The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
BYU
No. 4 Men’s Tennis sweeps BYU, 4-0
03.28.2024 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns extended their win streak to six matches, including four consecutive sweeps, with Thursday’s victory over the Cougars.
Provo, Utah – No. 4 Texas Men's Tennis (15-3, 3-0) claimed a 4-0 sweep over BYU (11-6, 0-3) on Thursday night in a match that was moved indoors due to weather. It was the Longhorns' sixth-straight win, including four consecutive sweeps.
After taking the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3, the Longhorns claimed three singles matches with wins from senior Siem Woldeab at No. 4, freshman No. 41 Gilles-Arnaud Bailly at No. 2, and senior No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1. Only four matches could initially start in singles due to there being only that many courts in the BYU indoor facility.
In doubles, the first match to finish was on court 1 with Spizzirri and Woldeab falling to Wally Thayne and Zach Fuchs, 6-2. Thayne and Fuchs got out to an early 3-0 lead which saw them earn a deuce-point break in the process. Spizzirri and Woldeab were able to hold for 3-1 and earn a deuce-point hold for 4-2, but the Cougar duo managed to hold all of their serves and win the match on a deuce-point break.
On court 2, senior Eshan Talluri and junior Pierre-Yves Bailly were the next off the court with a 6-4 win over Jack Barnett and Redd Owen. At 1-1, Talluri and Bailly earned the match's only break, winning it at deuce for a 2-1 lead that they maintained to the win.
All eyes then turned to court 3 where senior Cleeve Harper and freshman Lucas Brown defeated Tygen Goldammer and TJ Wells, 7-6 (5), earning Texas the doubles point. All 12 games stayed on serve with three of them decided on deuce points, including two for BYU, on the way to a tiebreaker. In the breaker, the tandem of Harper and Brown jumped out to a 5-0 lead. Goldammer and Wells clawed back, going on a 5-1 run to narrow Harper and Brown's lead to 6-5, but the Texas tandem held serve on the following point for the match.
In singles play, Woldeab was the first off the court with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Owen at No. 4. Woldeab won five of the match's six games that were decided by deuce point. In the first set, Woldeab began with a 4-0 lead after earning three consecutive deuce point wins. Owen held for 4-1, but Woldeab held then broke on a deuce point to take the set. Owen opened the second set with a deuce-point break, but Woldeab responded with a 3-0 run. Owen broke once again for 3-2, but Woldeab would win all of the remaining games to take the match.
Gilles-Arnaud Bailly was next off the singles courts with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Thayne at No. 2. Bailly's match against Thayne was competitive, featuring nine games decided by deuce point, including a run of eight out of nine consecutive games being deuce-point decisions. The match's first six games stayed on serve before Bailly earned a deuce-point break for 4-3. That was the start of six-straight deuce games. Thayne responded with a deuce-point break of his own for 4-4, but Bailly answered by winning back-to-back deuce points for 5-4 and 6-4. The second set's first three games were all broken, with the first two being on deuce-points, giving Bailly an early 2-1 lead. Bailly collected a deuce-point hold in the following game for 3-1, but Thayne would do the same in the following game for 3-2. The set's next three games stayed on serve before Bailly earned a break to take the match.
The clinching match for Texas was Spizzirri's 6-2, 7-6 (5) win over Barnett on court 1. The match's first three games stayed on serve with each player earning a deuce-point hold in the process. With Spizzirri leading 2-1, the Texas senior broke for 3-1. From there, the next two games were also broken before Spizzirri held for 5-2 then broke once again for 6-2. In the second set, the first five games stayed on serve before Barnett broke ahead for 4-2. Spizzirri answered by breaking back then holding to even the set, 4-4, before the its next four games stayed on serve, with Spizzirri earning a big deuce-point hold on Barnett's set point for 5-5, commencing a tiebreaker. Barnett opened the tiebreaker with a 3-0 lead, but Spizzirri answered with a 4-1 run that saw a minibreak for 4-4. At 5-5, Spizzirri held for 6-5 then broke to clinch the sweep for Texas.
With Texas clinching the match, three matches were left unfinished with two having just begun. Pierre-Yves Bailly was just starting his third set after splitting the first two sets with Fuchs, 6-4, 5-7. Bailly earned a deuce-point break to win the first set and led 5-4 in the second set before Fuchs went on a 3-0 run, which featured back-to-back deuce-point wins, to spoil the match point chances for Bailly.
Courts 5 and 6 were in the opening stages when play finished. At No. 5, No. 67 Jonah Braswell led his match against Tygen Goldammer, 3-1, and at No. 6, Brown trailed his match against David Duong, 0-1.
Up next, the Longhorns will travel to Lubbock where they will take on Texas Tech on Saturday, Marcg 30 at 2 p.m. CT.
#4 Texas 4, BYU 0
Singles – Order of Finish (4,2,1)
1. Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Jack Barnett (BYU) 6-2, 7-6 (5)
2. Gilles-Arnaud Bailly (UT) def. Wally Thayne (BYU) 6-4, 6-3
3. Zach Fuchs (BYU) vs. Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 4-6, 7-5, unf.
4. Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Redd Owen (BYU) 6-1, 6-2
5. Tygen Goldammer (BYU) vs. Jonah Braswell (UT) 1-3, unf.
6. David Duong (BYU) vs. Lucas Brown (UT) 1-0, unf.
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2,3)
1. Wally Thayne/Zach Fuchs (BYU) def. Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-2
2. Pierre-Yves Bailly/Eshan Talluri (UT) def. Jack Barnett/Redd Owen (BYU) 6-4
3. Lucas Brown/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Tygen Goldammer/TJ Wells (BYU) 7-6 (5)
Players Mentioned
