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TCU
No. 14 Men’s Tennis falls to No. 4 TCU, 4-0
02.19.2022 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns were leading in two and even in one of the remaining matches, but unable to mount a comeback and will play in the consolation bracket on Sunday.
Seattle – No. 14 Texas Men's Tennis fell to fifth-seeded No. 4 TCU, 4-0, in the quarterfinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships on Saturday at the Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle. The Longhorns will now move into Sunday's consolation bracket against either top-seeded No. 1 Ohio State or eighth-seeded No. 6 Wake Forest.
Despite the 4-0 the score, Texas was leading in two of the remaining matches and even in the other when play stopped, along with falling earlier in a second-set tiebreaker that could have extended the match.
Sophomore No. 110 Cleeve Harper was one of the Longhorns leading, holding a 7-6 (2), 4-1 advantage on Tomas Jirousek at No. 6. The first set stayed on serve starting with Harper all the way to the tiebreaker with each player winning one deuce point. In the breaker, Harper vaulted out to a 6-0 lead on his way to a 7-2 win. In the second set, Jirousek took the opening game on serve, but Harper won four straight with the last three coming on deuce points.
Sophomore Siem Woldeab was also leading his match, 1-6, 7-6 (5), 3-2 against No. 52 Jake Fearnley at No. 5. Fearnely had jumped out to a 4-0 lead and closed the first set at 6-1 with Woldeab winning on serve at 4-1. In the second, it was Woldeab who posted a first-game break and then consolidated at 2-0. Fearnley got the break back at 2-2 and held on a deuce point in the next game to start the rest of the set staying on serve. That included each player winning on a deuce point before heading to the tiebreaker. There, Fearnley led 3-1 and 4-2, but Woldeab mounted a comeback with a 3-0 run to take the lead as part of winning five of six for the win. Fearnley opened the third set with a deuce-point break and a hold for a 2-0 lead, but Woldeab closed strong with a 3-0 run that was started by a deuce-point hold.
In the other unfinished match, sophomore No. 57 Micah Braswell was even with No. 44 Luc Fomba, 4-6, 6-3, 3-3, at No. 1 when play concluded. Braswell used a break in the second game for a 2-0 lead, and after Fomba got it back at 2-2, Braswell broke again and held for 4-2. However at that point, Fomba started a 4-0 run with the last two coming on deuce points to take the set. In the second, Braswell again broke in the second game, this time at deuce, for a 2-0 lead. Fomba answered the break, but Braswell then broke again and held for a 4-1 lead. The rest of the set remained on serve to send it to the third, which also stayed on serve starting with Fomba to the finish at 3-3.
Senior No. 75 Richard Ciamarra came close to extending his match to a third set, coming up just short in a second set tiebreaker against No. 109 Sander Jong, 6-3, 7-6 (5), at No. 3. Jong captured breaks in the opening game, and for a 4-1 lead on a deuce point. Ciamarra broke back, held and had a chance to even it at deuce in the following game, but it went to Jong, who then broke for the win. Jong grabbed another break in the second game of the next set for a 3-0 lead, but Ciamarra went on a 3-0 run bookended by deuce-point holds to draw even. The rest of the set stayed on serve with each player winning deuce points at 5-5 and 6-5 to go to the tiebreaker. In that frame, Ciamarra took a 2-0 lead with a mini-break on the first point, and after Jong won the next two points, the players alternated starting with Ciamarra up to 4-4. Jong then took his first lead at 5-4, which Ciamarra countered at 5-5, but Jong secured the last two for the win that had made it 3-0 TCU.
The clinch for TCU came at No. 2 as freshman No. 62 Pierre-Yves Bailly fell to No. 15 Juan Carlos Aguilar, 6-4, 6-4. Bailly started quickly up 3-0 with deuce-point wins in the first two games and a break in the second. However, Aguilar set out on a 5-0 run that included deuce points at 3-2 and 3-3. Bailly got within 5-4 on serve, but Aguilar held for the set after that. In the second, Aguilar secured a break in the third game to lead 2-1 that he extended to 3-1 on serve. Bailly got the break back to even it at 4-4, but Aguilar immediately reclaimed it and held for the match and overall win.
After TCU had won the doubles point, sophomore Eliot Spizzirri fell to Pedro Vives, 6-3, 6-3, at No. 4. The first set was defined by deuce points with six of the nine games ending up there, and Vives winning five of those. His first three came on serve as did the one for Spizzirri as the set stayed on serve to 3-3 starting with Spizzirri. Vives then registered two more to break and hold for a 5-3 lead before breaking again for the win. The second set also started with a deuce-point hold for Vives as he got out to a 3-0 lead, which he extended to 4-1. Spizzirri pulled within 4-3 on a deuce-point break, but Vives broke back and held to take the match.
Earlier in doubles, TCU posted wins first at No. 2 and then at No. 1 for the point. At No. 2, Bailly and Woldeab were downed by the No. 25 pair of Jong and Lui Maxted, 6-3. The Longhorns held on a deuce point to open the match and it stayed on serve until the Horned Frogs broke at 4-3 that was part of a 4-0 run to their win. At No. 1, Fomba and Fearnley opened with a 4-0 run that included two deuce-point breaks against No. 14 Ciamarra and Harper, and they maintained that lead to clinch the point. Much like singles, Texas led in the remaining match that went unfinished with Braswell and junior Chih Chi Huang holding a 5-2 lead on Aguilar and Tim Ruehl at No. 3. The Longhorns grabbed the only break of the match in the second game and held on a deuce point for a 3-0 lead that continued to the finish.
The Longhorns (7-4) will now face either the Buckeyes or the Demon Deacons at 11 a.m. CT/9 a.m. PT on Sunday.
#4 TCU 4, #14 Texas 0
Singles – Order of Finish (4,3,2)
1. #44 Luc Fomba (TCU) vs. #57 Micah Braswell (UT) 6-4, 3-6, 3-3, unf.
2. #15 Juan Carlos Aguilar (TCU) def. #62 Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 6-4, 6-4
3. #109 Sander Jong (TCU) def. #75 Richard Ciamarra (UT) 6-3, 7-6 (5)
4. Pedro Vives (TCU) def. Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 6-3, 6-3
5. #52 Jake Fearnley (TCU) vs. Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-1, 6-7 (5), 2-3, unf.
6. Tomas Jirousek (TCU) vs. #110 Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-7 (2), 1-4, unf.
Doubles – Order of Finish (2,1)
1. Luc Fomba/Jake Fearnley (TCU) def. #14 Richard Ciamarra/Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-2
2. #25 Sander Jong/Lui Maxted (TCU) def. Pierre-Yves Bailly/Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-3
3. Juan Carlos Aguilar/Tim Ruehl (TCU) vs. Micah Braswell/Chih Chi Huang (UT) 2-5, unf.
Players Mentioned
