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No. 4 Men’s Tennis defeats Texas Tech, 4-1
03.30.2024 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns won their seventh-straight match and improved to 4-0 in conference play with a win over the Red Raiders.
Lubbock, Texas – No. 4 Texas Men's Tennis (16-3, 4-0) claimed a 4-1 victory over Texas Tech (8-12, 0-4) on Saturday afternoon in Lubbock.
After taking the doubles point with wins at Nos. 3 and 2, the Longhorns secured three singles matches with wins from freshman Lucas Brown at No. 6, senior Cleeve Harper at No. 5, and sophomore No. 67 Jonah Braswell at No. 4 for the clinch.
In doubles, Harper and Brown were the first to finish with a 6-3 win over Niksa Arsic and Olle Wallin on court 3. The match's first three games stayed on serve, with Arsic and Wallin earning a deuce-point hold in the second game, before Harper and Brown broke to go ahead, 3-1. The next two games stayed on serve before the Red Raider duo broke to narrow Harper and Brown's lead to 4-3. The Texas tandem responded with a break of their own then a hold to win the match.
On court 2, senior Eshan Talluri and junior Pierre-Yves Bailly were the next off the court with a 6-4 win over Reed Collier and Takeyasu Sekiguchi. Collier and Sekiguchi opened the match with a break and a hold for a 2-0 lead before Talluri and Bailly answered with a 3-0 run for 3-2. The match's next four games stayed on serve for 5-4 before the Longhorn duo earned a deuce-point break to clinch the doubles point for Texas.
The senior pair of No. 53 Eliot Spizzirri and Siem Woldeab were in the midst of a 5-5 match on court 1 against No. 41 Sebastian Abboud and Piotr Pawlak the point was clinched. At 5-4, Spizzirri and Woldeab were at match point and were threating to clinch the point themselves, but Abboud and Pawlak earned a deuce-point break to extend the match.
In singles play, Brown was the first off the court with an efficient 6-1, 6-1 win over Sekiguchi. Sekiguchi held serve to open the match, but Brown would go on to win the match's next 11 games to take the first set and provide a 5-0 lead in the second set. Sekiguchi managed to hold serve for 5-1, but Brown held in the following game to finish off the win.
Harper was next off the singles courts with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Abboud. Harper earned a deuce-point break in the match's first game to spur a 4-0 run with the rest of the set staying on serve to his win. The senior carried his momentum into the second set by beginning with a break and a hold for 2-0. Abboud held for 2-1, but Harper would end the match with another 4-0 run for a 3-0 overall Texas lead.
The next match to finish was on court 1 where No. 1 Spizzirri fell to No. 56 Wallin, 7-6 (6), 6-2. Wallin opened the match with a 3-0 lead before Spizzirri went on to win three of the next four games for 4-4. From there, the set would stay on serve to a tiebreaker. The breaker's first four points were broken before Wallin held for a 3-2 lead. Wallin then broke twice for 5-2, but Spizzirri responded with two breaks of his own and two holds for a 6-5 lead and a set point for Spizzirri. However, Wallin went on to hold both of his serves then break Spizzirri to win the set. In the second set, the first two games were broken before Wallin held for a 2-1 lead. Spizzirri's next win was a hold to trail, 4-2, but Wallin closed out the match in the next two games.
The clinching match for Texas was sophomore No. 67 Jonah Braswell's 7-5, 6-2 win over Pawlak. Braswell found himself trailing 5-1 in the first set before he turned his fortunes around, taking all of the set's remaining games and continuing his run into the second set where he began with a 2-0 lead until Pawlak finally ended the eight-game streak with a hold. The next two games were also held for a 3-2 Braswell advantage before the sophomore closed the door by winning the match's remaining games for the clinch.
Pierre-Yves Bailly and Woldeab were both tied in the third set of their matches when play was stopped.
Bailly was even with Collier, 3-6, 6-3, 3-3, at No. 2. Collier grabbed a deuce-point break for 4-2 on the way to winning the first set, while Bailly's key break in the second set came for 4-3 and began a 3-0 run. Both players earned deuce-point breaks to open the third set before the match proceeded to stay on serve the rest of the way.
Woldeab was tied with Arsic, 4-6, 6-2, 2-2, at No. 3 when the match was clinched. Woldeab took a 4-1 lead in the first set on the strength of a deuce-point break for 3-1, but Arsic went on a 5-0 run for the set. Trailing, 2-1, in the second set, Woldeab earned a deuce-point break which ignited him to a 6-0 run to win that set and provide a 1-0 lead in the third. The fifth game of the third set was on a deuce point when the match ended.
Up next, Texas will begin the second half of their four-match road stretch at No. 26 Oklahoma State on Friday, April 5, at 6 p.m. CT.
#4 Texas 4, Texas Tech 1
Singles – Order of Finish (6,5,1,4)
1. #56 Olle Wallin (TTU) def. #1 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 7-6 (8-6), 6-2
2. Reed Collier (TTU) vs. Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 6-3, 3-6, 3-3, unf.
3. Niksa Arsic (TTU) vs. Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-4, 2-6, 2-2, unf.
4. #67 Jonah Braswell (UT) def. Piotr Pawlak (TTU) 7-5, 6-2
5. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Sebastian Abboud (TTU) 6-2, 6-1
6. Lucas Brown (UT) def. Takeyasu Sekiguchi (TTU) 6-1, 6-1
Doubles – Order of Finish (3,2)
1. #41 Sebastian Abboud/Piotr Pawlak (TTU) vs. #53 Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) 5-5, unf.
2. Pierre-Yves Bailly/Eshan Talluri (UT) def. Reed Collier/Takeyasu Sekiguchi (TTU) 6-4
3. Lucas Brown/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Niksa Arsic/Olle Wallin (TTU) 6-3
Players Mentioned
