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UCF
No. 3 Men’s Tennis defeats No. 67 UCF, 4-3
03.18.2023 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns went on the road and clinched at 4-1 after four-straight singles victories.
Lake Nona, Fla. – No. 3 Texas Men's Tennis defeated No. 67 UCF, 4-3, at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, Fla., on Saturday. The Longhorns won four-consecutive singles matches to clinch at 4-1 on the way to the final.
After dropping the doubles point, Texas picked up three singles victories within minutes of each other from junior No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1, junior Evin McDonald at No. 6, and sophomore No. 40 Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 2. Senior Nevin Arimilli then clinched his third-straight match to cap the run with his win at No. 5.
Coming off his first singles loss in dual match play, Spizzirri responded with an efficient 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 105 Bogdan Pavel. Spizzirri opened on serve and went on a 3-0 run that he might have extended on a deuce point in the following game, but Pavel held to start a 3-0 run of his own to even it. Spizzirri then closed the set with another 3-0 stretch with deuce-point wins in the last two games. He increased the run by two more games with a break and a hold to begin the second set, and again it might have been more on a deuce point, but Pavel held once more, and the next four games stayed on serve to a 4-2 lead for Spizzirri. The last of those was the first of another 3-0 run for Spizzirri, who finished the match with a deuce-point hold to tie the overall contest at 1-1.
Moments later, McDonald gave Texas a 2-1 advantage with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Francisco Llanes. Both players held their opening serve starting with McDonald, while Llanes did so on a deuce point. From there, the set belonged to McDonald as he went on a 6-0 run that included only one deuce point at 3-1 for the win. In the second, Llanes broke first to take a 3-1 lead, but McDonald answered it and then held to square it. Llanes retook the lead on a deuce-point hold, but McDonald captured the next three games, including breaking Llanes' next serve on a deuce point, to capture the match.
It was then Bailly's turn, as he registered a 6-2, 6-2 win over Lleyton Cronje. It was Cronje who would break first in the match for a 2-1 lead, but Bailly set out on an 8-0 run to take the set and establish a 3-0 lead in the second. That included just two deuce points with one for a 3-2 lead in the first, and the other for a 2-0 advantage in the second. The rest of the match stayed on serve from there until Bailly broke in what would be the final game at 6-2.
That set up Arimilli to clinch his third-straight match for the Longhorns, which he did with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Mehdi Benchakroun. Arimilli broke in the second game for a 2-0 lead, but Benchakroun was able to break back on a deuce point to put it back on serve. That's where it stayed until Benchakroun broke again for a 5-4 lead, but Arimilli answered it to start a 6-0 run and capture nine of the next 10 games for his victory, as Benchakroun picked up his only game in that stretch to trail 3-1. Of those games, only one went to deuce, which was won by Arimilli for a 3-0 lead.
In the remaining two matches, juniors No. 18 Siem Woldeab and No. 67 Micah Braswell both won their first sets. However, after Woldeab won his in a tiebreaker, he was forced to retire trailing, 3-1, in the second against Liam Branger at No. 4. In that first set, Branger had jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but Woldeab responded with a 5-0 run, winning four of those on deuce points. Branger then turned that around with three-straight games, the last two of which he won at deuce for a 6-5 lead, but Woldeab held in the following game to send it to the tiebreaker. There, the only three mini-breaks came in the last four points, as Woldeab struck first for a 5-4 lead, while Branger got one on the next point, but then Woldeab held to regain the lead and broke again for the 7-5 win.
The final match was the only three-set contest of the day as Braswell fell to Yassine Dlimi, 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 at No. 3. Dlimi collected the first two games with a break and a hold, but the rest of the set was Braswell's with a 6-0 run that included deuce point wins to tie it at 2-2 and take the lead at 3-2. In the second set, both players broke the other's first serve, and although Braswell then held for a 2-1 lead, Dlimi went on a 3-0 run on the strength of a deuce-point break at 3-2 en route to a 4-2 advantage. Braswell's next five serves also went to deuce with him first holding to pull within 4-3, but Dlimi took the next two with the first being for the set at 6-3, and then for a 2-0 lead in the third. Braswell won the following one to cut the lead to 3-1, but Dlimi held his serve at deuce for 4-1, and then secured the final of Braswell's deuce-point serves for 5-1, along with another hold to win the match and complete 4-3 overall final.
Earlier in doubles, UCF got on the board first starting with a 6-3 win at No. 1 by the No. 76 pair of Cronje and Pavel over the No. 3 duo of Spizzirri and junior Cleeve Harper. The Knights captured the only break of the match at 5-3 leading to their win.
The Longhorns evened the doubles point with a 6-4 victory by Braswell and senior Chih Chi Huang over Dlimi and Llanes at No. 3. UCF broke first on a deuce point for a 3-2 lead that they extended to 4-2 on serve, but Texas set out on a 4-0 run that was capped with a deuce-point break for the match.
That left it to No. 2 where Woldeab and Bailly were downed by Paul Colin and Cooper White by the same 6-4 score. Texas broke for a 2-0 lead, but UCF answered it to put the match back on serve. The Knights then broke again and held on a deuce point for 5-3, and although the Longhorns held and forced UCF's next serve to another deuce point, Colin and White held again for the match to clinch the point.
Texas (14-2) will head out on the road again for its next match to face No. 1 TCU in Fort Worth in a non-conference contest on Wednesday, March 22, at 5:30 p.m. CT.
#3 Texas 4, #67 UCF 3
Singles – Order of Finish (1,6,2,5,4,3)
1. #1 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. #105 Bogdan Pavel (UCF) 6-3, 6-2
2. #40 Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) def. Lleyton Cronje (UCF) 6-2, 6-2
3. Yassine Dlimi (UCF) def. #67 Micah Braswell (UT) 2-6, 6-3, 6-1
4. Liam Branger (UCF) def. #18 Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-7 (5), 3-1, ret.
5. Nevin Arimilli (UT) def. Mehdi Benchakroun (UCF) 7-5, 6-1
6. Evin McDonald (UT) def. Francisco Llanes (UCF) 6-1, 6-4
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,3,2)
1. #76 Lleyton Cronje/Bogdan Pavel (UCF) def. #3 Eliot Spizzirri/Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-3
2. Paul Colin/Cooper White (UCF) def. Siem Woldeab/Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 6-4
3. Chih Chi Huang/Micah Braswell (UT) def. Yassine Dlimi/Francisco Llanes (UCF) 6-4
Players Mentioned
