The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Arizona
No. 5 Men’s Tennis preview: at No. t-14 Arizona
01.20.2022 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns open a pair of weekend matches in the state of Arizona against the Wildcats on Friday.
No. 5 Men's Tennis preview: at No. t-14 Arizona
When: Fri., Jan. 21, 2022, 1:30 p.m. MT/2:30 p.m. CT
Where: Lanelle Robson Tennis Center, Tucson, Ariz.
Team Records: Texas (1-1, 0-0 Big 12), Arizona (1-0, 0-0 Pac-12)
Live Stats: hookem.at/MTN-Stats
Live Watch: hookem.at/MTN-Watch
Notes
-Arizona Series: Texas leads, 3-2
Texas and Arizona will face off for the second-straight year after the Longhorns pulled out a 4-3 win last year in Austin that saw all six singles matches go to three sets. The Longhorns took the doubles point that had two matches finish at 7-5 and then added singles wins by Micah Braswell, Evin McDonald and Nevin Arimilli for the win. In addition to all singles matches going three sets, two of those were decided by tiebreakers and Arimilli clinched the match at 7-5 in his third set. That had been the first meeting since 1993, which was a 6-1 win for the Longhorns in Austin. The other win for Texas was also in Austin in 1991 with an 8-1 final. Arizona's wins came in 1989, a 5-4 decision at the Corpus Christi Invitational, and by the same score in 1992 in Tucson.
Last Meeting
No. 7 Texas 4, No. 15 Arizona 3
Fri., March 19, 2021 • Austin, Texas
Singles – Order of Finish (4,3,2,5,1,6)
1. #50 Jonas Ziverts (ARIZ) def. #120 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 7-6 (3), 0-6, 7-6 (4)
2. #78 Micah Braswell (UT) def. #54 Filip Malbasic (ARIZ) 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-1
3. #105 Gustaf Strom (ARIZ) def. Cleeve Harper (UT) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
4. Alejandro Reguant (ARIZ) def. Chih Chi Huang (UT) 6-1, 2-6, 6-4
5. Evin McDonald (UT) def. Carlos Hassey (ARIZ) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (5)
6. Nevin Arimilli (UT) def. Nick Lagaev (ARIZ) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5
Doubles – Order of Finish (3,2,1)
1. Siem Woldeab/Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Jonas Ziverts/Jett Middleton (ARIZ) 7-5
2. Carlos Hassey/Alejandro Reguant (ARIZ) def. Chih Chi Huang/Cleeve Harper (UT) 7-5
3. Micah Braswell/Jacob Bullard (UT) def. Filip Malbasic/Gustaf Strom (ARIZ) 6-3
-Texas vs Arizona in 2022 tournament play
Battle in the Bay Classic (Sept. 15-18)
Colton Smith (ARIZ) def. Nevin Arimilli (UT), 6-2, 6-2
-ITA Rankings
Texas is ranked No. 5 in the latest 2022 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Top 25 Coaches Poll announced Jan. 19. It marks the 41st-straight week the team has been rated in the top 10 dating back to the beginning of the 2019 season. The poll is voted on by the ITA National Ranking Committee. Three members of the Big 12 were ranked in the top five, including Baylor at No. 2 and TCU at No. t-3, while Oklahoma was No. 24.
-Final Fall ITA Individual National Rankings
Texas had five listings in the final fall ITA individual rankings that were released Dec. 8 with three in singles and two doubles pairs, however Eliot Spizzirri did not play singles in the fall and did not appear in the rankings.
Texas
Singles
No. 20 Micah Braswell
No. 73 Cleeve Harper
No. 105 Siem Woldeab
Doubles
No. 13 Richard Ciamarra/Cleeve Harper
No. 23 Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab
Arizona
Singles
No. 53 Herman Hoeyeraal
Doubles
N/A
-So Close Against No. 1
Texas posted singles wins at Nos. 1, 2 and 4 against No. 1 Florida, but were edged, 4-3, by the defending champion Gators on Jan. 16 at the Texas Tennis Center. The singles victories included Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1, Micah Braswell at No. 2 and Richard Ciamarra at No. 4 after Florida had won the doubles point in a tiebreaker of the deciding third match in which they led by three points.
-25th-Straight Season-Opening Win
The Longhorns took their season opener over UTSA, 6-1, on Jan. 14 at the Texas Tennis Center. It marked the 25th-straight season-opening victory for the Longhorns dating back to 1998. Texas used the doubles point and five singles wins from Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 2, Richard Ciamarra at No. 3, No. 105 Siem Woldeab at No. 4, No. 73 Cleeve Harper at No. 5, and Chih Chi Huang at No. 6. Eliot Spizzirri did not play singles, but did partner with Woldeab at No. 1 doubles for a win to help secure that point.
-Miami Spring Invite
The Longhorns began the spring season with individual play against opponents from No. 9 Georgia, No. 11 UCF and Miami. The tournament had been designed for round robin competition against each of the three teams, however only two members of the Hurricanes were available to play. Additionally, weather cancelled a majority of the singles matches on the second day. For Texas, Eliot Spizzirri did not play, but the results were highlighted by freshman Pierre-Yves Bailly picking up a win over No. 16 Trey Hilderbrand of UCF in his first singles match as a Longhorn, along with the No. 13 pair of Richard Ciamarra and Cleeve Harper topping the No. 22 duo of Hilderbrand and Bogdan Pavel of UCF.
-Challenging Non-Conference Schedule
The Longhorns have 12 non-conference dual matches scheduled this season against teams that appear in the ITA national rankings, including home matches with No. 1 Florida (L, 4-3, Jan. 16), RV Columbia (Jan. 29), No. t-14 UCF (Feb. 13), No. 6 Ohio State (Mar. 12), and No. 24 Oklahoma (Mar. 27), and road contests at No. t-14 Arizona (Jan. 21), RV Arizona State (Jan. 23), No. 2 Baylor (Feb. 4), No. t-7 Georgia (Mar. 1), No. 19 Texas A&M (Mar. 9), No. 9 USC (Mar. 15), No. 22 Pepperdine (Mar. 18). The matches against Baylor and Oklahoma are both prior to Big 12 play and are non-conference with those teams meeting again later in conference play.
-Back from the Final Four
Heading into the fourth season under head coach Bruce Berque, Texas returns almost all of its regular singles and doubles lineups from a team that reached the Final Four of last year's NCAA Championships. Of the retuning players, Eliot Spizzirri earned All-America honors in both singles and doubles last season, while Siem Woldeab did so in doubles and was a second-team All-Big 12 selection in singles. Micah Braswell was also second-team all-conference in singles and named the unanimous Big 12 Freshman of the Year, while Cleeve Harper shared the Big 12 Individual Championship at No. 4 singles. Chih Chi Huang and Evin McDonald return after playing majority of the matches at No. 5 and No. 6 singles, respectively, as do Nevin Arimilli and Eshan Talluri.
-Two New Faces
The Longhorns add two new faces in graduate transfer Richard Ciamarra from Notre Dame, who arrived in the fall, and true freshman Pierre-Yves Bailly, who joins the team for the spring. Ciamarra was a 2020 ITA All-American in singles and a three-time All-ACC selection and was ranked as high as No. 6 in singles and No. 28 in doubles in 2021. Bailly has been the top junior player in Belgium and reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Juniors, along with the second round of the Roland Garros Juniors, in 2021.
-Berque at the Helm
Bruce Berque begins his fourth season as the head coach at Texas having taken over midway through the 2019 season. From there, he has led the Longhorns to a 53-12 overall record (.815) that includes 24-6 last season with an appearance in the Final Four and a share of the Big 12 regular season title, 13-3 in a season shortened by the pandemic in 2020, and 15-2 in 2019 en route to the guiding Texas to its first team National Championship. The Longhorns also earned the Big 12 regular season championship that year. Texas finished ranked in the top four in all three of the previous seasons at No. 3 in 2021, No. 4 in 2020 and No. 1 in 2019.
-Summer/Fall Wrap-up
Eliot Spizzirri and Chih Chi Huang both missed all of fall singles play due to injury with Huang also missing doubles, but Spizzirri played in limited doubles at the ITA Fall Nationals. Richard Ciamarra and Siem Woldeab were also working through injuries in the fall. However, over the summer, Spizzirri won the singles title of the ITF Futures in Decatur, Ill. for his first pro singles title, along with winning the doubles title at the ITF Futures in Champaign, Ill., the week before. He then earned a singles qualifying wild card to the U.S. Open and advanced to the second round with a win over ATP No. 163 Alejandro Tabilo. After that, he received a doubles main draw wild card at the U.S. Open. Later in the fall, Spizzirri and Woldeab reached the quarterfinals of the ITA Fall Nationals, and Spizzirri later paired with former Longhorn Colin Markes to make the semifinals of the DropshotLLC Pro Tennis Open in Austin.
Micah Braswell posted eight singles wins in the fall, including reaching the semifinals of the ITA Texas Regionals where he came up just short in three sets to No. 18 Juan Carlos Aguilar. Cleeve Harper picked up his first pro title, taking the M15 Cancun with partner Liam Draxl. Prior to that, Harper and Ciamarra reached the finals of the ITA Texas Regionals shortly after advancing to the round of 16 at the ITA All-American Championships. January enrollee Pierre-Yves Bailly also captured his first pro singles title at the Monastir 15K in Tunisia and additionally reached the doubles final there in November 2021.
-Year Five at the Texas Tennis Center
Texas opened its fifth year of play at the Texas Tennis Center with a win over UTSA to start the 2022 season and is now 49-6 (.891) overall in its history after a close loss to No. 1 Florida. The Longhorns posted a 14-2 mark in 2021, which included wins over No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 9 Florida and No. 15 Arizona. In a shortened season in 2020, Texas recorded a 9-0 record that featured wins against No. 8 Stanford, No. 18 Georgia and No. 21 Florida State. The Longhorns finished 2019 with a 15-1 mark, including wins over No. 1 Ohio State, No. 6 Baylor and No. 12 Columbia, along with three NCAA Tournament victories. The lone loss that year came to No. 15 USC. During its inaugural season, Texas posted a 10-2 record, including winning the 2018 Big 12 Tournament.
Players Mentioned
