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No. 9 Men’s Tennis sweeps No. 44 USC, 6-0
03.17.2024 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns claimed their sixth win in the last seven matches, along with their sixth sweep of the season.
Los Angeles – No. 9 Texas Men's Tennis (12-3) claimed a 6-0 sweep at No. 44 USC (5-9) on Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles. It was the Longhorns sixth win in their last seven matches and their sixth sweep of the season.
After taking the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3, the Longhorns claimed five singles matches with wins from freshman Lucas Brown at No. 6, freshman No. 48 Gilles-Arnaud Bailly at No. 2, senior No. 2 Micah Braswell at No. 1 to clinch, senior Cleeve Harper at No. 5, and junior Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 3.
In doubles, the Bailly brothers were the first off the court with a 6-3 win over Samuel Rubell and Niroop Vallabhaneni at No. 2. The match's first six games stayed on serve, with Texas holding on two deuce points in the second and sixth games. With the score knotted, 3-3, the Longhorns broke for 4-3, and proceeded to win the remaining games to finish the match on a 4-0 run.
At No. 3, Micah Braswell and Harper secured the doubles point with a 6-3 win over Volodymyr Iakubenko and Karl Lee. The match's first seven games stayed on serve, with the first two games decided by deuce points. The seventh game also went to deuce, which the Texas tandem was able to hold for a 4-3 lead. The senior duo then earned the match's only break for 5-3 and followed by holding serve to clinch the point.
Seniors Siem Woldeab and Eshan Talluri played No. 1 in the absence of Eliot Spizzirri and were tied, 5-5, with Peter Makk and Lodewijk Weststrate when play stopped. Makk and Weststrate managed to break first on a deuce point for 2-1, but Woldeab and Talluri were able to break back. The match stayed on serve for the next six games with the senior pair forcing a match point at deuce leading 5-4, but the USC duo was able to hold for 5-5 right before the match was left unfinished.
In singles play, Brown was the first to finish, registering an efficient 6-0, 6-1 win over Niroop Vallabhaneni on court 6. Vallabhaneni's only win was a deuce-point break to end Brown's 9-0 run to open the match. Brown responded with a deuce-point break of his own for 4-1 in the second set and went on to close out the match in the following two games.
Gilles-Arnaud Bailly was next off the singles courts with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Iakubenko at No. 2. The match's first four games stayed on serve before Bailly broke for 3-2, which was the second win of what would become a five-game winning streak. Iakubenko was able to end Bailly's streak with a deuce-point hold in the first game of the second set, but Bailly responded with a hold followed by a deuce-point break for a 2-1 advantage. Iakubenko answered with a 3-0 run for a 4-2 lead, which saw the Trojan win consecutive deuce-points. Bailly surged back by winning the match's remaining four games, including a pivotal deuce-point hold for 4-4.
The clinching match for Texas was Micah Braswell's 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 win over No. 50 Peter Makk at No. 1. Makk opened with a 2-0 advantage, but Braswell responded with a 3-0 run for 3-2. Makk answered with a 3-0 run of his own for 5-3, but Braswell managed a hold then a break to even the set at five apiece. However, Makk would break back on a deuce point for 6-5, then hold to take the first set. Braswell controlled the second and third sets, winning 12 out of the 15 games and breaking the only two deuce points that occurred. Makk's one game in the second set was a hold on his opening serve before Braswell set out on a 5-0 run. In the third, it was Makk who took the first two games, but it was all Braswell from there as he closed on a 6-0 streak.
Harper gave Texas a 5-0 lead with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory over Samuel Rubell at court 5. At 4-4 in the first set, Rubell earned a crucial break for 5-4 and went on to close the set on his serve. Harper began the second set on a 3-0 run, the only break for either player in the set, on the way to the 6-3 win. Similar to the previous set, Harper opened the third with a 3-0 run and led 40-0 in the following game. However, Rubell was able to rally and collect back-to-back deuce-point wins to narrow Harper's lead to 3-2. The next four games stayed on serve before Rubell broke to even the set, 5-5, but Harper broke right back for 6-5, then held serve to win the match.
At No. 3, Pierre-Yves Bailly took down No. 102 Lodewijk Weststrate, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Both players broke the first two games for 1-1 before the next six games stayed on serve. Weststrate ended up breaking next for a 5-4 lead then held on a deuce point to win the first set. In the second, Weststrate collected a deuce-point break for 2-1, but Bailly would break back for 2-2. The set's next two games would also be broken before Bailly ended the trend with a deuce-point hold for 4-3. That began a 3-0 run for him to close out the second set. In the deciding set, Bailly earned the first break for 3-2, but Weststrate broke back for 3-3. The next three games were also broken with Bailly collecting a deuce-point break for 5-4 before he snapped the string with a hold to take the match and provide the 6-0 final for Texas.
In the lone remaining match, Jonah Braswell led, 5-7, 6-2, 4-1, against Karl Lee on court 5, but his match was left unfinished. Braswell opened the first set with a 3-0 run which was capped off with a deuce-point hold, but Lee answered with a 3-0 run of his own. The next four games stayed on serve with the first two being deuce-point holds before Lee broke for 6-5 then held the following game to win the first set. At 2-2 in the second set, Braswell would go on to win eight of the next nine games, including all four games that were decided by deuce point in the process.
Up next, Texas will return to the Texas Tennis Center for the conference opener against No. 33 UCF on Friday, March 22, at 7 p.m. CT, which will be followed by a visit from No. 2 TCU on Sunday, March 24, at 4 p.m. CT.
#9 Texas 6, #44 USC 0
Singles – Order of Finish (6,2,1,5,3,4)
1. #2 Micah Braswell (UT) def. #50 Peter Makk (USC) 5-7, 6-1, 6-2
2. #48 Gilles-Arnaud Bailly (UT) def. Volodymyr Iakubenko (USC) 6-2, 6-4
3. Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) def. #102 Lodewijk Weststrate (USC) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
4. Karl Lee (USC) vs. Jonah Braswell (UT) 7-5, 2-6, 1-4, unf.
5. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Samuel Rubell (USC) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5
6. Lucas Brown (UT) def. Niroop Vallabhaneni (USC) 6-0, 6-1
Doubles – Order of Finish (2,3,1)
1. Peter Makk/Lodewijk Weststrate (USC) vs. Siem Woldeab/Eshan Talluri (UT) 5-5, unf.
2. Pierre-Yves Bailly/Gilles-Arnaud Bailly (UT) def. Samuel Rubell/Niroop Vallabhaneni (USC) 6-3
3. Micah Braswell/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Volodymyr Iakubenko/Karl Lee (USC) 6-3
Players Mentioned
