The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Georgia
No. 7 Men's Tennis preview: No. 12 Georgia
01.21.2023 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns and Bulldogs face off in a top-15 match-up at the Texas Tennis Center on Sunday.
No. 7 Texas vs. No. 12 Georgia
When: Sun., Jan. 22, 2023, 2 p.m. CT
Where: Texas Tennis Center, Austin, Texas
Team Records: Texas (2-0, 0-0 Big 12), Georgia (0-1, 0-0 SEC)
Live Stats: hookem.at/MTN-Stats
Live Video: hookem.at/MTN-Watch
Notes
-Georgia Series: Georgia leads, 17-7
Georgia leads the overall series with Texas, 17-7, including a 4-3 win last year in Athens that came down to the third set of the final singles match. Prior to that, they last met in 2020 in Austin at the Texas Tennis Center, a match won by the Longhorns, 4-3. Eliot Spizzirri and Siem Woldeab both won their singles matches as freshmen in that contest, while Chih Chi Huang and Cleeve Harper clinched the doubles point. Prior to that, in a weather disrupted match that was played both outdoors and indoors with no doubles, No. 3 Texas defeated Georgia in Athens in 2019, 4-2. That had been the first meeting between the teams since 2015 when they faced off in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in Waco, a match the Bulldogs won, 4-1. Texas is 1-4 against Georgia in Austin since 1975 with four losses coming in 1980, '93, '95, and '99, followed by the win in 2020. Texas finished as runner-up to Georgia in the 2008 NCAA Tournament when the Bulldogs came out on top, 4-2, in Tulsa, Okla.
Last Two Meetings
#15 Georgia 4, #12 Texas 3
Tuesday, March 1, 2022
Athens, Ga. • Dan Magill Tennis Complex
Singles – Order of Finish (4,5,6,2,3,1)
1. #22 Hamish Stewart (UGA) def. #17 Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
2. #72 Micah Braswell (UT) def. #47 Tristan McCormick (UGA) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
3. #114 Richard Ciamarra (UT) def. #79 Philip Henning (UGA) 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2
4. Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. #44 Trent Bryde (UGA) 6-4, 6-4
5. #76 Blake Croyder (UGA) def. Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-4, 6-4
6. Thomas Paulsell (UGA) def. #104 Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (7)
Doubles – Order of Finish (2,3)
1. #60 Hamish Stewart/Tristan McCormick (UGA) vs. #38 Cleeve Harper/Richard Ciamarra (UT) 4-3, unf.
2. #41 Trent Bryde/Philip Henning (UGA) def. Siem Woldeab/Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 6-2
3. #42 Blake Croyder/Erik Grevelius (UGA) def. Micah Braswell/Chih Chi Huang (UT) 6-2
#4 Texas 4, #18 Georgia 3
Saturday, February 8, 2020
Austin, Texas • Texas Tennis Center
Singles – Order of Finish (4,5,1,3,2,6)
1. No. 28 Trent Bryde (UGA) def. No. 2 Yuya Ito (UT), 7-6 (1), 6-4
2. No. 12 Christian Sigsgaard (UT) def. No. 17 Philip Henning (UGA), 6-3, 5-7, 6-3
3. No. 37 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. No. 79 Tyler Zink (UGA), 6-4, 5-7, 6-3
4. Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. No. 101 Erik Grevelius (UGA), 6-3, 7-5
5. No. 89 Blake Croyder (UGA) def. Chih Chi Huang (UT), 7-5, 6-3
6. Baptiste Anselmo (UGA) def. Cleeve Harper (UT), 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-4
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2,3)
1. No. 15 Yuya Ito/Christian Sigsgaard (UT) def. No. 51 Trent Bryde/Tyler Zink (UGA), 6-4
2. No. 16 Philip Henning/Blake Croyder (UGA) def. Eliot Spizzirri/Jacob Bullard (UT), 6-4
3. Chih Chi Huang/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Erik Grevelius/Robert Loeb (UGA), 6-4
-Texas vs Georgia in 2022-23 tournament play
Southern Intercollegiate Championships
#16 Micah Braswell (UT) def. #73 Trent Bryde (UGA), 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-2
#98 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. #93 Teodor Giusca (UGA), 6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-3
Evin McDonald (UT) def. Filipe Costa (UGA), 6-2, 7-5
Eshan Talluri (UT) def. Britton Johnston (UGA), 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 (9)
Ethan Quinn (UGA) def. #35 Eliot Spizzirri (UT), 4-6, 7-5, 6-4
#117 Blake Croyder (UGA) def. Cleeve Harper (UT), 7-5, 6-1
Miguel Perez Peña (UGA) def. Chih Chi Huang (UT), 6-2, 6-7 (0), 6-3
Thomas Paulsell (UGA) def. Nevin Arimilli (UT), 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-2
Chih Chi Huang/Micah Braswell (UT) def. Teodor Giusca/Filipe Costa (UGA), 8-2
Evin McDonald/Nevin Arimilli (UT) def. Thomas Paulsell/Miguel Perez Peña (UGA), 8-1
Ethan Quinn/Trent Bryde (UGA) def. #16 Eliot Spizzirri/Cleeve Harper (UT), 8-7 (5)
Blake Croyder/Britton Johnston (UGA) def. Siem Woldeab/Eshan Talluri (UT) 8-7 (4)
ITA All-American Championships
No. 26 Philip Henning (UGA) def. 9-16 seed No. 16 Micah Braswell (UT), 6-4, 6-4
Ethan Quinn (UGA) def. No. 35 Eliot Spizzirri (UT), 7-5, 6-1
No. 16 Cleeve Harper/Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Ethan Quinn/Trent Bryde (UGA), 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (8)
Miami Spring Invite
Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) def. #1 Ethan Quinn (UGA) 6-3, 6-4
#3 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. #10 Philip Henning (UGA) 6-1, 6-2
Eshan Talluri (UT) def. #21 Blake Croyder (UGA) 6-1, 6-4
#106 Trent Bryde (UGA) def. Nevin Arimilli (UT) 6-4, 6-4
#70 Teodor Giusca (UGA) def. Chih Chi Huang (UT) 6-2, 6-3
Evin McDonald/Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Teodor Giusca/Philip Henning (UGA) 8-0
Chih Chi Huang/Eshan Talluri (UT) def. #55 Blake Croyder/Britton Johnston (UGA) 8-2
#19 Trent Bryde/Ethan Quinn (UGA) def. Pierre-Yves Bailly/Siem Woldeab (UT) 8-3
-Texas sweeps UTSA in home opener
The Longhorns secured a 7-0 sweep over UTSA in the 2023 home opener at the Texas Tennis Center on Jan. 20. Texas claimed the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 1, including a top-10 win for Eliot Spizzirri and Cleeve Harper at No. 1, along with singles victories by Siem Woldeab at No. 2, Evin McDonald at No. 6, Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1 to clinch, Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 3, Chih Chi Huang at No. 5, and Cleeve Harper at No. 4.
-Texas opens season with win at No. 13 Florida
Texas opened the 2023 season with a 5-2 win at No. 13 Florida at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville, Fla., on Jan. 15. It marked the 26th-straight year the Longhorns started the season with a victory, dating back to 1998. The Longhorns put together two solid doubles wins at Nos. 1 and 3 before taking singles matches by Siem Woldeab at No. 4, Cleeve Harper at No. 5, Chih Chi Huang at No. 6 to clinch it, and No. 3 Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1.
-Longhorns sweep titles at Miami Invite
Texas opened spring play by winning both the singles and doubles titles at the Miami Spring Invite in the tournament that ran from Jan. 6-8 in Coral Gables, Fla. Eliot Spizzirri posted a perfect 3-0 singles record to take that top honor, while the pair of Chih Chi Huang and Eshan Talluri matched it to earn the doubles nod. On the final day of play, the Longhorns secured three top-25 singles victories against players from Georgia with Pierre-Yves Bailly knocking off No. 1 Ethan Quinn, Spizzirri topping No. 10 Philip Henning, and Talluri downing No. 21 Blake Croyder for his first career win over a ranked opponent in singles.
-Challenging non-conference schedule
The Longhorns have 10 non-conference dual matches scheduled this season against teams that appear in the ITA national rankings that started with a 5-2 road win at No. 13 Florida to open dual match play on Jan. 15. The Longhorns also travel to No. 2 Ohio State (Feb. 5), No. 3 TCU (Mar. 4) and No. 13 Stanford (Mar. 9) with the match against TCU coming prior to Big 12 play to make it non-conference. At home, Texas will welcome No. 12 Georgia (Jan. 22), No. 19 Pepperdine (Feb. 10), No. 15 Arizona (Feb. 12), No. 23 Texas A&M (Feb. 26), No. 21 NC State (Mar. 14) and No. 8 USC (Mar. 26)
-Back from 2022
Beginning the fifth season under head coach Bruce Berque, Texas returns almost all of its regular singles and doubles lineups from a team that persevered through an injury-plagued 2022 season, but still finished with an 18-11 record, its eighth-straight season of 18 or more wins, an appearance in an eighth-straight NCAA Tournament Sweet 16, and a fourth-straight appearance in the quarterfinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. The lone departure was senior Richard Ciamarra, who went out in style by combining with Cleeve Harper to win the NCAA Doubles National Championship. That duo earned doubles All-America honors, as did the combination of Eliot Spizzirri and Siem Woldeab. Micah Braswell was a first-team All-Big 12 selection in singles, while Spizzirri and Pierre-Yves Bailly were second-team all-conference in singles. Bailly was also named the Big 12 Freshman of the Year. Chih Chi Huang and Evin McDonald return after combining to play a majority of the matches at No. 6 singles, as do Nevin Arimilli and Eshan Talluri.
-Doubles National Champions
Cleeve Harper and Richard Ciamarra won the 2022 NCAA Doubles National Championship last May at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Champaign, Ill. It marked the seventh doubles title in UT history by six different pairs, and the first since 2015 when Lloyd Glasspool and Søren Hess-Olesen won it. It is also just the second since 1944 when John Hickman and Felix Kelley won it, while Hickman and Walter Driver took it in 1943. The others include Bruce Barnes and Karl Kamrath in 1931, and back-to-back wins by Lewis White and Louis Thalheimer in 1923 and 1924.
-Brown arrives on the 40
The Longhorns add one new face for 2023 in true freshman Lucas Brown from Plano, Texas. Brown is a January enrollee who was the top-ranked player in the state of Texas and rated No. 6 nationally by TennisRecruiting.net. Throughout his juniors career, he has earned a total of 19 USTA National Balls, including eight gold, nine silver and two bronze. He has also earned a No. 1 USTA national ranking in every age division from 12s-18s. Brown completed most of his high school coursework at iUniversity Prep and spent his final semester at the Laurel Springs School.
-Berque at the Helm
Bruce Berque begins his fifth season as the head coach at Texas having taken over midway through the 2019 season. From there, he has led the Longhorns to a 72-22 overall record (.766) that includes a 2-0 record this season and an 18-11 mark last season with an appearance in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. It also includes a 24-6 in 2022 with an appearance in the Final Four, 13-3 in a season shortened by the pandemic in 2020, and 15-2 in 2019 en route to the guiding Texas to its first team National Championship. The Longhorns also earned the Big 12 regular season championship that year. Texas finished ranked in the top four in three of those seasons at No. 3 in 2021, No. 4 in 2020 and No. 1 in 2019, while ranking No. 12 in 2022.
-Fall Wrap-up
The Longhorns had a number of impressive results during 2022 fall play, highlighted by Eliot Spizzirri making the singles final of the ITA National Fall Championships, and the semifinals of the ITA All-American Championships. Spizzirri also partnered with Cleeve Harper to reach the doubles semifinals of the All-Americans and the Round of 16 at Fall Nationals. The duo twice defeated the No. 2-ranked doubles pair of Stefan Dostanic and Bradley Frye of USC during the fall. Overall in singles, Spizzirri posted a 10-3 record and was 8-0 against ranked opponents. Siem Woldeab was also exceptional in singles play, posting an 11-2 record with 10 of those wins coming against ranked opponents, two against top-15 players, and the lone two defeats both coming against top-40 foes. He reached the final of the Commodore Invitational, falling in three sets, and made the Round of 16 of the ITA All-Americans. Micah Braswell was limited in the fall, but still reached the quarterfinals of the All-Americans, while Evin McDonald (8-2) and Eshan Talluri (7-4) both registered solid fall records. Pierre-Yves Bailly missed the fall while recovering from an injury.
-ITA Rankings
Texas was ranked No. 7 in the 2023 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Top 25 Coaches Poll announced Jan. 18. The ranking marks the 63rd-straight week in the top 15 dating back to April 2018. Meanwhile, Georgia was ranked No. 12 in the poll.
-Final Fall ITA Individual National Rankings
Texas had five listings in the final fall ITA individual rankings that were released Nov. 16 with four in singles and one doubles pair. That included two in the top 15 in singles and one in the top 10 of doubles. Pierre-Yves Bailly did not play in the fall, so he did not appear in the rankings.
Texas
Singles
No. 3 Eliot Spizzirri
No. 13 Siem Woldeab
No. 30 Micah Braswell
No. 104 Evin McDonald
Doubles
No. 7 Cleeve Harper/Eliot Spizzirri
Georgia
Singles
No. 1 Ethan Quinn
No. 10 Philip Henning
No. 21 Blake Croyder
No. 70 Teodor Giusca
No. 106 Trent Bryde
Doubles
No. 19 Trent Bryde/Ethan Quinn
No. 55 Blake Croyder/Britton Johnston
-Year Six at the Texas Tennis Center
Texas opened its sixth year at the Texas Tennis Center with a 7-0 sweep of UTSA on Jan. 20 giving the Longhorns a 59-8 (.881) overall record in its history. Last season, the Longhorns posted a 10-3 record at home with the only losses coming to top-five teams by 4-3 scores against No. 1 Florida and No. 2 Ohio State, and 6-0 to No. 4 Baylor. Texas posted a 14-2 mark in 2021, which included wins over No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 9 Florida and No. 15 Arizona. In a shortened season in 2020, UT recorded a 9-0 record with wins against No. 8 Stanford, No. 18 Georgia and No. 21 Florida State. The Longhorns finished 2019 at 15-1, including wins over No. 1 Ohio State, No. 6 Baylor and No. 12 Columbia, along with three NCAA Tournament victories. The lone loss that year came to No. 15 USC. During its inaugural season, Texas posted a 10-2 record, including winning the 2018 Big 12 Tournament.
Players Mentioned
