The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Rice
No. 14 Men’s Tennis sweeps Rice, 7-0
02.11.2022 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns opened their pair of weekend matches with a win over the Owls at the Texas Tennis Center on Friday.
Austin – No. 14 Texas Men's Tennis opened a pair of weekend matches with a 7-0 sweep of Rice at the Texas Tennis Center on Friday.
The Longhorns used the doubles point and four straight-sets singles wins from sophomore Siem Woldeab at No. 4, sophomore No. 110 Cleeve Harper at No. 5, sophomore No. 57 Micah Braswell at No. 1, and junior Chih Chi Huang at No. 6, along with two more third-set superbreaker wins from senior No. 75 Richard Ciamarra at No. 3, and sophomore Eliot Spizzirri at No. 2.
Following the doubles point, Woldeab made quick work of his match with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Adam Oscislawksi. After Oscislawksi held his opening service game to even it at 1-1, Woldeab set out on a 9-0 run that included just two deuce points to take the first set and establish a 4-0 lead in the second. Oscislawksi then got one game back on serve on a deuce point, but that would be it, as Woldeab held and broke on a deuce point for the match and a 2-0 Texas lead.
Harper was next with an efficient 6-3, 6-2 win of his own over Trinity Grear. Grear used a break in the third game to take a 2-1 lead, but Harper got the break right back and took a 3-2 advantage on serve. Grear evened it at 3-3 in the next game, however Harper began a 5-0 run that was part of winning eight out of the next nine games that gave him the first set on a deuce point and a 5-1 lead in the second. After Grear took one more game on serve, Harper finished the match with an ace to give the Longhorns a 3-0 lead.
Braswell's 7-5, 6-2 win over Sumit Sarkar began at a slightly slower pace with the match staying on serve up to 4-4, despite there being three deuce points in that stretch. Sarkar was able to secure all three of those before picking up the first break and a 5-4 lead. However, Braswell answered the break and added another after a hold to complete a 3-0 run and take the set. Sarkar opened the second with a break and hold for a 2-0 lead, but it was all Braswell from there as he constructed a 6-0 run for his win and clinch for Texas.
The teams played out the remaining three matches with Huang coming off the court next with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Campbell Salmon. Salmon initially took a 3-0 lead with a break of Huang in the second game, however Huang went on a 5-0 run that included a deuce-point break for his first lead at 4-3. Salmon got one game back on serve after the run, but Huang closed with a hold to take the set. The first four games of the second set were on serve starting with Salmon when Huang grabbed the first break and consolidated it with a deuce point for a 4-2 lead. That would be the first of three-straight deuce-point holds for Huang as the rest of the set stayed on serve to his win and a 5-0 lead for the Longhorns.
In the first of the two superbreaker matches, Ciamarra and Emir Sendogan went back and forth in several waves during a 6-2, 6-7 (4), 1-0 (7) victory for Ciamarra. Ciamarra registered a deuce-point break in the second game on the way to a 3-0 lead that he maintained to 4-1 on a deuce-point hold and then 5-2 before he grabbed a second break on a deuce point to close the set. The deuce points then turned in favor of Sendogan as he used two to break Ciamarra's first two service games en route to a 5-0 lead. However, once again the deuce points went back to Ciamarra as he answered with a 6-0 run that included two more. In the next game, Ciamarra came close to breaking for the win, but Sendogan managed to hold to go to a tiebreaker where he got out to a 5-1 lead before recording a 7-4 win in that frame. That resulted in the third-set superbreaker, where Ciamarra used a 4-0 run to turn a 3-3 tie into a 7-3 lead, which he maintained to a 10-7 finish.
That left Spizzirri on the court who was playing just his third singles match of the season and his first since Jan. 21 due to injury. He played three close sets in downing Haoyuan Huang, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 1-0 (5), the first of which featured six deuce points with five of those won by Huang, including in the first game and last two of the set. In between, Spizzirri had used a break for a 2-1 lead, but Huang answered it and then won deuce points in each of his next two service games to keep the set on serve. Spizzirri got his lone deuce win at 5-5, which was the first of four-straight deuce points, as Huang took the remaining three to win 7-5 on a break and open 1-0 on serve in the second. After the players exchanged breaks, the set stayed on serve the rest of the way to lead to a tiebreaker. There, neither player led by more than a point until the very end where Spizzirri captured the last two to win. In the following superbreaker, Spizzirri used a 4-0 run to turn a 5-4 lead into 9-4 before completing his match at 10-5 for the Texas sweep.
Earlier in doubles, Braswell and Chih Chi Huang got Texas off to a strong start with a 6-0 shutout of Salmon and Eduardo Morais at No. 3. The Longhorns bookended the match with deuce-point wins in the first and last games. Moments later, the No. 15 duo of Ciamarra and Harper clinched the point with a 6-3 victory over Sarkar and Haoyuan Huang at No. 1. The Longhorns opened on serve and used a break to start with a 3-0 run. The match then stayed on serve until Rice got the break back to pull within 4-3. However, Ciamarra and Harper broke again and consolidated it for the win and a 1-0 overall lead for Texas.
The Longhorns play the second of their two weekend home matches when they face UCF at the Texas Tennis Center on Sunday at 12 p.m. CT.
#14 Texas 7, Rice 0
Singles – Order of Finish (4,5,1,6,3,2)
1. #57 Micah Braswell (UT) def. Sumit Sarkar (RICE) 7-5, 6-2
2. Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Haoyuan Huang (RICE) 5-7, 7-6 (5), 1-0 (5)
3. #75 Richard Ciamarra (UT) def. Emir Sendogan (RICE) 6-2, 6-7 (4), 1-0 (7)
4. Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Adam Oscislawski (RICE) 6-1, 6-1
5. #110 Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Trinity Grear (RICE) 6-3, 6-2
6. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Campbell Salmon (RICE) 6-4, 6-4
Doubles – Order of Finish (3,1)
1. #15 Richard Ciamarra/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Sumit Sarkar/Haoyuan Huang (RICE) 6-3
2. Evin McDonald/Siem Woldeab (UT) vs. Trinity Grear/AJ Valenty (RICE) 4-3, unf.
3. Micah Braswell/Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Campbell Salmon/Eduardo Morais (RICE) 6-0
Players Mentioned
