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Ohio State
No. 6 Men’s Tennis falls to No. 2 Ohio State, 4-0
02.05.2023 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns dropped their first match of the season on the road in Columbus on Sunday.
Columbus, Ohio – No. 6 Texas Men's Tennis fell to No. 2 Ohio State, 4-0, at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center in Columbus on Sunday. It was the first the first loss of the season for the Longhorns, who are now 5-1 as they return home to the Texas Tennis Center for a pair of matches this weekend against Pepperdine and No. 17 Arizona.
Texas had a difficult time with deuce points throughout the early half of the match as Ohio State won the only two during doubles and then all 10 throughout the first sets across the six singles courts. The Longhorns turned that around in the second sets, winning nine out of 12, but it was too late to rally in the overall match.
The deuce points in doubles both came at No. 2 and were pivotal in the match as junior Siem Woldeab and sophomore Pierre-Yves Bailly were downed by Justin Boulais and Robert Cash, 6-2. With each team holding its first serve, the Longhorns were in good position for the first break on any of the courts with a 15-40 lead, but the Buckeyes were able to rally and hold. Texas also led 40-30 in the following game, but Ohio State again rebounded and was able to claim the first break and a 3-1 lead, which they extended to 4-1 on serve. Both teams held on their next serves before the Buckeyes broke again for the win.
Ohio State then clinched the doubles point at No. 1 where the No. 7 duo of juniors Cleeve Harper and Eliot Spizzirri fell to Andrew Lutschaunig and James Trotter, 6-3. That match stayed on serve up to a 4-3 lead for the Buckeyes when they secured the lone break of the match for 5-3 before serving out at 6-3. The remaining match at No. 3 with the pair of senior Chih Chi Huang and junior Eshan Talluri against Cannon Kingsley and JJ Tracy stayed on serve throughout to a 5-4 lead for Ohio State when play stopped.
In singles, the Buckeyes increased their overall lead to 2-0 with a 6-0, 6-0 win by Cash over Huang at No. 6. They then followed with a pair of 6-1, 6-4 wins by Trotter over No. 13 Woldeab at No. 3, and No. 90 Alexander Bernard over junior No. 30 Micah Braswell at No. 4. Despite Trotter serving first at No. 3, and Braswell serving first at No. 4, both first sets followed the exact same scoring pattern with deuce points won by Ohio State for leads of 3-0 and 5-1, while the Longhorns won their games at 3-1.
In the second set of Woldeab's match, although he won two out of the three deuce points, his both came on serve to lead at 2-1 and later trail at 5-4, meanwhile Trotter's deuce win resulted in the only break of the set, giving him a 3-2 lead that he maintained to the 6-4 win. In Braswell's second set, there were four deuce points, three of which were won by Braswell, but all four resulted in breaks, as seven out of 10 games in the set were breaks. Braswell broke in the opening game on a deuce point, but Bernard broke back to even it and begin a 4-0 run that included another break that came at deuce. Braswell rallied to win three of the next four games with deuce-point breaks for 4-3 and 5-4, but Bernard picked up one final break to clinch the overall match for Ohio State.
In the remaining matches, Texas had dropped the first sets in each, but were leading or tied in all of those second sets. No. 3 Eliot Spizzirri had three deuce points in his first set at No. 1 that all went in favor of his opponent Boulais, who was leading 7-5, 2-3 when play stopped. The first set remained on serve all the way to 5-5 thanks to Boulais' first deuce-point win to hold at 4-4, but his second and third deuce-point victories provided the only break followed by another hold for the win. All five games of the second set were then on serve when it ended.
Bailly was in a similar situation against No. 5 Tracy at No. 2, as Tracy won all three deuce points in the first set and was leading, 6-2, 2-3 at the conclusion of play. Bailly had grabbed an opening break, but Tracy broke back on a deuce point to start a 4-0 run that also included another deuce-point break at 3-1. The next two games were then on serve until Tracy collected his third deuce-point break to take the set. In the second, the first four games stayed on serve, including a hold at deuce for Bailly at 1-1, and he then broke on a deuce point for a 3-2 lead when the match stopped.
At No. 4, Harper trailed Jack Anthrop, 6-4, 4-4, at that time. Anthrop began on serve and the set remained there almost the whole way until he got the break he needed in the final game for the win. Anthrop then opened the second set with a 4-0 run, but Harper answered it, capped by consecutive deuce-point wins in the final two games.
The Longhorns now return home to the Texas Tennis Center to face Pepperdine on Friday, Feb. 10, at 5 p.m. CT, followed by a rematch with No. 17 Arizona on Sunday, Feb. 12, at 1 p.m. CT. The Wildcats just visited Austin for the ITA Kickoff Weekend with Texas winning the matchup with No. 14 Arizona, 4-0, on January 29.
#2 Ohio State 4, #6 Texas 0
Singles – Order of Finish (6,3,4)
1. Justin Boulais (OSU) vs. #3 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 7-5, 2-3, unf.
2. #5 JJ Tracy (OSU) vs. Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 6-2, 2-3, unf.
3. James Trotter (OSU) def. #13 Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-1, 6-4
4. #90 Alexander Bernard (OSU) def. #30 Micah Braswell (UT) 6-1, 6-4
5. Jack Anthrop (OSU) vs. Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-4, 4-4, unf.
6. Robert Cash (OSU) def. Chih Chi Huang (UT) 6-0, 6-0
Doubles – Order of Finish (2,1)
1. Andrew Lutschaunig/James Trotter (OSU) def. #7 Cleeve Harper/Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 6-3
2. Justin Boulais/Robert Cash (OSU) def. Pierre-Yves Bailly/Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-2
3. Cannon Kingsley/JJ Tracy (OSU) vs. Chih Chi Huang/Eshan Talluri (UT) 5-4, unf.
Players Mentioned
