The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Baylor
No. 4 Men’s Tennis clinches outright Big 12 title with 7-0 sweep of No. 37 Baylor
04.13.2024 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns celebrated Senior Day after winning the outright regular season title for the third time in last five seasons that the conference schedule has been played.
Austin – No. 4 Texas Men's Tennis (19-3, 7-0) claimed a 7-0 sweep over No. 37 Baylor (18-10, 2-5) to win the outright Big 12 Championship on Senior Day on Saturday afternoon at the Texas Tennis Center.
The Longhorns have now won the title outright in three (2019, 2023, 2024) of the last five seasons the conference schedule has been played, discounting 2020 when it was not due to the pandemic. They also shared the title with Baylor and TCU in 2021 to make it four of five years overall they have won it.
Six seniors were honored following the match, including Micah Braswell, Cleeve Harper, Evin McDonald, Eliot Spizzirri, Eshan Talluri and Siem Woldeab.
🗣 Head coach Bruce Berque gives his thoughts to @LonghornNetwork following the Horns' 7️⃣-0️⃣ sweep of Baylor on Senior Day! #HookEm 🤘🎾 pic.twitter.com/B09Fy6B144
— Texas Men's Tennis (@TexasMTN) April 14, 2024
After taking the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 2 by an all senior lineup, the Longhorns followed with victories in all six singles matches by Harper at No. 5, No. 1 Spizzirri at No. 1, No. 2 Micah Braswell at No. 2, sophomore No. 61 Jonah Braswell at No. 6, freshman No. 35 Gilles-Arnaud Bailly at No. 3, and junior No. 84 Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 4.
In doubles, the No. 35 duo of Spizzirri and Woldeab were the first off the court with an efficient 6-1 win over No. 33 Tadeas Paroulek and Zsombor Velcz at No. 1. The Texas tandem opened the match with a 4-0 run that was bookended with a deuce-point break in the first game and a deuce-point hold in the fourth game. Paroulek and Velcz managed to hold serve for 4-1, but Spizzirri and Woldeab responded with a hold followed by a deuce-point break to win the match.
At No. 2, Harper and Micah Braswell secured the doubles point with a 6-4 win over Oskar Brostrom and Devin Badenhorst. The Longhorns earned the match's only break for a 2-1 advantage, and the remainder of the match stayed on serve for the victory and a 1-0 lead for Texas.
Talluri and McDonald then trailed Christopher Frantzen and Louis Bowden, 5-3, at No. 3 before the match was left unfinished. The opening three games stayed on serve, with the Baylor duo earning a deuce-point hold for 2-1, and then winning another deuce point in the following game for the match's first break. The next two games were held for 4-2 before Talluri and McDonald broke back to get within 4-3. However, Frantzen and Bowden broke again for 5-3 before play was stopped.
In singles play, Harper was the first off the court with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Brostrom at No. 5. Harper took the match's first seven games before Brostrom managed to hold his first serve in the second set for 1-1. Brostrom then earned a deuce-point break for 2-1, but Harper broke back to begin a 3-0 run. With Harper leading, 4-2, Brostrom earned a deuce-point break for 4-3, but Harper broke back then held to take the match.
Spizzirri was next off the singles courts with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over No. 90 Velcz at No. 1. The match's first two games were deuce-point holds for 1-1, but Spizzirri went on to take the next four games for a 5-1 lead before Velcz held for 5-2. Spizzirri held the following game to take the first set, and the second set's first four games stayed on serve for 2-2. From there, the Texas senior closed out the match with a 4-0 run to give Texas a 3-0 lead in the match.
The clinching match was Micah Braswell's 7-5, 6-1 win over No. 62 Paroulek on court 2. The first four games stayed on serve with Braswell earning a deuce-point hold in the last of those. Braswell earned a deuce-point break in the following game for 3-2 and capped off a 3-0 run with a hold for 4-2. Paroulek managed to even the score with a hold and a deuce-point break, but Braswell broke again for 5-4. The next two games were also broken with the second of which being a deuce-point break for a Braswell 6-5 lead. Braswell held serve to finish the first set and proceeded to only drop the third game of the second set as part of winning eight of the last nine games for the win.
Jonah Braswell was the next Longhorn to finish with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Marko Miladinovic on court 6. The first four games stayed on serve, with the third and fourth games being deuce-point decisions, before Braswell broke to go ahead, 3-2. The previous two games were part of what would become a 5-0 run to clinch the set. Miladinovic pushed out to an early 4-1 lead in the second set, with Braswell's only win up to that point being a deuce-point hold in the second game. However, Braswell responded with a 5-0 run to take the set and the match.
The Bailly brothers were the last two to complete their matches with Gilles-Arnaud defeating No. 110 Badenhorst, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 1-0 (8), at No. 3. The first four games stayed on serve before Badenhorst broke for 3-2, but Bailly broke back for 3-3. The set's final six games then stayed on serve leading to a tiebreaker. There, the first four points stayed on serve before Badenhorst broke Bailly for 3-2, spurring a 4-0 run. At 6-2, Bailly held his serve for 6-3, but Badenhorst held on the following point to take the set. At 2-2 in the second set, Bailly won four of the next five games to win the set and force a third set superbreaker. With score tied, 2-2, in that frame, Badenhorst picked up the first minibreak for a 3-2 lead. However, Bailly came back with a 3-0 run for a 5-3 lead. The next six points were broken for 8-6 before Badenhorst held for 8-7. The following point saw Bailly hold for 9-7, but Badenhorst managed a minibreak for 9-8 on Bailly's first match point chance. On the next, Bailly broke to win the match.
Pierre-Yves closed it out the sweep with a 6-2, 7-6 (5) win over Bowden on court 4. Bailly opened the match with a hold followed by a deuce-point break for 2-0, and Bowden quickly evened the score with a break and a hold, but Bailly responded with a 4-0 run to take the first set. Bowden began the second set with a deuce-point break and a hold for 2-0, but Bailly earned a deuce-point hold and a break for 2-2. The next two games were broken for 3-3 before Bailly held serve for 4-3. Bowden responded with a hold followed by a deuce-point break for a 5-4 lead, but Bailly broke back for 5-5. The final two games also were broken to head to a tiebreaker, with Bowden having collected a deuce-point break for 6-5. Bowden led the tiebreaker 4-1 and 5-2, but at that point, Bailly surged back with a 5-0 run to claim the match in straight sets.
Texas enters the Big 12 Conference Tournament as the top seed and will begin tournament play against the 8 seed BYU on Friday, April 19, at 3 p.m. CT in Stillwater, Okla.
#4 Texas 7, #37 Baylor 0
Singles – Order of Finish (5,1,2,6,3,4)
1. #1 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. #90 Zsombor Velcz (BU) 6-2, 6-2
2. #2 Micah Braswell (UT) def. #62 Tadeas Paroulek (BU) 7-5, 6-1
3. #35 Gilles-Arnaud Bailly (UT) def. #110 Devin Badenhorst (BU) 6-7 (3), 6-3, 1-0 (8)
4. #84 Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) def. Louis Bowden (BU) 6-2, 7-6 (5)
5. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Oskar Brostrom (BU) 6-0, 6-3
6. Jonah Braswell (UT) def. Marko Miladinovic (BU) 6-2, 6-4
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2)
1. #35 Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) def. #33 Tadeas Paroulek/Zsombor Velcz (BU) 6-1
2. Cleeve Harper/Micah Braswell (UT) def. Oskar Brostrom/Devin Badenhorst (BU) 6-4
3. Eshan Talluri/Evin McDonald (UT) vs. Christopher Frantzen/Louis Bowden (BU) 3-5, unf.
Players Mentioned
