The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas A&M - Corpus Christi
No. 1 Men’s Tennis advances to NCAA Second Round
05.06.2023 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns swept Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 4-0, in the first round to move on to the second round for the 10th-straight time.
Austin – No. 1 Texas Men's Tennis advanced the NCAA Tournament Second Round with 4-0 sweep of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at the Texas Tennis Center on Saturday. It marks the 10th-straight year the Longhorns have reached the second round where they will play No. 32 Pepperdine on Sunday.
Texas won the doubles point at Nos. 2 and 1 and followed with singles wins by junior Evin McDonald at No. 6, junior No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1, and junior No. 61 Micah Braswell at No. 2 for the clinch.
Following doubles, McDonald produced an efficient 6-1, 6-1 win over Lucas Schurdevin to give the Longhorns a 2-0 lead. Schurdevin's lone wins came on serve for 5-1 in the first and 4-1 in the second, as McDonald put together a pair of 5-0 runs around them.
Moments later, Spizzirri extended the lead to 3-0 with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Avery Zavala. Spizzirri broke first on a deuce point for a 3-1 lead, and the rest of the set stayed on serve to his win. He then swept the second set for the victory.
The clinch then came from Braswell with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Pascal Lorieul. After the opening four games stayed on serve, including the first three at deuce, Braswell finished the first set on a 4-0 run. Lorieul began the second set with a break, but Braswell broke right back to start another 4-0 run. The players then exchanged breaks one more time before Braswell served out the match.
That left three matches unfinished, including junior No. 54 Siem Woldeab ahead of Matthieu Peres, 6-2, 3-4, at No. 3, junior Cleeve Harper in front of Nathan Schwartz, 6-2, 4-2, at No. 4, and senior Nevin Arimilli leading Ulysse Bertrand, 6-1, 5-1, at No. 5.
Woldeab used a 4-0 run in the first set to turn a 1-1 tie into a 5-1 lead en route to the 6-2 win. Peres then broke first in the second for a 3-1 lead that he turned into 4-1 on serve before Woldeab closed with the last two games.
Harper earned an early break for a 2-0 lead, and after Schwartz answered it and then held for 2-2, Harper closed the set on a 4-0 run. That was the beginning a 7-0 run overall for Harper as he moved out to a 3-0 lead in the second. The last three games then stayed on serve in the remainder of the match.
In the final match, Arimilli jumped out to a 5-0 lead on the way to a 6-1 win in the first set. He closed with a 4-0 run in the second to lead 5-1, coming up one game shy of winning his match.
Earlier in doubles, Woldeab and sophomore Pierre-Yves Bailly put together an efficient 6-0 sweep of Bertrand and Peres at No. 2. Harper and Spizzirri then followed with a 6-3 victory over Zavala and Lorieul at No. 1. The Longhorns broke in the second game of that match for a 2-0 lead, but the Islanders broke back on a deuce point two games later to even it. Texas then secured the only other break for 4-2 on the way to the win.
In the remaining match at No. 3, McDonald and senior Chih Chi Huang were tied with Schwartz and Thomas Quesada Perez, 5-5, when play stopped. Each team picked up a break with Texas' being for a 2-0 lead and AMCC's for 2-2 with the rest of the match staying on serve.
The Longhorns next face No. 32 Pepperdine on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT at the Texas Tennis Center for the right to move on to the sweet 16 against the winner of the Chapel Hill Regional, which will between No. 14 (16 seed) North Carolina and No. 17 Utah.
#1 Texas 4, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 0
Singles – Order of Finish (6,1,2)
1. #1 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Avery Zavala (AMCC-M) 6-3, 6-0
2. #61 Micah Braswell (UT) def. Pascal Lorieul (AMCC-M) 6-2, 6-2
3. #54 Siem Woldeab (UT) vs. Matthieu Peres (AMCC-M) 6-2, 3-4, unf.
4. Cleeve Harper (UT) vs. Nathan Schwartz (AMCC-M) 6-2, 4-2, unf.
5. Nevin Arimilli (UT) vs. Ulysse Bertrand (AMCC-M) 6-1, 5-1, unf.
6. Evin McDonald (UT) def. Lucas Schurdevin (AMCC-M) 6-1, 6-1
Doubles – Order of Finish (2,1)
1. #3 Eliot Spizzirri/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Avery Zavala/Pascal Lorieul (AMCC-M) 6-3
2. #75 Siem Woldeab/Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) def. Ulysse Bertrand/Matthieu Peres (AMCC-M) 6-0
3. Chih Chi Huang/Evin McDonald (UT) vs. Nathan Schwartz/Tomas Quesada Perez (AMCC-M) 5-5, unf.
Players Mentioned
