The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
South Carolina
No. 1 Men’s Tennis advances to NCAA Final Four
05.19.2023 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns swept No. 8 South Carolina, 4-0, to move on to the semifinals for the third time in the last four tournaments.
Lake Nona, Fla. – No. 1 Texas Men's Tennis advanced the NCAA Championship semifinals with 4-0 sweep of No. 8 South Carolina at the USTA National Campus on Friday. The Longhorns punched their ticket to the Final Four for the third time in the last four tournaments where they will face the 5 seed No. 5 Virginia on Saturday at 12 p.m. ET/11 a.m. CT. It marks the program's seventh overall appearance in the semifinals, including 2021, 2019, 2009, 2008, 2006 and 1993.
In a match that carried over two days due to a weather suspension on Thursday night, Texas captured the doubles point at Nos. 2 and 1 on Thursday and followed with singles wins on Friday by juniors No. 54 Siem Woldeab at No. 4, No. 61 Micah Braswell at No. 3, and Cleeve Harper at No. 5 for the clinch, all within minutes of each other. It is the third-straight match that trio has earned the three singles points for the Longhorns, along with being Harper's third-straight overall clinch.
FINAL FOUR bound! #HookEm 🤘🎾 pic.twitter.com/ieTWoLTwZK
— Texas Men's Tennis (@TexasMTN) May 19, 2023
After a closely-contested doubles point, Woldeab was off the single court first with a 6-4, 6-3 win over No. 122 Raphael Lambling. Although Lambling won two deuce points for 1-1 and 4-4, the first set stayed on serve all the way to a 5-4 lead for Woldeab when he got the break he needed in the last game to take the set. Lambling earned his first break for a 2-1 lead in the second before serving for 3-1, but from there, it was all Woldeab, as he set out on a 5-0 run to the victory with only one deuce point along the way, which came for 5-3.
Big serve for Siem for his W! #NCAATennis #HookEm 🤘🎾 https://t.co/Bj3xGGBL6V pic.twitter.com/8DpGNHohIZ
— Texas Men's Tennis (@TexasMTN) May 19, 2023
Almost immediately after that, Braswell followed with a 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 116 James Story to extend the overall lead to 3-0. Story held and broke to open the match, 2-0, but Braswell broke back on a deuce point and held to even it. Three games later, Braswell broke again at deuce for a 4-3 lead that he consolidated for 5-3 on serve. Story held his next serve to get back within one, but Braswell served out the set to start a 3-0 run that gave him a 2-0 lead in the second. That set stayed on serve until Braswell used a third deuce-point break for a 5-2 advantage and closed with a deuce-point hold for the win and 3-0 overall lead.
Micah rips it for his W! #NCAATennis #HookEm 🤘🎾 https://t.co/PcywO2baxU pic.twitter.com/K8eNuF3pgi
— Texas Men's Tennis (@TexasMTN) May 19, 2023
Moments later, Harper clinched it with a 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 102 Casey Hoole. The first three games all went to deuce, but all stayed on serve starting with Harper until he broke through for a 3-1 lead that he made 4-1 on serve. Hoole held on a deuce point in the next game, but the set stayed on serve the rest of the way to Harper's win. In the second, Harper grabbed the only the only break of the set in the first game on a deuce point, and it was all he needed as the remainder of the match was on serve.
Cleeve serves it out to the Final Four! #NCAATennis #HookEm 🤘🎾 https://t.co/scfC0rFquT pic.twitter.com/6zyog2RLqY
— Texas Men's Tennis (@TexasMTN) May 19, 2023
Texas was leading two of the three remaining singles matches with sophomore No. 28 Pierre-Yves Bailly up on No. 16 Connor Thomson, 7-6 (2), 2-1, at No. 2, senior Nevin Arimilli ahead of Lucas da Silva, 7-5, 3-2 at No. 6, and junior No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri trailing No. 10 Toby Samuel, 6-7 (4), 3-2.
In Bailly's match, Thomson broke first on a deuce point for 3-2 and held for 4-2. Bailly got the break back to even it, 4-4, and then held for the lead on a deuce point. The next three games also stayed on serve to a tieibreaker where Bailly used a 4-0 run to take a 4-1 lead on the way to a 7-2 win. In the second set, Bailly broke in the first game on a deuce point and held for 2-0 before the 2-1 final.
For Arimilli, the first set stayed on serve all the way to a 6-5 lead for him when he broke in the last game to win. The second set stayed on serve, as well, despite closing on two deuce points, resulting in a 3-2 lead for Arimilli.
In the match at No. 1, four-straight breaks from a 2-1 lead for Samuel to a 4-4 tie returned the set to being on serve. That's where it stayed to a tiebreaker, despite Spizzirri having a deuce match point while up 6-5 that Samuel as able to hold. In the breaker, Samuel pushed out to a 4-1 lead, and although Spizzirri got within one at 5-4, Samuel took the last two points for the win. In the second set, Spizzirri had just broken for a 3-2 lead when play concluded.
The day before in doubles, drama was on display as it came down to the final match to decide it. Senior Chih Chi Huang and junior Evin McDonald fell to Hoole and Lambling, 6-2, at No. 3 with South Carolina opening on a 5-0 run with two deuce points. Texas pushed back with two-straight deuce-point wins, but the Gamecocks broke in the next game to win.
The No. 75 pair of Woldeab and Bailly answered with a 6-4 victory over No. 48 Beasley and Story at No. 2. The Longhorns grabbed the only break of the match for a 2-1 lead that they consolidated to 3-1 on serve. Despite back-to-back deuce-point games for 5-3 and 5-4, the rest of the match stayed on serve to the Texas win.
That left it to No. 1, where the No. 3 duo of Harper and Spizzirri topped the No. 1 pair of Samuel and Thomson, 7-5. The Longhorns had pushed out to a 4-0 lead using two deuce-point breaks, but the Gamecocks responded with a 5-0 run that began with a deuce-point hold. However, Texas held in the next game before securing the break they needed for a 6-5 lead, and then served out the match to clinch the point.
Texas (26-3) next faces the 5 seed No. 5 Virginia in the Final Four on Saturday, May 20, at 12 p.m. ET/11 a.m. CT. That match will be shown by Cracked Raquets on their YouTube page, along with being live streamed.
#1 Texas 4, #8 South Carolina 0
Singles – Order of Finish (4,3,5)
1. #10 Toby Samuel (SC) vs. #1 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 7-6 (4), 2-3, unf.
2. #16 Connor Thomson (SC) vs. #28 Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 6-7 (2), 1-2, unf.
3. #61 Micah Braswell (UT) def. #116 James Story (SC) 6-4, 6-2
4. #54 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. #122 Raphael Lambling (SC) 6-4, 6-3
5. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. #102 Casey Hoole (SC) 6-3, 6-4
6. Lucas da Silva (SC) vs. Nevin Arimilli (UT) 5-7, 2-3, unf.
Doubles – Order of Finish (3,2,1)
1. #3 Eliot Spizzirri/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. #1 Toby Samuel/Connor Thomson (SC) 7-5
2. #75 Pierre-Yves Bailly/Siem Woldeab (UT) def. #48 Jake Beasley/James Story (SC) 6-4
3. Casey Hoole/Raphael Lambling (SC) def. Chih Chi Huang/Evin McDonald (UT) 6-2
Players Mentioned
