The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Columbia
No. 9 Men’s Tennis preview: ITA Kickoff Weekend
01.27.2022 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns welcome Columbia, Oklahoma State and Oregon to the Texas Tennis Center on Saturday and Sunday.
No. 9 Men's Tennis preview: ITA Kickoff Weekend
When: Sat.-Sun., Jan. 29-30, 2022
Where: Texas Tennis Center, Austin, Texas
North Courts Live Stats: https://hookem.at/TTCNorthStats
South Courts Live Stats: https://hookem.at/TTCSouthStats
Live Video: https://hookem.at/MTN-Watch
Tournament Schedule
Should play be forced indoors due to weather an alternate schedule will be posted.
Saturday, Jan. 29
No. 9 Texas vs. RV Columbia, 11 a.m., North Courts
Oklahoma State vs. Oregon, 11 a.m., South Courts
Sunday, Jan. 30
Texas-Columbia winner vs. Oklahoma State-Oregon winner, 12 p.m., North Courts
Texas-Columbia winner vs. Oklahoma State-Oregon loser, 12 p.m., South Courts
Notes
-ITA Kickoff Weekend
Texas is hosting the ITA Kickoff Weekend for the eighth-straight year going back to the 2014 season when the Longhorns traveled to Nashville. Texas has advanced in the ITA Indoor Nationals in each of the last four seasons, and five out of the last seven.
-Columbia Series: Texas leads, 4-0
Texas and Columbia have met three times dating back to 1997, which was a 7-0 win for Texas at the National Team Indoors in Louisville, Ky. The next meeting was also at the ITA National Indoors, this time in Chicago and resulting in a 4-1 win for the Longhorns. The two most recent were both played in Austin with Texas winning, 4-1, in 2017, followed by a 6-1 win in 2019 when Columbia was ranked No. 12. The teams had been scheduled to meet on March 14, 2020, but it turned out to be the first match canceled for the Longhorns as the season then ended due to the pandemic.
Last Meeting
No. 3 Texas 6, No. 12 Columbia 1
Fri., March 22, 2019 • Austin, Texas
Singles – Order of Finish (2,1,3,4,6,5)
1. #6 Christian Sigsgaard (UT) def. #41 Victor Pham (CU), 6-4, 6-3
2. #9 Yuya Ito (UT) def. #16 Jack Lin (CU), 6-3, 6-1
3. #104 Leonardo Telles (UT) def. #91 Adam Ambrozy (CU), 6-2, 6-4
4. Rian Pandole (CU) def. #59 Harrison Scott (UT), 6-4, 6-3
5. Colin Markes (UT) def. Timothy Wang (CU), 2-6, 6-3, 4-3 (8)
6. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Austen Huang (CU), 6-1, 7-5
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2)
1. #7 Christian Sigsgaard/Harrison Scott (UT) def. #12 Jack Lin/William Matheson (CU), 6-1
2. Colin Markes/Leonardo Telles (UT) def. Adam Ambrozy/Austen Huang (CU), 6-2
3. Yuya Ito/Chih Chi Huang (UT) vs. Victor Pham/Rian Pandole (CU), 5-2, unf.
-Texas vs Columbia in 2022 tournament play
N/A
-Oklahoma State Series: Texas leads, 33-4
Texas leads the all-time series with Oklahoma State, 33-4, winning 19 of the last 20 meetings, including playing three times last year which resulted in Texas wins of 4-1 on March 5 in a non-conference match-up in Stillwater, 4-3 conference in Austin on April 11, and 4-1 in the semifinals of the Big 12 Championship on April 25. The lone loss in the 20-match span came on a trip to Stillwater in 2018 in a top-10 matchup as No. 8 Oklahoma State downed No. 6 Texas, 4-2. Prior to that, a 2007 match in Stillwater had been the last Cowboys win.
Last Three Meetings
No. 2 Texas 4, No. 18 Oklahoma State 1
Sun., April 25, 2021 • Hurd Tennis Center • Waco, Texas (Big 12 Semifinals)
Singles – Order of Finish (3,2,4,6)
1. #21 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) vs. #47 Matej Vocel (OSU) 4-6, 6-3, 3-5, unf.
2. #39 Micah Braswell (UT) def. Emile Hudd (OSU) 6-3, 6-2
3. #85 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Henrik Korsgaard (OSU) 6-4, 6-1
4. #109 Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Mathieu Scaglia (OSU) 6-3, 7-6 (2)
5. Chih Chi Huang (UT) vs. Etienne Donnet (OSU) 4-6, 7-5, 1-2, unf.
6. Evin McDonald (UT) def. Matisse Bobichon (OSU) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
Doubles – Order of Finish (2,3,1)
1. #66 Matej Vocel/Emile Hudd (OSU) def. #8 Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) 7-6 (6)
2. Henrik Korsgaard/Dominik Kellovsky (OSU) def. #78 Cleeve Harper/Chih Chi Huang (UT) 6-2
3. Micah Braswell/Payton Holden (UT) def. Luke Hammond/Mathieu Scaglia (OSU) 6-4
No. 6 Texas 4, No. 18 Oklahoma State 3
Sun., April 11, 2021 • Texas Tennis Center • Austin, Texas
Singles – Order of Finish (1,6,4,3,5,2)
1. #23 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. #38 Matej Vocel (OSU) 6-2, 6-3
2. #16 Micah Braswell (UT) def. #107 Emile Hudd (OSU) 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (5)
3. #99 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Henrik Korsgaard (OSU) 7-5, 6-1
4. Mathieu Scaglia (OSU) def. Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-4, 6-2
5. Etienne Donnet (OSU) def. Chih Chi Huang (UT) 6-1, 7-6 (4)
6. Matisse Bobichon (OSU) def. Evin McDonald (UT) 6-3, 7-5
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,3)
1. #12 Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Emile Hudd/Matej Vocel (OSU) 6-2
2. Cleeve Harper/Chih Chi Huang (UT) vs. Dominik Kellovsky/Henrik Korsgaard (OSU) 6-5, unf.
3. Micah Braswell/Payton Holden (UT) def. Etienne Donnet/Mathieu Scaglia (OSU) 6-4
No. 6 Texas 4, No. 26 Oklahoma State 1
Fri., March 5, 2021 • Greenwood Tennis Center • Stillwater, Okla.
Singles – Order of Finish (1,5,4,3)
1. #49 Matej Vocel (OSU) def. #120 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 6-3, 6-3
2. #101 Emile Hudd (OSU) vs. #57 Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-4, 3-6, 4-3, unf.
3. #78 Micah Braswell (UT) def. #86 Henrik Korsgaard (OSU) 7-5, 7-6 (5)
4. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Mathieu Scaglia (OSU) 7-6 (7), 6-3
5. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Etienne Donnet (OSU) 7-5, 7-6 (3)
6. Matisse Bobichon (OSU) vs. Evin McDonald (UT) 6-4, 6-7 (6), 1-3, unf.
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2)
1. Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) def. #3 Matej Vocel/Emile Hudd (OSU) 6-2
2. Chih Chi Huang/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Mathieu Scaglia/Maxim Tybar (OSU) 6-2
3. Henrik Korsgaard/Etienne Donnet (OSU) vs. Micah Braswell/Jacob Bullard (UT) 4-3, unf.
-Texas vs Oklahoma State in 2022 tournament play
ITA All-American Championships (Oct. 2-7)
Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Francisco Pini (OSU), 6-3, 6-2
-Oregon Series: Texas leads, 1-0
Texas and Oregon have met once since 1975 with that being a 4-2 win for Texas in the 2017 ITA Kickoff Weekend in a match that was played at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center.
Last Meeting
No. 9 Texas 4, Oregon 2
Sun., Jan. 29, 2017 • Weller Indoor Tennis Center • Austin, Texas (ITA Kickoff)
Singles – Order of Finish (4,3,5,6,2)
1. #6 Christian Sigsgaard (UT) vs. #33 Thomas Laurent (UO) 6-3, 4-6, 5-6, unf.
2. George Goldhoff (UT) def. Simon Stevens (UO) 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
3. #47 Harrison Scott (UT) def. Jayson Amos (UO) 6-1, 6-2
4. #36 Yuya Ito (UT) def. Akihiro Tanaka (UO) 6-2, 6-0
5. Rodrigo Banzer (UT) def. Cormac Clissold (UO) 6-4, 6-4
6. Ethan Young-Smith (UO) def. Julian Zlobinsky (UT) 7-6 (4), 6-4
Double – Order of Finish (1,3)
1. Jayson Amos/Armando Soemarno (UO) def. Christian Sigsgaard/Julian Zlobinsky (UT) 6-2
2. George Goldhoff/Colin Markes (UT) vs. Simon Stevens/Akihiro Tanaka (UO) 4-5, unf.
3. Thomas Laurent/Cormac Clissold (UO) def. #38 Harrison Scott/Yuya Ito (UT) 6-3
-Texas vs Oregon in 2022 tournament play
N/A
-ITA Rankings
Texas is ranked No. 9 in the latest 2022 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Top 25 Coaches Poll announced Jan. 26. It marks the 42nd-straight week the team has been rated in the top 10 dating back to the beginning of the 2019 season. Columbia is just outside the Top 25, receiving votes in the poll, which is voted on by the ITA National Ranking Committee, while Oklahoma State and Oregon are not ranked.
-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
Columbia
Singles
No. 12 Alex Kotzen
No. 87 Hugo Hashimoto
Doubles
N/A
Oklahoma State
Singles
N/A
Doubles
N/A
Oregon
Singles
N/A
Doubles
No. 17 Joshua Charlton/Quinn Vandecasteele
-Ciamarra Earns First Big 12 Player of the Week Honor
Richard Ciamarra picked up his first Big 12 Player of the Week honor since joining the Longhorns this season as a graduate transfer. Ciamarra went 4-0 with two ranked singles wins against No. 14 Arizona and RV Arizona State after having to move up in the lineup due to injuries. That also included two doubles victories with partner Cleeve Harper. It was also the first weekly honor for the Longhorns this season after two weeks of play.
-Arizona Swing
The Longhorns dropped their first match of their Arizona road trip to No. t-14 Arizona, 4-3, in Tucson on Jan. 21. It was the first road dual match of the season for Texas, which rallied for three singles victories following the Wildcats' clinch. The wins came from sophomore No. 73 Cleeve Harper at No. 5, senior Richard Ciamarra at No. 4 and freshman Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 3. However, they rebounded for a 6-1 win over Arizona State two days later, sweeping all six singles matches from Micah Braswell at No. 2, Harper at No. 4, Nevin Arimilli at No. 5, Evin McDonald at No. 6, Ciamarra at No. 3, and Bailly at No 1.
-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. 20 UCF (Feb. 13), No. 5 Ohio State (Mar. 12), and No. 22 Oklahoma (Mar. 27), and road contests at No. t-14 Arizona (L, 4-3, Jan. 21), RV Arizona State (W, 6-1, Jan. 23), No. 2 Baylor (Feb. 4), No. 7 Georgia (Mar. 1), No. 19 Texas A&M (Mar. 9), No. 8 USC (Mar. 15), No. 15 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 is in 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 54-13 overall record (.806) 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
