The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
UTSA
No. 4 Men’s Tennis preview: ITA Kickoff Weekend
01.26.2024 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns host UTSA, Oklahoma State and Utah from Jan. 28-29 beginning with a match against the Roadrunners on Saturday at 12 p.m. CT.
No. 4 Men's Tennis preview: ITA Kickoff Weekend
Team Records: Texas (2-1, 0-0 Big 12), Oklahoma State (3-0, 0-0 Big 12), Utah (1-0, 0-0 Pac-12), UTSA (1-1, 0-0 AAC)
Where: Texas Tennis Center, Austin, Texas
Live Stats: https://hookem.at/MTN-Stats
Live Video: https://hookem.at/MTN-Watch
Broadcast: Cracked Racquets/ESPN+ (Alex Gruskin, pbp) – Texas-UTSA and Regional Final matches
Tournament Homepage: https://hookem.at/ITA-Kickoff-23
Tournament Schedule
Should play be forced indoors due to weather an alternate schedule will be posted and no live video will be available.
Saturday, Jan. 27
No. 4 Texas vs. UTSA, 12 p.m., North Courts
Utah vs. Oklahoma State, 12 p.m., South Courts
Sunday, Jan. 28
Texas-UTSA winner vs. Utah-Oklahoma State winner, 1 p.m., TBD Courts
Texas-UTSA loser vs. Utah-Oklahoma State loser, 1 p.m., TBD Courts
Notes
-ITA Kickoff Weekend
Texas is hosting an ITA Kickoff Weekend regional for the 10th-straight year with the last time not hosting being 2014 when the team traveled to Nashville, Tenn. The Longhorns have advanced to the ITA National Indoor Championships for five consecutive seasons dating back to 2019.
-UTSA Series: Texas leads, 28-0
Texas and UTSA have met 28 times since 1975 with the Longhorns winning all 28 contests, including a 7-0 victory in 2023 at the Texas Tennis Center.
Last Meeting
#7 Texas 7, UTSA 0
Friday, January 20, 2023
Texas Tennis Center • Austin, Texas
Singles – Order of Finish (2,6,1,3,5,4)
1. #3 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Tiago Torres (UTSA) 4-6, 6-2, 3-1, ret.
2. #13 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Sebastian Rodriguez (UTSA) 6-1, 6-2
3. Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) def. Alan Magadan (UTSA) 6-3, 7-6 (2)
4. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Danijal Muminovic (UTSA) 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (2)
5. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Tomas Pinho (UTSA) 6-7 (5), 6-4, 1-0 (7)
6. #104 Evin McDonald (UT) def. Jackson Ross (UTSA) 6-2, 6-2
Doubles – Order of Finish (2,1)
1. #7 Eliot Spizzirri/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. #6 Alan Magadan/Sebastian Rodriguez (UTSA) 6-3
2. Siem Woldeab/Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) def. Tiago Torres/Jackson Ross (UTSA) 6-1
3. Chih Chi Huang/Eshan Talluri (UT) vs. Tomas Pinho/Garrett Skelly (UTSA) 4-3, unf.
-Texas vs. UTSA in 2023-24 tournament play
ITA Texas Regionals
6 seed #45 Jonah Braswell (UT) def. Alan Magadan (UTSA), 6-1, 6-4
2 seed #17 Micah Braswell (UT) def. Tiago Torres (UTSA), 6-2, 1-6, 6-1
8 seed Alan Magadan/Tomas Pinho (UTSA) def. 9 seed Micah Braswell/Jonah Braswell (UT), 8-4
-Edged by No. 1 Virginia
Texas took it to the third set of the final singles match, but was edged by No. 1 Virginia, 4-3, at the Texas Tennis Center on January 18. The Cavaliers claimed the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3, and although Texas was able to collect three singles wins by senior Micah Braswell at No. 2, Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 4, and Gilles-Arnaud Bailly at No. 3, Virginia secured wins at Nos. 1, 6 and 5.
-Texas sweeps first two matches of 2024
Texas secured 7-0 sweeps over Lamar (Jan. 12) and Abilene Christian (Jan. 14) without dropping a set in any of the singles and doubles contests to open the 2024 season. The match against Lamar was played at the Texas Tennis Center, while the contest against ACU moved indoors due to cold weather. The Longhorns played out all three doubles matches in both and then Eliot Spizzirri, Gilles-Arnaud Bailly, Pierre-Yves Bailly, Jonah Braswell and Lucas Brown all went 2-0 in singles. In addition to those, Micah Braswell earned a singles win against Lamar, while Siem Woldeab did against ACU.
-Longhorns sweep singles, doubles titles at Miami Spring Invite
In a weekend cut well short due to weather, Texas swept the singles and doubles titles at the Miami Spring Invite, as Micah Braswell won in singles, and the pairing of Cleeve Harper and Eliot Spizzirri won in doubles, both with 2-0 records in those categories. The Longhorns won 15 of their 20 singles matches and six of their nine doubles contests over their three days at the Miami Spring Invite.
-Harper named Big 12 Men's Tennis Player of the Week (Jan. 9)
Cleeve Harper went a combined 4-0 without dropping a set in his singles and doubles matches at the Miami Spring Invitational in Coral Gables, Fla. The two doubles victories earned Harper and his partner Eliot Spizzirri the doubles championship and included a decisive 6-1 win over No. 40 Vladislav Melnic and Adrien Burdet of Miami, along with an 8-5 win over Murphy Cassone and Martin Vergara of Arizona State. Harper was also 2-0 in singles with solid straight-sets victories over Vergara at 6-3, 6-4, and Antonio Prat of Miami, 6-4, 6-2.
-ITA Team Rankings
Texas picked up where it left off last season at No. 3 in the preseason coaches poll released January 3 by the ITA and are now No. 4 in the most recent release on January 24. It's the 79th-straight week in the top 15 dating back to April 2018.
-ITA Individual National Rankings
Texas had seven listings in the ITA individual fall postseason rankings that were released November 15 with six in singles and one doubles pair. Texas claimed both the No. 1 and No. 2 players in Eliot Spizzirri and Micah Braswell, while four of the players were in the top 50, and all six no lower than No. 101. Spizziri and Cleeve Harper combined to be No. 3 in doubles, while the pair of Pierre-Yves Bailly and Siem Woldeab only played five matches in the fall and moved out of the rankings after being No. 75 going into it.
Texas
Singles
No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri
No. 2 Micah Braswell
No. 28 Jonah Braswell
No. 49 Pierre-Yves Bailly
No. 82 Cleeve Harper
No. 101 Siem Woldeab
Doubles
No. 3 Cleeve Harper/Eliot Spizzirri
UTSA
Singles
No. 115 Tomas Pinho
Doubles
N/A
-Berque at the Helm
An accomplished coaching veteran with over two decades of experience with some of the nation's top tennis programs, Bruce Berque was named the fifth head coach of The University of Texas Men's Tennis program on May 23, 2019. Berque has now begun his sixth season as head coach in Austin and has led the Longhorns to a 98-27 overall record (.784) that includes 2-1 this season, 26-4 last season, 18-11 in 2022, 24-6 in 2021, 13-3 in a 2020 season that was shortened by the pandemic, and 15-2 in 2019 en route to the guiding Texas to its first team National Championship. During Berque's five completed seasons at the helm, Texas is the only program in the nation to finish in the top four in four of those five seasons, and it is the only program nationally to make three NCAA Final Fours in that span. The Longhorns are additionally the only team to have been ranked No. 1 at some point during the regular season or post-season of three of those years. Last season, Texas finished 2023 with 26 wins, which is the second-most for the program since 2010, trailing only the 29 from the 2019 National Championship season. The Longhorns made their third NCAA Final Four appearance in the last four tournaments, while the season also saw the team claim the outright Big 12 regular season championship, make the program's first appearance in the final of the ITA National Indoor Championships, and spend the last six weeks with the nation's No. 1 ranking before finishing with a final ranking of No. 3. During an injury-plagued 2022, the team still managed an 18-11 mark with an appearance in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. His overall record at UT also includes a 24-6 mark in 2021 with an appearance in the Final Four, 13-3 in a pandemic shortened 2020, and 15-2 in 2019 en route to the guiding Texas to its first team National Championship. UT also earned the Big 12 regular season championships in 2019 and 2021.
-Back from 2023
In the sixth season under head coach Bruce Berque, Texas returns most of its singles and doubles lineups from a team that finished the regular season ranked No. 1, reached the NCAA Final Four and ITA National Indoor final and won the Big 12 Championship in 2023. The departures were seniors Chih Chi Huang and Nevin Arimilli with Huang contributing significantly at No. 3 doubles with multiple partners, while Arimilli took on a regular singles lineup spot later in the season and posted a 10-4 record (7-3 at No. 6). The rest of the roster returns with Eliot Spizzirri going 20-1 at No. 1 and 36-5 overall, Pierre-Yves Bailly posting a 14-9 overall record that included an 11-5 mark at No. 2, Micah Braswell notching a 20-12 overall record, including 12-6 at No. 3, Siem Woldeab splitting time between No. 3 and No. 4 for an 18-8 dual match mark and 30-12 overall, Cleeve Harper registering a 13-4 record at No. 5 with a 19-11 mark overall, and a split between Arimilli and Evin McDonald at No. 6 with McDonald going 6-3 in that spot. Eshan Talluri rounded out the group with a 9-5 overall record.
-Six newcomers arrive for their first dual match season on the 40
The Longhorns add six new faces for 2024 staring with sophomore transfer Jonah Braswell from Florida, who joined the team in the fall. Freshman Rahul Sachdev also arrived in the fall, while the other four are also freshmen but came in the spring. Those include Gilles-Arnaud Bailly, who is the brother of Pierre-Yves Bailly, from Bilzen, Belgium, Evan Burnett from Woodside, Calif., Timo Legout from Paris, France, and Calvin Wang from Laguna Beach, Calif.
-Fall/Summer Wrap-up
The Longhorns had a number of impressive results during 2023 fall play, highlighted by Micah Braswell and Eliot Spizzirri combining to sweep the singles titles at the two fall majors. Braswell took the ITA National Fall Championships, while Spizzirri won the ITA All-American Championships. It gave Texas the sweep for just the second time in program history and the first time by two different players. Yuya Ito previously won both tournaments in 2019. It also marked just the fourth time different players from the same school combined to win the two titles. In addition to the singles titles, Spizzirri and Cleeve Harper advanced to the doubles final of the All-American Championships. Braswell had reached the Fall Nationals with another singles title at the ITA Texas Regionals, becoming the third Longhorn since 2017 to win that championship, along with Christian Sigsgaard (2018) and Leo Telles (2017). In the semifinals, Braswell had to defeat his brother and new teammate, Jonah, to get to the final. Lucas Brown also made it to the singles consolation final. Spizzirri went on to help Team USA win the championship of the Master'U BNP Paribas Championships in Paris in December, while in the summer, he played with the USTA Collegiate Summer Team and followed that by reaching the third round of qualifying at the U.S. Open. Overall, Texas posted a 53-25 singles record in four events, including the Longhorn Invitational, with Micah Braswell leading the way with a 14-2 mark, followed by Spizzirri, who was 6-0. Jonah Braswell, Brown and Harper also posted at least six wins.
-Spizzirri leads the way for 2023 national and regional awards
Eliot Spizzirri had a historic 2023 season, being named the ITA National Player of the Year, the ITA Senior Player of the Year, the Big 12 Player of the Year, and Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and was one of six players nationally to be selected to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America First Team. Spizzirri was just the second Longhorn to hold the top singles spot at the end of the season since the rankings began in 1981, along with Steve Bryan in 1990. He was one of three ITA All-Americans on the team last season, earning those honors in both singles and doubles, to go along his partner Cleeve Harper in doubles, and Micah Braswell in singles. Harper was also tabbed to the CSC Academic All-America Second Team. In addition to those, Nevin Arimilli picked up the ITA Texas Region Most Improved Senior Award.
-Back-to-back NCAA Doubles Finalists
Eliot Spizzirri and Cleeve Harper reached the finals of the 2023 NCAA Doubles Championship after a year earlier Harper paired with Richard Ciamarra to take the title. It was the eighth 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.
-Pulling in the Big 12 honors
Texas earned several Big 12 Men's Tennis postseason awards in 2023, including Eliot Spizzirri as Player of the Year, five All-Big 12 selections with three of those on the first team, and a conference-leading six individual champions. Spizzirri became the sixth Longhorn to be named the Big 12 Men's Player of the Year with the last being Christian Sigsgaard, who shared the honor in 2019. The others include Søren Hess-Olesen in 2014, Dimitar Kutrovsky in 2010, Travis Helgeson in 2006 and Jean Simon in 2002. The All-Big 12 team honorees included first-team selections in Spizzirri and sophomore Pierre-Yves Bailly in singles and the duo of Spizzirri and junior Cleeve Harper in doubles. Junior Siem Woldeab earned second-team accolades in singles, while the pair of Woldeab and Bailly was also on the second team in doubles. The conference also honored individual champions at each position based on record in conference play, and Texas garnered a league-leading six with no other team having more than two. In singles, the Longhorns had a champion at the top three lines, including Spizzirri at No. 1, Bailly at No. 2, and Woldeab at No. 3 as a co-champion. Senior Nevin Arimilli was then also a co-champion at No. 5. In doubles, it was Spizzirri and Harper at No. 1, along with the combo of senior Chih Chi Huang and junior Evin McDonald at No. 3.
-Big 12 Champs
The Longhorns finished their 2023 Big 12 slate with a perfect 5-0 record and captured the outright Big 12 regular season title with a 5-2 win over No. 3 TCU in front of a record crowd of 1,332 at the Texas Tennis Center on April 15. It marked the third regular season conference championship in the last four completed years and the 10th overall in program history, including six outright. After the Horned Frogs won the doubles point, the Longhorns picked up five singles wins from Cleeve Harper at No. 5, Nevin Arimilli at No. 6, Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1, Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 2 for the clinch, and Micah Braswell at No. 3.
-First-ever final at ITA Indoor Nationals
Texas traveled to Chicago for the 2023 ITA National Indoor Championships from Feb. 17-20 and came home with the program's first trip to the tournament final and first runner-up trophy. In doing so, the Longhorns completed an impressive run that featured five victories over ranked opponents with three of those coming against the top-10, including No. 22 Cal and No. 14 Arizona at the ITA Kickoff Weekend earlier in Austin, followed by No. 9 Wake Forest, No. 1 Ohio State and No. 4 Michigan before finally falling to No. 3 TCU in Chicago.
-Year seven at the Texas Tennis Center
Texas has begun its seventh year at the Texas Tennis Center with a 1-1 mark this season and a now has a 72-9 (.889) overall record in its history. Last season, the Longhorns were 13-0, and additionally, set an all-time Texas Tennis attendance record of 1,332 against TCU in a match that saw the Longhorns clinch the Big 12 regular season title. The season before that, the Longhorns posted a 10-3 record with the only losses coming to top-five teams by 4-3 scores against No. 1 Florida and No. 2 Ohio State, and 6-0 to No. 4 Baylor. Texas posted a 14-2 mark in 2021, which included wins over No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 9 Florida and No. 15 Arizona. In a shortened season in 2020, UT recorded a 9-0 record with wins against No. 8 Stanford, No. 18 Georgia and No. 21 Florida State. The Longhorns finished 2019 at 15-1, including wins over No. 1 Ohio State, No. 6 Baylor and No. 12 Columbia, along with three NCAA Tournament victories. The lone loss that year came to No. 15 USC. During its inaugural season, Texas posted a 10-2 record, including winning the 2018 Big 12 Tournament.
Players Mentioned
