win three deuce points in the first set, including the final two games, Huang used a deuce point break to take a 4-2 lead in the second. Goodger answered the break in the next game and the rest of the set stayed on serve to the tiebreaker, which was back and forth with no player holding more than a one-point lead until Goodger claimed the match at 9-7.
The remaining matches all went three sets with Ciamarra leading it off with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 win over No. 107 Andy Andrade at No. 4. Ciamarra opened the match with a deuce-point win on serve and used another for a break in the fourth game for a 3-1 lead that he extended to 4-1 on serve. The rest of the set stayed on serve with Ciamarra using another deuce point for the win. He was able to begin the second set with break, but Andrade put it back on schedule with his own break on a deuce point in the next game. That's where it stayed to a 4-3 advantage for Andrade when the set shifted to breaks the rest of the way with the last two coming on deuce points to give Andrade the win. The third set was dominated by Ciamarra in terms of games won, as he opened on a 5-0 run, but last five of the match were all decided on deuce points with Ciamarra capturing four of those to cut the overall lead to 3-2.
That left Spizzirri and freshman Pierre-Yves Bailly on the court for Texas against two of the top players in the nation in defending NCAA Singles Champion Sam Riffice and No. 2 ranked Ben Shelton, respectively.
Despite a break against Spizzirri in the opening game, he responded with a 3-0 run, including two breaks and a deuce-point hold. Riffice got one of the breaks back on a deuce point in the next game and then held to even it at 3-3, but Spizzirri took it from there with two deuce-point holds and a break for the win. In the second, Riffice used a break in the second game to establish a 3-0 lead and added another on a deuce point for 5-1 before closing at 6-1. After the two players traded breaks in the third and fourth games of the third set, Riffice posted a 3-0 run for a 5-2 lead. However, Spizzirri was able to fend off multiple match points to put together a 4-0 run to take the lead, including deuce-point wins in the first three of those. Riffice recovered to hold and send it a tiebreaker where Spizzirri took a 2-0 lead that he maintained to 5-3. Riffice rallied with a 3-0 run for the lead, but Spizzirri answered it for the victory and a 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (6) final, evening the overall match again at 3-3.
While Spizzirri closed with a tiebreaker win, Bailly opened with one against Shelton. Bailly gathered a break in the second game for a 2-0 lead, but Shelton answered it in the next game, and despite three deuce points, the rest of the set stayed on serve to the breaker. There, Bailly claimed the first two points with Shelton taking the next two, but Bailly was able to collect three of the next four for a 5-3 lead, along with the last two for a 7-4 win. In the second set, Shelton used three deuce point wins, the last of which was part of a 4-0 run that moved the score from 2-2 to 6-2, before finishing the third set on a 5-0 run for his 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-1 final that clinched the overall match for the Gators.
Earlier, doubles had come down to inches as Florida won a tiebreaker at No. 3 with the No. 51 pair of Andrade and Siimar getting past Braswell and Huang, 7-6 (5). The Gators opened with a break and then held for a 2-0 lead, but the Longhorns answered the break two games later to even it. Florida took the break back in the next game and the match stayed on serve up to 5-4 with Texas beginning a 3-0 run the game before for a 6-5 lead. The next game also went to a deuce point and match point for the Longhorns, but the Gators secured it to head to a tiebreaker. In that frame, Braswell and Huang jumped out to a 3-0 lead that they maintained to 5-2, however Florida closed on a 5-0 run, including a Huang volley that just missed clearing the tape that made it 5-4.
Texas had gotten out in front in doubles with an efficient win by No. 23 Spizzirri and Siem Woldeab at No. 1, as they downed Riffice and Shelton, 6-2. The Longhorns broke in the opening game on a deuce point and then held for a 2-0 lead before securing a second break to go up 4-1 on the way to 5-1. Florida got one game back on serve, but Spizzirri closed the match with a hold for the win.
At No. 2, Ciamarra and Harper dropped their match with Vale and Abedallah Shelbayh, 6-2. After getting broken in the first game, the Longhorns answered the break to even it at 2-2, however the Gators took it from there with a 4-0 run that included a deuce point for the match.
The Longhorns next head west for two matches in Arizona, squaring off against the University of Arizona on Friday, Jan. 21, and Arizona State on Sunday, Jan. 23
#1 Florida 4, #3 Texas 3
Singles – Order of Finish (2,5,6,4,1,3)
1. Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Sam Riffice (UF) 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (6)
2. #20 Micah Braswell (UT) def. Duarte Vale (UF) 6-2, 6-3
3. #2 Ben Shelton (UF) def. Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-1
4. Richard Ciamarra (UT) def. #107 Andy Andrade (UF) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
5. #61 Mattias Siimar (UF) def. #73 Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-4, 6-4
6. #111 Josh Goodger (UF) def. Chih Chi Huang (UT) 6-2, 7-6 (7)
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2,3)
1. #23 Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Ben Shelton/Sam Riffice (UF) 6-2
2. Duarte Vale/Abedallah Shelbayh (UF) def. #13 Richard Ciamarra/Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-2
3. #51 Mattias Siimar/Andy Andrade (UF) def. Micah Braswell/Chih Chi Huang (UT) 7-6 (5)
Players Mentioned
