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No. 11 Men’s Tennis falls to No. 1 TCU, 4-1
04.09.2022 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns won two top-15 doubles matches and had opportunities in the remaining singles matches, but the Horned Frogs clinched with four singles wins.
Fort Worth – No. 11 Men's Tennis fell to No. 1 TCU, 4-1, at the Friedman Tennis Center in Fort Worth on Saturday.
The Longhorns won two top-15 doubles matches and had opportunities in the remaining singles matches, but the Horned Frogs clinched with four singles wins.
The doubles victories came at Nos. 1 and 2 after TCU had won at No. 3 in the first match to finish. At No. 1, the No. 3-ranked pair of senior Richard Ciamarra and sophomore Cleeve Harper topped the No. 2-ranked duo of Luc Fomba and Jake Fearnley, 6-4. The Longhorns won their opening serve and followed with a deuce-point break for a 2-0 lead, but the Horned Frogs answered the break and then held on a deuce point to put the match back on serve. That's where it would stay up to a 5-4 lead for Texas when Ciamarra and Harper came through with the break they needed to take the match.
That put the attention at No. 2 where the match between the No. 33 pair of sophomore Eliot Spizzirri and Siem Woldeab and the No. 11 team Sander Jong and Lui Maxted had battled to a tiebreaker to determine the point. In a reverse of the opening of the match at No. 1, TCU had gotten out to a 2-0 lead with a break and a hold, but Texas responded with a hold and a break to put it back on course. Despite three deuce points, the rest of the match stayed on serve with the Longhorns winning two on holds for leads of 3-2 and 4-3, while the Horned Frogs fended off a match point for Texas to make it 5-5 with the other. The tiebreaker also stayed on serve through the first six points to 3-3 when Spizzirri and Woldeab grabbed a mini-break for the lead to a 4-0 run to the win.
In the other doubles match at No. 3, with sophomore Micah Braswell not able to play due to injury, sophomore Evin McDonald joined junior Chih Chi Huang against Juan Carlos Aguilar and Pedro Vives. Texas held on their opening serve, but TCU went on a 6-0 run to the finish that included winning deuce points in the last three games.
In singles, the Longhorns saw significant opportunities in three matches, but the Horned Frogs reached their needed four wins at Nos. 4, 3, 5 and 2. With Braswell out, freshman No. 39 Pierre-Yves Bailly played at No. 1 and was close to a victory over No. 18 Luc Fomba at 6-4, 6-5 when play stopped. Fomba began the match with a break and a deuce-point hold for a 2-0 lead and then used another deuce point to hold his next serve at 3-1. However, Bailly rebounded with a deuce-point break surrounded by two holds for a 3-0 run and 4-3 lead. After both players held their next serves, Bailly secured the set with another deuce point break. The second set stayed on serve the entire way with each player winning two deuce points, the most significant of which was a match point for Bailly up 5-4, but Fomba held to stay alive before Bailly closed on serve.
The other unfinished match came at No. 6 where Huang was trailing Tim Ruehl, 6-7 (5), 3-2. In the first set, after Ruehl took a 4-3 lead on a deuce point break, Huang answered in the next game to get back on serve, which is where it stayed to a tiebreaker. There, Huang took a quick 2-0 lead, and although Ruehl twice tied it at 2-2 and 3-3, Huang didn't surrender the lead and pushed back out to a 5-3 edge. However from that point, Ruehl set out on a 4-0 run to take the set. In the second, Huang grabbed the first break for a 2-1 lead that he extended to 3-1 on a deuce-point hold, while Ruehl also held to trail Huang, 3-2, when play stopped.
After Texas had taken a 1-0 lead with the doubles point, TCU evened the overall match as No. 89 Woldeab was downed by No. 113 Fearnley, 6-4, 6-0, at No. 4. Woldeab won the first three games, but Fearnley took 12 of the next 13 to take the match.
The match at No. 3 was next to finish as No. 71 Ciamarra was topped by No. 26 Jong, 6-4, 6-2. Jong opened with a break, and the rest of the first set stayed on serve until Ciamarra got the break back to even it at 4-4. However, Jong immediately broke again and held for the set. Just like the first, Jong picked up a break to open the second set, but Ciamarra broke back and held for a 2-1 lead. From there, Jong went on a 5-0 run to give TCU an overall 2-1 lead.
The Horned Frogs then extended to 3-1 overall as Harper was defeated by Vives, 6-1, 6-4 at No. 5. Vives sprinted out to a 4-0 lead capped by a deuce-point hold, and although Harper responded with a deuce-point hold of his own in the next game, Vives closed out the set with the following two games. The second set was much tighter as it stayed on serve all the way to a 5-4 lead for Vives, who then recorded the first break of the frame for the win.
TCU clinched at No. 2 with a three-set win by No. 10 Aguilar over No. 62 Spizzirri, 6-4, 0-6, 6-3. Aguilar registered the first break of the opening set at 4-3 and made it 5-3 on serve. After holding, Spizzirri had a chance to break back leading 0-40 in the following game, but Aguilar rallied for the game and the set. The second then belonged completely to Spizzirri as he went on a 7-0 run to both take it and establish a 1-0 lead in the third. However, Aguilar again picked up the first break of the set for a 4-3 lead on a deuce point before he held and broke again for the match.
The Longhorns (13-9, 1-2 Big 12) next head on a two-match road trip to the state of Oklahoma to close the regular season. They will face the Sooners in Norman on Thursday, April 14, at 6 p.m. CT before heading to Stillwater to play Oklahoma State on Saturday, April 16, at 12 p.m. CT.
#1 TCU 4, #11 Texas 1
Singles – Order of Finish (4,3,5,2)
1. #18 Luc Fomba (TCU) vs. #39 Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 4-6, 5-6, unf.
2. #10 Juan Carlos Aguilar (TCU) def. #62 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 6-4, 0-6, 6-3
3. #26 Sander Jong (TCU) def. #71 Richard Ciamarra (UT) 6-4, 6-2
4. #113 Jake Fearnley (TCU) def. #89 Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-4, 6-0
5. Pedro Vives (TCU) def. Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-1, 6-4
6. Tim Ruehl (TCU) vs. Chih Chi Huang (UT) 7-6 (5), 2-3, unf.
Doubles – Order of Finish (3,1,2)
1. #3 Richard Ciamarra/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. #2 Luc Fomba/Jake Fearnley (TCU) 6-4
2. #33 Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) def. #11 Sander Jong/Lui Maxted (TCU) 7-6 (3)
3. Juan Carlos Aguilar/Pedro Vives (TCU) def. Chih Chi Huang/Evin McDonald (UT) 6-1
Players Mentioned
