The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
No. 3 Men’s Tennis sweeps Big 12 postseason awards
05.02.2024 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns captured Coach of the Year, Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, along with having four All-Big 12 team selections and tying for the conference lead with six individual champions.
Austin, Texas – No. 3 Men's Tennis swept the Big 12 Men's Tennis postseason awards, including Bruce Berque as Coach of the Year, senior Eliot Spizzirri as Player of the Year, Gilles-Arnaud Bailly as Freshman of the Year, and sophomore Jonah Braswell as Newcomer of the Year, the Big 12 announced Thursday. Along with that, the Longhorns had four All-Big 12 team selections and tied for the conference lead with six individual position champions.
The sixth different Longhorn to be named player of the year, Spizzirri becomes the first two-time winner of the award in program history. He was also a unanimous selection. The past winners include Christian Sigsgaard, who shared it in 2019, Søren Hess-Olesen in 2014, Dimitar Kutrovsky in 2010, Travis Helgeson in 2006 and Jean Simon in 2002.
Bailly is the third Longhorn to be named Freshman of the Year in the last four years and the seventh in program history. His brother, current junior Pierre-Yves Bailly won it two years ago, while current senior Micah Braswell did so three years ago. In addition to those, Sigsgaard received it in 2017, Ed Corrie shared it in 2008, Brandon Hawk claimed it in 1999, and Nick Crowell won the first in conference history in 1997.
Jonah Braswell is just the second Longhorn two take Newcomer of the Year, following Corrie in 2008 when players could win both the newcomer and freshman awards in the same year.
For Berque, it his is third time being named Coach of the Year in the five years the award has been given while he has been guiding the Longhorns. He also won in his first season as head coach in 2019, along with the following year in 2021. There was no award issued in 2020 due to the pandemic.
The All-Big 12 team honorees included first-team singles selections in Spizzirri and senior Micah Braswell, who were both unanimous choices, and the duo of Spizzirri and senior Siem Woldeab in doubles. Gilles-Arnaud Bailly earned second-team accolades in singles.
It marks the fourth-straight season Spizzirri and Woldeab have earned All-Big 12 recognition with Spizzirri having been on the first team in both singles and doubles in 2023, the second team in both in 2022 when he played through injury, and the first team in both in 2021. Meanwhile, Woldeab was on the second team in both last season, along with doubles in 2022, after being on the first team in doubles and the second team in singles in 2021. For Braswell, it is his third season being honored. After not being selected last year due to injury, he was on the first team in singles in 2022 and on the second team in singles in 2021.
The conference also honored individual champions at each position based on record in conference play, and Texas tied with Oklahoma for the league lead with six.
In singles, the Longhorns had champions at four positions, including Spizzirri sharing it at No. 1, Micah Braswell sharing it at No. 2, Gilles-Arnaud Bailly at No. 3, and senior Cleeve Harper at No. 5. The duo of Spizzirri and Woldeab then shared it at No. 1 doubles, while Pierre-Yves Bailly and senior Eshan Talluri claimed it at No. 2 doubles.
It marks the fourth position title for Harper, who earned one at No. 1 doubles the last two seasons and was co-champion at No. 4 singles in 2021, while it is four total for Spizzirri, who earned it at No. 1 singles and doubles last year and was co-champion at No. 1 singles in 2021. Woldeab now has two position titles in his career after being co-champion at No. 3 singles last year, as does Pierre-Yves Bailly, who won at No. 2 singles last year. This year's are the first for Micah Braswell, Gilles-Arnaud Bailly and Talluri.
2024 Texas Big 12 Men's Tennis Postseason Awards
*Indicates unanimous
Player of the Year – Eliot Spizzirri*
Freshman of the Year – Gilles-Arnaud Bailly
Newcomer of the Year – Jonah Braswell
Coach of the Year – Bruce Berque
All-Big 12 First Team
Singles
Eliot Spizzirri*
Micah Braswell*
Doubles
Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab
All-Big 12 Second Team
Singles
Gilles-Arnaud Bailly
Individual Position Champions
Singles
Eliot Spizzirri - Co-No. 1 (5 wins)
Micah Braswell - Co-No. 2 (4 wins)
Gilles-Arnaud Bailly - No. 3 (4 wins)
Cleeve Harper - No. 5 (4 wins)
Doubles
Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab - Co-No. 1 (3 wins)
Pierre-Yves Bailly/Eshan Talluri - No. 2 (4 wins)
Players Mentioned
