The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
05.26.2022 | Men's Tennis
Richard Ciamarra and Cleeve Harper secured a straight-sets win over No. 5 Sam Riffice and Ben Shelton on Thursday.
Champaign, Ill. – Texas Men's Tennis' fourth-seeded doubles pair of senior Richard Ciamarra and sophomore Cleeve Harper advanced to the NCAA Doubles Tournament Semifinals with 7-5, 6-2 victory over No. 5 Sam Riffice and Ben Shelton of Florida on Thursday in Champaign, Ill.
The win makes Ciamarra and Harper the first Longhorns duo to reach the men's NCAA semifinals since 2015 when Lloyd Glasspool and Søren Hess-Olesen won the Doubles National Championship.
It was the second win this season for Ciamarra and Harper over Riffice and Shelton after downing them in dual match play in February at the ITA Indoors when the Longhorns clinched the doubles point against the Gators with a 6-4 win as Texas defeated Florida overall, 4-3.
In the first set, Ciamarra and Harper held on their opening serve, as did Riffice and Shelton, although Florida's went to a deuce point. The Longhorns would still be the first team to pick up a break on the Gators' next serve to take a 3-1 lead. However, Florida put together a 3-0 run by breaking right back on a deuce point, holding on another to even it and breaking again for the 4-3 lead. The next three games were also breaks to even it at 5-5 when Texas snapped the string with a deuce-point hold and then broke for the set. In all, seven of the last nine games in the frame were breaks with the only two that weren't resulting in deuce points.
The first five games of the second set were on serve starting with the Ciamarra and Harper until they came through with the first break again for a 4-2 lead. Like the first set, the game following the first break went to a deuce point, but this time Texas held to extend to 5-2 and once again secured a break to take the set and the match.
Ciamarra and Harper will next face No. 33 Charles Bertimon and Maxence Bertimon of VCU on Friday with a start time not before 2 p.m. CT.
2022 NCAA Men's Tennis Doubles Championships
Complete Doubles Bracket
Doubles Quarterfinals – May 26
4 seed No. 4 Richard Ciamarra/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. 5 seed No. 5 Sam Riffice/Ben Shelton (Florida), 7-5, 6-2
Doubles Semifinals – May 27
4 seed No. 4 Richard Ciamarra/Cleeve Harper (UT) vs. No. 33 Charles Bertimon/Maxence Bertimon (VCU), not before 2 p.m. CT
