The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Men’s Tennis’ Harper and Spizzirri finish as NCAA Doubles Runners-Up
05.27.2023 | Men's Tennis
Juniors Cleeve Harper and Eliot Spizzirri were edged by Ohio State in the championship match, but made it back-to-back years for Texas with a doubles finalist.
Lake Nona, Fla. – Texas Men's Tennis juniors Cleeve Harper and Eliot Spizzirri finished as the NCAA Doubles Championship Runners-Up after being edged by No. 16 James Trotter and Andrew Lutschaunig of Ohio State, 6-4, 6-4, in the title match on Saturday at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, Fla.
Despite the defeat, Texas and Harper appeared in a second-straight doubles final after Harper won the 2022 National Championship with partner Richard Ciamarra. It was the eight all-time final appearance in doubles for Texas, and the first in consecutive seasons, following Lloyd Glasspool and Søren Hess-Olesen in 2015, who won the title, Chris Camillone and David Holiner in 2013, Chad Clark and Trey Phillips in 1995, Mitch Michulka and Michael Penman in 1990, Charles Beckman and Royce Deppe in 1985, and Gary Plock and Kevin Curren 1978.
"The match today was, as many college doubles matches are, decided by a handful of points, and the margins are very slim," head coach Bruce Berque said. "We knew that going into the match, and it's especially tough to come out on the right side of the score when you're playing a team like Ohio State, who serves so big and gives you very few chances. We had a couple chances, but in the end, Ohio State executed a little bit better than we did and deserved to win."
In the match, No. 3 duo of Harper and Spizzirri dropped a late break on their final serve in both sets resulting in the decision for Ohio State. In the first set, after the Longhorns rallied from 0-40 to fend off a break attempt and hold for a 2-1 lead, the set stayed on serve until the Buckeyes capitalized on their next deuce-point break opportunity for their first lead, 5-4, in a game Texas had led, 40-30. Ohio State then held in the last game for the set and captured another break to open the second. However, the Longhorns broke right back to return the frame to being on serve, where it stayed until the Buckeyes again broke for a 5-4 lead. Texas appeared to be in good position to answer the break with a 0-40 lead in the next game, but Ohio State came back with four-straight points on the strength of two aces to close for the title.
"The result does not diminish my pride in Eliot and Cleeve for the season that they had, both in terms of their results and the way they represented Texas in everything they did," Berque said. "They were also two of our best leaders when it comes to our team season, and they set the standard for our guys when it comes to competing match in and match out and giving it their best. I feel really fortunate they'll both be back next year to lead our team to another great season."
Along with being National Runners-Up, Harper and Spizzirri will receive ITA All-America honors as a doubles duo when they are formally announced later. After being ranked in the ITA top-three in doubles for a majority of the season, they complete their 2022-23 year with a 28-14 overall record, including 17 wins over ranked opponents with 10 of those against the top-25, six versus the top-10, and three against top-two teams. They also earned first-team All-Big 12 honors and the Big 12 position championship at No. 1 doubles.
2023 NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships
Doubles Final – May 27
No. 16 James Trotter/Andrew Lutschaunig (OHST) def. 3 seed No. 3 Cleeve Harper/Eliot Spizzirri (UT), 6-4, 6-4
