The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Ohio State
No. 5 Men's Tennis preview: at No. 6 Ohio State
01.29.2026 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns plays their third top-10 opponent in their last five matches when they visit the Buckeyes in Columbus on Friday.
No. 5 Men's Tennis preview: at No. 6 Ohio State
Team Records: Texas (4-2, 0-0 SEC), Ohio State (4-0, 0-0 Big Ten)
When: Friday, January 30, 2026, 6 p.m. ET/5 p.m. CT
Where: Ty Tucker Tennis Center, Columbus, Ohio
Live Stats: https://hookem.at/MTN-Stats
Live Video: https://hookem.at/MTN-Watch
Notes
-Ohio State Series: Ohio State leads, 11-10
Ohio State holds a slight 11-10 advantage in the all-time series against Texas with the teams last facing in Austin in 2024, a match in which the No. 12 Longhorns topped the No. 1 Buckeyes, 5-2. They split two contests the season before in 2023 as Texas defeated Ohio State, 4-3, in the quarterfinals of the ITA Indoors, while the Buckeyes took a 4-0 win in Columbus earlier in the year. Ohio State also won, 4-3, in Austin in 2022, and 4-1 in Columbus in 2020. The teams squared off twice in 2019, splitting those contests, with the first coming at the ITA Indoors, which the Buckeyes won, 4-0, and the second coming at the Texas Tennis Center, which the Longhorns claimed, 4-1, while Ohio State was ranked No. 1. Prior to those matches, the teams split the previous two meetings with each winning on their home courts as Ohio State defeated Texas, 4-0, in 2018 in Columbus, while the Longhorns topped the Buckeyes, 4-3, in 2017 in Austin. Texas and Ohio State have met six times at the ITA Indoors (2011, '12, '14, '15, '19, '23) with the Buckeyes winning the five of those.
Last Meeting
#12 Texas 5, #1 Ohio State 2
Sunday, March 10, 2024
Texas Tennis Center • Austin, Texas
Singles – Order of Finish (3,2,1,5,4,6)
1. #1 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. #17 Cannon Kingsley (OSU) 6-3, 6-3
2. #2 Micah Braswell (UT) def. #32 Justin Boulais (OSU) 6-2, 6-4
3. #48 Gilles-Arnaud Bailly (UT) def. #7 JJ Tracy (OSU) 6-0, 6-2
4. #16 Jack Anthrop (OSU) def. Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-5)
5. #91 Alexander Bernard (OSU) def. Siem Woldeab (UT) 1-6, 6-3, 6-3
6. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Bryce Nakashima (OSU) 7-6 (7-5), 7-5
Doubles – Order of Finish (2,3,1)
1. Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) def. #5 Robert Cash/JJ Tracy (OSU) 7-6 (7-5)
2. Andrew Lutschaunig/Justin Boulais (OSU) def. Pierre-Yves Bailly/Eshan Talluri (UT) 6-2
3. Micah Braswell/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Jack Anthrop/Alexander Bernard (OSU) 6-3
-ITA Team Rankings
Texas was tabbed No. 2 in the preseason poll released January 7 by the ITA, then was No. 4 on January 21 and No. 5 on January 28. It's the 112th-straight week in the top 15 dating back to April 2018. Ohio State is ranked No. 6.
-ITA Individual National Rankings
Texas had three listings in the ITA individual fall postseason rankings that were released November 25 with two in singles and one doubles pair. Texas claimed the No. 25 and No. 39 players in Sebastian Eriksson and Sebastian Gorzny, while Gorzny and Lucas Brown were No. 27 in doubles.
Texas
Singles
No. 25 Sebastian Eriksson
No. 39 Sebastian Gorzny
Doubles
No. 27 Sebastian Gorzny/Lucas Brown
Ohio State
Singles
No. 5 Aidan Kim
No. 22 Jack Anthrop
No. 42 Nikita Filin
No. 48 Alex Okonkwo
No. 51 Preston Stearns
Doubles
No. 3 Aidan Kim/Bryce Nakashima
No. 5 Brandon Carpico/Nikita Filin
No. 10 Alexander Bernard/Alex Okonkwo
No. 26 Jack Anthrop/Loren Byers
No. 32 Jack Anthrop/Preston Stearns
-Gorzny earns first SEC Athlete of the Week honor
Sebastian Gorzny was named the SEC Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week for the week of January 21-27, the conference announced January 28. It marked the first weekly SEC honor of his career. Gorzny went a combined 6-0 in leading Texas to wins over UNC Wilmington and South Florida to earn the ITA Kickoff Weekend Austin Regional Championship, along with a close loss to top-ranked Wake Forest. Gorzny did not drop a set during his six wins and collected two top-30 singles victories over No. 12 DK Suresh of Wake Forest and No. 28 Hugo Car of South Florida, in addition to defeating Jordi Domenech of UNCW, all of which came at No. 1 singles. He was also first off the respective doubles or singles court in five of his six matches. In doubles, he paired with Lucas Marionneau in all three wins, all of which came in decisive fashion.
-Back to the ITA Indoors
Texas won the championship of the ITA Kickoff Weekend Austin Regional with a pair of 4-0 sweeps over UNC-Wilmington on January 23 and South Florida on January 24 at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center. With the wins, the Longhorns advanced to the ITA National Indoor Championships for the eighth-straight year with this year's tournament taking place from February 13-17 in Dallas and Waco, Texas. Against UNCW, Texas claimed the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 3, and followed with singles wins from Sebastian Gorzny at No. 1, Lucas Brown at No. 3, and Mariano Dedura-Palomero at No. 5 for the clinch. Versus USF, the Longhorns earned the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and 2, followed by singles wins from Abel Forger at No. 3, Gorzny at No. 1, and Kalin Ivanovski at No. 2 for the clinch.
-Back-to-Back Top-Five Contests
Texas hosted a pair of top-five contests in Austin and had paths to victory in both, but came up short against No. 5 Virginia on January 18, 4-1, and No. 1 Wake Forest on January 21, 4-2. Against the Demon Deacons, the Longhorns claimed doubles with wins at Nos. 3 and 1, while Sebastian Gorzny provided a 2-0 lead by topping No. 12 DK Suresh at No. 1. However, Wake Forest rallied with singles wins at Nos. 2, 3, 5, and 4. Against Virginia, the Cavaliers won doubles at Nos. 2 and 1 and took a 2-0 lead with a singles win at No. 3. Although Abel Forger made it 2-1 with a win at No. 2, Virginia closed with wins at Nos. 1 and 4.
-Starting the season 2-0
The Longhorns opened the season with a pair of home wins over ACU on January 10, 7-0, and UIW on January 14, 6-1. Texas did not drop a set against ACU in sweeping played out doubles and singles, while they did the same against UIW except for a 7-5, 7-5 loss at No. 1 singles.
-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 begins his eighth season as head coach in Austin and has led the Longhorns to a 155-37 overall record (.807) that includes 4-2 this season, 28-5 last season (missed the NCAA first round match vs. Montana due to illness), 27-4 in 2024, 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. In reaching the NCAA Final Four last year, Texas is the only program nationally to reach it five times in the last six full seasons. During Berque's previous seven seasons at the helm, Texas is the only program in the nation to finish in the top four in six of those. It is also one of just four programs to reach the NCAA championship match twice (2019, 2024), along with Virginia, TCU and Wake Forest in that span. The Longhorns are one of three teams to have been ranked No. 1 at some point during the season in four of the last seven years along with Ohio State and TCU.
During his career, Berque has helped produce four national team champions, seven national individual champions and 14 conference team titles. He has coached 30 All-Americans who collectively have amassed 62 All-America honors. Additionally, he has guided eight singles players and three doubles teams to a No. 1 national ranking, including Timo Legout last season. Legout went on to be the ITA National Player of the Year, giving Texas three-straight years earning that honor, along with Eliot Spizzirri in 2023 and 2024. The 2025 SEC Coach of the Year, Berque guided the Horns to both the regular season and tournament championships in their debut season in the SEC. In 2024, 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. 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. Meanwhile, UT also secured an outright Big 12 regular season title with a perfect 7-0 record. In six years under Berque where a conference slate was played, Texas has taken home at least a share of the regular season championship five times (2019, '21, '23, '24, '25), including four outright (2019, '23, '24, '25). The 2020 season was halted due to the pandemic prior to conference play. The 29 wins last season were tied with the 2019 team for the most in program history in the era since 1975 when teams began playing shorter schedules. Berque has additionally guided Texas to the semifinals of the ITA National Indoor Championships in two of the last three years (2023, 2025), including the program's first finals appearance in 2023.
-Back from 2025
In the eighth season under head coach Bruce Berque, Texas will have a different look from 2025, but at the same time return a number of familiar faces. The roster will feature six returners, all of whom had match experience, including seniors Sebastian Gorzny and Jonah Braswell, junior Lucas Brown, and sophomores Sebastian Eriksson, Oliver Ojakaar, and Evan Burnett.
-Five newcomers arrive for their first dual match season on the 40
The Longhorns add five new faces for 2026, all who are expected to be impact players, starting with Mariano Dedura-Palomero from Germany and Lucas Marionneau from France who arrived in the summer and competed in fall tournament play. Three other players just arrived on the 40 Acres this month, including Jeremiah Braswell, who is the brother of current Longhorn Jonah Braswell and former All-American Micah Braswell, along with Abel Forger from The Netherlands and Kalin Ivanovski from North Macedonia.
-Summer/Fall Wrap-up
A number of players on the roster spent the summer and fall nursing injuries, leading to some of them not qualifying for fall ITA rankings. However, around those injuries, Lucas Brown started the summer off with the singles title at the ITA Summer Nationals. At the ITA All-Americans, Sebastian Gorzny reached the singles round of 16, while Gorzny and Brown combined to advance to the doubles quarterfinals. Sebastian Eriksson later made it to the ITA Texas Regionals final, however the title match was not played. Gorzny and Eriksson both closed fall play in the NCAA Singles Championship round of 32.
Players Mentioned
