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No. 5 Men’s Tennis clinches share of SEC regular season title with 4-1 win over No. 22 Oklahoma
04.03.2025 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns moved to 11-0 in Southeastern Conference play to secure at least a share of their fifth regular-season conference title in the last six opportunities.
Norman, Okla. – No. 5 Texas Men's Tennis clinched at least a share of the Southeastern Conference regular season championship with a 4-1 win at No. 22 Oklahoma on Thursday night in Norman. With the Red River Rivalry win, the Longhorns moved to 11-0 in SEC play and have a three-match lead in the conference standings with three to play.
It marks the fifth time in the last six opportunities Texas has claimed at least a share of its regular-season conference title, excluding the pandemic-shortened season of 2020 where one was not awarded. The Longhorns won outright Big 12 regular season championships in 2019, 2023 and 2024, and shared one in 2021.
In the match, which started 40 minutes late due to the need for courts to dry, Oklahoma took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 2. Texas then responded with four-consecutive straight-sets singles victories by freshman No. 2 Timo Legout at No. 1, senior No. 48 Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 2, sophomore Lucas Brown at No. 5, and freshman Evan Burnett at No. 6.
After doubles, Legout produced a 6-3, 6-3 win over No. 72 Oscar Lacides at No. 1. In a match that feature no deuce points, Legout broke in the opening game and held for a 2-0 lead. Lacides got the break back two games later for 2-2, but Legout broke again and held for 4-2. After the next two games were also held, Legout broke for the set, 6-3. In the second, Legout collected the only break for a 5-3 lead before serving out the match.
The next three matches all ended within minutes of each other as Bailly registered a 6-1, 6-4 win over Kholo Montsi at No. 2. Bailly fell behind, 0-40, in his opening service game, but rallied to hold on a deuce point. He then broke and held for a 3-0 lead, and after Montsi held for 3-1, Bailly claimed three-straight deuce points for the set. In the second, it was Montsi who started out with a deuce-point hold, and he later was the first to break for a 3-1 lead. However, Bailly broke back to start a 3-0 run for a 4-3 lead. After the following two games were also broken for 5-4, Bailly served out the match to give Texas a 2-1 lead.
Brown was next with his 6-2, 6-2 win over Jordan Hasson at No. 5. In the first set, Brown broke for a 2-1 lead that he consolidated for 3-1. After Hasson held at deuce for 3-2, Brown closed the set on a 3-0 run that included a deuce-point break for 5-2. In the second, Hasson held his first two service games at deuce for a 2-1 lead. However, it was all Brown from there, as he closed on a 5-0 run with part of that being consecutive deuce-point wins to break for a 3-2 lead and consolidate it for 4-2.
That turned the attention to No. 6 where Burnett stepped into the lineup after junior No. 20 Sebastian Gorzny had been pulled from it after doubles. Burnett took advantage of the opportunity for the first clinch of his UT career with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Bruno Nhavene. It was also Burnett's third collegiate dual match singles victory, moving him to 3-0. Nhavene broke for a 3-2 lead in the first set, which he consolidated on a deuce point for 4-2. He later led 5-3 and had a set point at deuce, but Burnett held for 5-4 to keep the set going and start an 8-0 run. As part of that, he broke on a deuce point for the 7-5 set win and established a 4-0 lead in the second that he capped with another deuce-point break. However, Nhavene answered with a 4-0 run of his own that he started and finished with deuce-point wins for a break and a hold, respectively. Not to be denied, Burnett regained the lead with a hold and then broke again at deuce for the match and the overall 4-1 win for the Longhorns.
Two other matches were then left unfinished with Texas leading in one and trailing in the other. Freshman Sebastian Eriksson was the one ahead after just starting his third set, 2-6, 6-2, 1-0, over Orel Kimhi at No. 4. Eriksson had fallen behind, 4-0, in the first set, and although he had two deuce-point break opportunities in the last four games, Kimhi managed to hold both, and the set instead stayed on serve the rest of the way. The players exchanged breaks to open the second set with Eriksson broken at deuce in the first game. After they both then held for 2-2, Eriksson set out on a 5-0 run to take the set and the initial game of the third before play stopped.
Junior No. 58 Jonah Braswell was then down a set in his match to No. 87 Luis Alvarez, 4-6, 4-3 at No. 3. Alvarez started the match with a break and held on a deuce point for a 2-0 lead, but Braswell bounced back with a 3-0 run that included a deuce-point break. Alvarez was the next to break for a 4-3 lead, which would be the first of three-straight breaks until Alvarez held for the set. The second started with three-straight deuce points, and like the first set, Alvarez broke and held for a 2-0 lead, but Braswell responded with a 3-0 run that he completed on a deuce point. The last two games were then held for Braswell's 4-3 lead before play halted.
Earlier in doubles, Oklahoma had earned the point starting with a 6-3 win at No. 1, as the No. 6 duo of Legout and Brown fell to the No. 25 pair of Lacides and Nhavene. The Sooners picked up the only breaks of the match with both coming on deuce points for a 3-2 lead and for the 6-3 victory.
Oklahoma then clinched the point at No. 2 with Gorzny and Braswell being downed by Alvarez and Montsi, 6-4. After the first three games were on serve for a 2-1 lead for the Sooners, the Longhorns next four service games all went to deuce. Even though they held the first one for 2-2, Oklahoma broke on the following one for a 4-2 lead. Texas then held the next one for 5-3, and although Gorzny and Braswell got the break back to pull within 5-4, that fourth-straight service game at deuce resulted in a break for the match.
In the remaining doubles contest at No. 3, Eriksson and Bailly had just broken for a 6-5 lead against Asahi Harazaki and Alejandro Melero. The Sooners jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but the Longhorns responded with their own 3-0 run that they capped with a deuce-point hold in a game they trailed, 0-40. Oklahoma retook the lead with a hold and deuce-point break for 5-3, but Texas grabbed consecutive deuce-point wins as part of a 3-0 run to the lead when play stopped.
The Longhorns (20-3, 11-0 SEC) will next attempt to claim the outright SEC regular season championship when they head to College Station for the Cotton Holdings Lone Star Showdown at No. 13 Texas A&M on Saturday, April 5, at 2 p.m. CT.
#5 Texas 4, #22 Oklahoma 1
Singles – Order of Finish (1,2,5,6)
1. #2 Timo Legout (UT) def. #72 Oscar Lacides (OU) 6-3, 6-3
2. #48 Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) def. Kholo Montsi (OU) 6-1, 6-4
3. #87 Luis Alvarez (OU) vs. #58 Jonah Braswell (UT) 6-4, 3-4, unf.
4. Orel Kimhi (OU) vs. Sebastian Eriksson (UT) 6-2, 2-6, 0-1, unf.
5. Lucas Brown (UT) def. Jordan Hasson (OU) 6-2, 6-2
6. Evan Burnett (UT) def. Bruno Nhavene (OU) 7-5, 6-4
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2)
1. #25 Oscar Lacides/Bruno Nhavene (OU) def. #6 Timo Legout/Lucas Brown (UT) 6-3
2. Luis Alvarez/Kholo Montsi (OU) def. Sebastian Gorzny/Jonah Braswell (UT) 6-4
3. Asahi Harazaki/Alejandro Melero (OU) vs. Sebastian Eriksson/Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 5-6, unf.
Players Mentioned
