The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Oregon
No. 9 Men’s Tennis advances to ITA Indoor Nationals with sweep 4-0 of Oregon
01.30.2022 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns picked up their second-straight sweep to win the Austin Regional and move on to the ITA National Indoor Championships for the fourth-straight season.
Austin – No. 9 Texas Men's Tennis advanced to the ITA National Indoor Championships for the fourth-straight season with a 4-0 sweep of Oregon in the title match of the Austin Regional at the Texas Tennis Center on Sunday. The ITA Indoor Nationals will take place Feb. 18-21 in Seattle, Wash.
The Longhorns won the doubles point for the second-straight match and followed with singles wins by sophomore No. 20 Micah Braswell at No. 2, sophomore No. 73 Cleeve Harper at No. 5, and junior Chih Chi Huang at No. 6.
Also for the second-consecutive match, Braswell and Harper put together efficient singles wins to extend the Texas lead after doubles. Braswell downed Quinn Vandecasteele, 6-2, 6-1, coming out of the gate with a break to open the match that he consolidated to a 2-0 lead. Vandecasteele held on a deuce point in the next game and the set stayed on serve up until a deuce-point break for Braswell at 5-2 that he followed with a hold to win. In the second, Braswell once again broke and held for a 2-0 lead. Vandecasteele picked up one game on serve after that, but Braswell set out on a 4-0 run that he capped with a deuce point for his victory and a 2-0 Texas lead.
Harper was next with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Luke Vandecasteele in a match that had five deuce points in the first set, three of which were won by Harper. Vandecasteele got the first one to hold serve in the second game at 1-1, but Harper used one to break in Vandecasteele's next service game and then another to hold to complete a 3-0 run. Vandecasteele grabbed his second deuce point to hold in the next game, however Harper also held and then secured the final deuce point to take the set. There would be four more deuce points in the second with Vandecasteele recording a break with one in the first game. However, Harper immediately broke back and held for a 2-1 lead. Vandecasteele captured another to stay on serve and then one more to break and take his first lead at 4-3. Again, Harper broke back right away before held on the last of the deuce points and broke again for his win and a 3-0 Longhorn advantage.
The remainder of the matches all went to a third set, but it was Huang who would get home first with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 decision over Ryoma Matsushita to clinch. Like Braswell, Huang began his match with a break and hold that led into a deuce-point hold for Matsushita. However, it was all Huang from there for the rest of the set, as he finished it on a 4-0 run capped by a deuce-point break. The second set was much tighter, as much like Harper's first set, there were five deuce points. Matsushita registered the first two in back-to-back games to first hold at 2-2 and then break for the lead at 3-2, but Huang answered the break and used a deuce-point hold of his own to reclaim the lead at 4-3. After Matsushita evened it on serve he once again put together back-to-back deuce-point wins to send it to a third set. Once there, it followed the same scoring pattern as the first set for Huang, just with the serves reversed. Huang used the only deuce of that set to break for a 2-0 lead, and after Matsushita broke back at 2-1, Huang closed on a 4-0 run for his win and the team victory.
When play stopped, freshman Pierre-Yves Bailly was even in his match against Joshua Charlton, 6-4, 3-6, 3-3, at No. 1, while senior Richard Ciamarra was leading his over Ivailo Keremedchiev, 3-6, 7-6 (7), 4-2, at No. 3, and sophomore No. 105 Siem Woldab was trailing Jesper Klov-Nilsson, 3-6, 6-3, 4-5 at No. 4.
Earlier in doubles, Braswell and Huang were off first at No. 3 with a 6-3 win over Luke Vandecasteele and Matsushita. The Longhorns grabbed the lone break of the match at 3-1 with the rest staying on serve to the win.
Oregon took the next match as the No. 17 duo of Charlton and Quinn Vandecasteele topped No. 13 Ciamarra and Harper, 6-4, at No. 1. The Ducks picked up a deuce-point break for a 2-1 lead that they turned into 3-1 on serve, but the Longhorns got a deuce-point break of their own to even it at 4-4. However, Oregon took the break right back in the next game before holding on a deuce point for the win.
That left it to No. 2 doubles where Woldeab and Bailly were able to overcome a break in the opening game to down Keremedchiev and Klov-Nilsson, 6-4. After that initial break, the match stayed on serve until Texas was able to get it back at 4-4, then hold on a deuce point and break again for the victory.
The Longhorns will next travel to Waco for a non-conference match against No. 2 Baylor on Friday at 6 p.m. CT.
#9 Texas 4, Oregon 0
Singles – Order of Finish (2,5,6)
1. Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) vs. Joshua Charlton (ORE) 6-4, 3-6, 3-3, unf.
2. #20 Micah Braswell (UT) def. Quinn Vandecasteele (ORE) 6-2, 6-1
3. Richard Ciamarra (UT) vs. Ivailo Keremedchiev (ORE) 3-6, 7-6 (7), 4-2, unf.
4. #105 Siem Woldeab (UT) vs. Jesper Klov-Nilsson (ORE) 3-6, 6-3, 4-5, unf.
5. #73 Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Luke Vandecasteele (ORE) 6-2, 6-4
6. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Ryoma Matsushita (ORE) 6-1, 4-6, 6-1
Doubles – Order of Finish (3,1,2)
1. #17 Joshua Charlton/Quinn Vandecasteele (ORE) def. #13 Richard Ciamarra/Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-4
2. Siem Woldeab/Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) def. Ivailo Keremedchiev/Jesper Klov-Nilsson (ORE) 6-4
3. Micah Braswell/Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Luke Vandecasteele/Ryoma Matsushita (ORE) 6-3
Players Mentioned
