The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Virginia
No. 1 Men's Tennis preview: at No. 5 Virginia
02.01.2025 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns travel to Charlottesville for a top-five match on Sunday.
No. 1 Men's Tennis preview: at No. 5 Virginia
Team Records: Texas (6-0, 0-0 SEC), Virginia (4-1, 0-0 ACC)
When: Sunday, February 2, 2025, 11:30 a.m. ET/10:30 a.m. CT
Where: Boar's Head Sports Club, Charlottesville, Va.
Live Stats: https://hookem.at/MTN-Stats
Live Video: https://hookem.at/MTN-Watch
Updated Statistics
Notes
-Virginia Series: Virginia leads, 12-2
Texas and Virginia have met 14 times in their history, all in the last 20 years, with the Cavaliers winning 12 of those, including the last nine dating back to 2008. Last season in Austin, the Cavaliers emerged from a 4-3 contest that went down to the third set of the final singles match. The previous meeting came in 2023 in the NCAA semifinals in Orlando, which was a 4-1 win for UVA. Prior to that, it had been since 2017 when the teams faced off in the NCAA quarterfinals in Athens, Ga., which was also a 4-1 win for Virginia. Those have been the only NCAA tournament matches, and before that, the teams alternated home and away matches from 2004-13, along with an additional matchup in the ITA Indoors in Chicago in 2007. That's the same year as the last win for the Longhorns in the series, which was a 4-3 victory in Austin. Texas also won in Charlottesville in 2006 by the same score.
All-Time Series
2024: 3-4 L, Austin, Texas
2023: 1-4 L, Orlando, Fla. (NCAA Semifinals)
2017: 1-4 L, Athens, Ga. (NCAA Quarterfinals)
2013: 2-5 L, Austin, Texas
2012: 0-7 L, Charlottesville, Va.
2011: 2-5 L, Austin, Texas
2010: 4-9 L, Charlottesville, Va.
2009: 3-4 L, Austin, Texas
2008: 2-5 L, Charlottesville, Va.
2007: 4-3 W, Austin, Texas
2007: 0-4 L, Chicago, Ill. (ITA National Indoors)
2006: 4-3 W, Charlottesville, Va.
2005: 3-4 L, Austin, Texas
2004: 2-5 L, Charlottesville, Va.
Last Two Meetings
#1 Virginia 4, #3 Texas 3
Thursday, January 18, 2024
Austin, Texas • Texas Tennis Center
Singles - Order of Finish (4,1,2,6,3,5)
1. #22 Chris Rodesch (VA) def. #1 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 6-3, 6-3
2. #2 Micah Braswell (UT) def. #26 J vd Schulenburg (VA) 6-4, 6-3
3. Gilles-Arnaud Bailly (UT) def. Dylan Dietrich (VA) 6-3, 7-6 (8-6)
4. #49 Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) def. Edoardo Graziani (VA) 6-1, 6-1
5. Alexander Kiefer (VA) def. #101 Siem Woldeab (UT) 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 6-2
6. Mans Dahlberg (VA) def. #28 Jonah Braswell (UT) 6-3, 6-3
Doubles - Order of Finish (1,2,3)
1. #3 Eliot Spizzirri/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. James Hopper/Edoardo Graziani (VA) 6-0
2. Chris Rodesch/J vd Schulenburg (VA) def. Pierre-Yves Bailly/Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-4
3. Dylan Dietrich/Alexander Kiefer (VA) def. Gilles-Arnaud Bailly/Micah Braswell (UT) 7-5
#5 Virginia 4, #1 Texas 1
Saturday, May 20, 2023
USTA National Campus • Orlando, Fla. (NCAA Semifinals)
Singles – Order of Finish (3,6,4,5)
1. #9 Chris Rodesch (VA) vs. #1 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 7-6 (2), 4-6, 5-3, unf.
2. #26 Inaki Montes (VA) vs. #28 Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 2-6, 7-5, 3-0, unf.
3. #61 Micah Braswell (UT) def. #49 J vd Schulenburg (VA) 6-2, 6-1
4. #87 Ryan Goetz (VA) def. #54 Siem Woldeab (UT) 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
5. Alexander Kiefer (VA) def. Cleeve Harper (UT) 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (5)
6. Mans Dahlberg (VA) def. Nevin Arimilli (UT) 6-3, 6-2
Doubles – Order of Finish (3,2)
1. #58 Inaki Montes/William Woodall (VA) vs. #3 Eliot Spizzirri/Cleeve Harper (UT) 3-3, unf.
2. Chris Rodesch/J vd Schulenburg (VA) def. #75 Siem Woldeab/Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 6-1
3. Ryan Goetz/Alexander Kiefer (VA) def. Chih Chi Huang/Evin McDonald (UT) 6-1
-Texas vs. UVA in 2024-25 tournament play
N/A
-ITA Team Rankings
Texas was tabbed No. 1 in the preseason coaches poll released January 6 by the ITA and have held that through this week, which is the 96th-straight week in the top 15 dating back to April 2018. Meanwhile, Virginia is No. 5.
-ITA Individual National Rankings
Texas had five listings in the ITA individual fall postseason rankings that were released December 3 with five in singles and one doubles pair. Texas claimed both the No. 2 and No. 3 players in Sebastian Gorzny and Timo Legout, while Jonah Braswell was also in the top-20 at No. 20, and Lucas Brown was No. 116. In doubles, Legout and Brown were in the top-10 at No. 7.
Texas
Singles
No. 2 Sebastian Gorzny
No. 3 Timo Legout
No. 20 Jonah Braswell
No. 116 Lucas Brown
Doubles
No. 7 Timo Legout/Lucas Brown
Virginia
Singles
No. 57 Dylan Dietrich
No. 86 Mans Dahlberg
Doubles
No. 92 Dylan Dietrich/Mans Dahlberg
-Ojakaar representing Estonia in Davis Cup
Freshman Oliver Ojakaar is representing his home country of Estonia in Davis Cup play and will miss the match against Virginia. Ojakaar won his singles match against Ignacio Parisca, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4.
-Legout named SEC Co-Freshman of the Week
Timo Legout was named the SEC Co-Freshman of the Week on Jan. 29. It was his first career conference award and also the first SEC award ever for the program. Legout went a combined 4-0, all at No. 1 singles and doubles, including three ranked wins, and only dropped a total of nine games in leading Texas to wins over Rice and Georgia Tech to claim the ITA Kickoff Weekend regional title. It also advanced the Longhorns to the ITA National Indoor Championships for the seventh-straight year.
-Texas sweeps its way to the ITA Indoors and regional title
Texas won the championship of the ITA Kickoff Weekend Austin Regional with a 4-0 sweep of Georgia Tech at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center on Jan. 26. With the win, the Longhorns advanced to the ITA National Indoor Championships for the seventh-straight year with this year's tournament taking place from February 14-17 in Dallas and Waco, Texas. Texas took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 3 and 1 and continued with singles victories from Timo Legout at No. 1, Sebastian Gorzny at No. 2, and Sebastian Eriksson at No. 5, who clinched the sweep of the overall match. The day before, the Longhorns had swept Rice, 4-0, with double point wins at Nos. 1 and 2 and victories by the same players at the same positions in the same order.
-Horns cool the Sun Devils
Texas topped No. 18 Arizona State, 6-1, at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center on January 19. Although the Sun Devils took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 1, the Longhorns responded with victories from Timo Legout at No. 1, Lucas Brown at No. 6, Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 3, Jonah Braswell at No. 4 for the clinch, Oliver Ojakaar at No. 5, and Sebastian Gorzny at No. 2.
-UT system win
The Longhorns produced their second-straight 7-0 sweep with win over UTRGV on January 15 at the Texas Tennis Center. After sweeping the doubles point, the Longhorns received victories from Sebastian Gorzny at No. 1, Oliver Ojakaar at No. 4, Jonah Braswell at No. 3 for the clinch, Sebastian Eriksson at No. 5, Rahul Sachdev at No. 6, and Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 2.
-Two for two on opening weekend
Texas opened the 2025 dual match season with a pair of home wins at the TTC on Jan. 11 and 12 over Lamar (6-1) and ACU (7-0). The wins marked the dual match debuts of several player, including freshmen Sebastian Gorzny, Oliver Ojakaar and Rahul Sachdev, and junior transfer Sebastian Gorzny. Against Lamar, the Longhorns swept the doubles matches and earned singles victories from Eriksson at No. 5, Lucas Brown at No. 3, Gorzny at No. 1 for the clinch, Jonah Braswell at No. 2, and Ojakaar at No. 4. UT again swept three doubles matches against ACU and earned singles victories from Brown at No. 4, Gorzny at No. 1, Eriksson at No. 6, Braswell at No. 3, Ojakaar at No. 5, and Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 2.
-Berque at the Helm
An accomplished coaching veteran with three decades of experience with some of the nation's top tennis programs, Bruce Berque was named the fifth head coach of The University of Texas Men's Tennis program on May 23, 2019. Berque has now completed six seasons as head coach in Austin and has led the Longhorns to a 129-30 overall record (.811) that includes 6-0 this season, 27-4 last season, 26-4 in 2023, 18-11 in 2022, 24-6 in 2021, 13-3 in a 2020 season that was shortened by the pandemic, and 15-2 in 2019 en route to the guiding Texas to its first team National Championship. During Berque's six seasons at the helm, Texas is the only program in the nation to finish in the top four in five of those six seasons, and it is the only program nationally to make four NCAA Final Fours in that span. It is also one of just two programs to reach the NCAA championship match twice (2019, 2024), along with Virginia. The Longhorns are additionally one of five teams to have been ranked No. 1 at some point during the regular season or post-season in at least three of those years (Ohio State, Virginia, Florida, TCU). Adding in the recent preseason ranking of No. 1, Texas is the only program to be No. 1 in four of those years. During his career, Berque has helped produce four national team champions, seven national individual champions and 12 conference team titles. He has coached 28 All-Americans who collectively have amassed 58 All-America honors, along with two more players who have already qualified for three All-America honors in the upcoming year. Additionally, he has guided seven singles players and three doubles teams to No. 1 national ranking. Texas came within a point of its second national title before coming up just short by a 4-3 score to TCU to finish as NCAA runners-up and with a No. 2 final ranking. As part of a 27-4 overall record, it had been the fourth time the teams had met during the season, resulting in a 2-2 split that also saw the Longhorns claim the Big 12 tournament championship over the Horned Frogs. Meanwhile, UT also secured an outright Big 12 regular season title with a perfect 7-0 record. That marked the fourth time in the five years under Berque where a conference slate was played that Texas took home at least a share of the regular season championship (2019, '21, '23, '24), including three outright (2019, '23, '24). The 2020 season was halted due to the pandemic prior to conference play. The 27 wins was second-most for the program since 2010, trailing only the 29 from the 2019 National Championship season.
-Back from 2024
In the seventh season under head coach Bruce Berque, Texas will have a different look from 2024, but at the same time return a number of familiar faces. Returning with match experience will be a trio of players including senior Pierre-Yves Bailly, junior Jonah Braswell and sophomore Lucas Brown. In addition, three players were on the team last season and redshirted, including Timo Legout, who had a sensational fall season and moved all the way up to No. 3 and No. 7, respectively, in the preseason singles and doubles rankings, along with Evan Burnett and Rahul Sachdev.
-Three newcomers arrive for their first dual match season on the 40
The Longhorns add three new faces for 2025, all who are expected to be impact players, starting with Sebastian Gorzny, who transferred from TCU in the summer and is a junior. Two other players just arrived on the 40 Acres this month in Oliver Ojakaar from Estonia, and Sebastian Eriksson from Sweden.
-Fall/Summer Wrap-up
In the first year of the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships being moved to the fall, Timo Legout reached the semifinals of both this past November, combining with Lucas Brown in doubles to qualify as All-Americans. Earlier, Legout and the combination of Legout and Brown won both titles at the ITA Texas Regionals, and junior Jonah Braswell also made the singles final. Sebastian Gorzny additionally finished as the singles runner-up at the ITA All-American Championships.
-Year eight at the Texas Tennis Center
Texas is in its eighth year at the Texas Tennis Center with an 86-9 (.905) overall record in its history. Already 4-0 this season, the Longhorns were 10-1 last season, including wins over both No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 TCU with the only loss being a 4-3 decision to No. 1 Virginia. In 2023, Texas was 13-0, and additionally, set an all-time Texas Tennis attendance record of 1,332 against TCU in a match that saw them clinch the Big 12 regular season title. The season before, the Longhorns posted a 10-3 record with the only losses coming to top-five teams by 4-3 scores against No. 1 Florida and No. 2 Ohio State, and 6-0 to No. 4 Baylor. Texas posted a 14-2 mark in 2021, which included wins over No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 9 Florida and No. 15 Arizona. In a shortened season in 2020, UT recorded a 9-0 record with wins against No. 8 Stanford, No. 18 Georgia and No. 21 Florida State. The Longhorns finished 2019 at 15-1, including wins over No. 1 Ohio State, No. 6 Baylor and No. 12 Columbia, along with three NCAA Tournament victories. The lone loss that year came to No. 15 USC. During its inaugural season, Texas posted a 10-2 record, including winning the 2018 Big 12 Tournament.
Players Mentioned
