The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Baylor
No. 7 Men’s Tennis reaches ITA Indoors final for second time in program history
02.16.2026 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns swept No. 19 Baylor, 4-0, in the semifinals and will play for their first title against No. 2 Ohio State on Tuesday.
Dallas – No. 7 Texas Men's Tennis swept No. 19 Baylor, 4-0, in the semifinals of the ITA National Indoor Championships at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex in Dallas on Monday. The win sends the Longhorns to the final of the tournament for the second time in program history with the last being in 2023 in Chicago. They will square off with No. 2 Ohio State in an attempt to win the program's first title on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. CT.
In defeating the Bears, Texas completed a sweep of a trio in-state foes since advancing to the national tournament sites, having also downed No. 8 Texas A&M in the round of 16 and No. 5 TCU in the quarterfinals, both in Waco. The Longhorns had previously beaten UNC Wilmington and South Florida in the first and second rounds in Austin on January 23 and 24, respectively.
Texas opened the match by taking the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 2 and followed with singles victories by sophomore No. 51 Sebastian Eriksson at No. 4, and freshmen Kalin Ivanovski at No. 2, and Lucas Marionneau at No. 6 for the clinch.
Ivanovski and freshman Abel Forger started the day in doubles with a 6-3 win over Connor Van Schalkwyk and Luc Koenig at No. 1. Marionneau and senior Sebastian Gorzny then clinched the point with a 7-5 victory over Alexandru Chirita and Zsombor Velcz at No. 2. The Longhorns were also leading the one unfinished match at No. 3 where the No. 27 duo of Eriksson and sophomore Oliver Ojakaar were up, 6-5, against Devin Badenhorst and Blake Anderson.
Eriksson was then first off the court in singles where he earned a 6-4, 7-5 win over No. 99 Alexandru Chirita at No. 4. That was just before Ivanovski completed a comeback from a set down against No. 106 Velcz, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, at No. 2.
The attention then turned to No. 6 where Marionneau came through with the clinch by the same score as Eriksson, 6-4, 7-5, over Louis Bowden. Trailing, 4-5, in the second set, Marionneau won the last three games at deuce to secure the overall match.
Three other singles matches were left unfinished, including No. 10 Gorzny holding a one-point advantage in his third set against No. 17 Badenhorst, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 1-1 (15-0) at No. 1. Meanwhile, Forger was up a break in his third set, 3-6, 6-3, 4-2, over No. 41 Van Schalkwyk at No. 3, and senior Jonah Braswell was trailing by one game in his third set, but on serve against Koenig, 6-4, 4-6, 1-2, at No. 5.
Head Coach Bruce Berque quotes:
On the team's effort against Baylor: "Again, I was super proud of our team's effort tonight. We were pretty clutch, and I give all the credit in the world to the guys for their mental fortitude and the way they were able to will themselves to play their best tennis when it mattered the most in some pretty key moments."
On winning the doubles point: "The doubles win is great. We had lost the previous two doubles points in this tournament, so it was really nice to get that. I still feel like we're capable of playing better in doubles, but it was obviously a step in the right direction."
On deciding to play Lucas Marionneau in the singles lineup: "The lineup decisions have been challenging this year for singles just because of our health status, but we're trying to be pretty careful with the guys that are coming back from injury, and we felt it would be wisest, even though Oliver clinched the match against TCU a couple days ago, to hold him out and just have him play doubles. I was confident that Lucas (Marionneau) could get it done today, and that's the second match he's clinched in this tournament. He was real clutch against Texas A&M, and he was real clutch today against Baylor."
On playing Ohio State again: "We're looking forward to playing Ohio State tomorrow, and we have a lot of respect for all the teams in this tournament, but none more than Ohio State. They've been a model of consistency year after year after year. You always know you're going get a tremendous competitive effort from them, and they've got a great track record in this tournament. So, we're going have to be at our very best competitively and with our tennis to have a good chance to win. They got the better of us a couple weeks ago in Columbus, and I think in some ways that was a turning point for us this year because even though we had a lot of respect for Ohio State, our guys were not happy with their performance there, and they they kind of raised the standard for how we're going do some things and what they expect of each other, and they've lived up to that in practice, and I think it showed this week so far in the tournament. So, we're looking forward to playing Ohio State, and right now we're just trying to recover with our bodies and see if we can find a way to get to sleep and then we'll start gearing up in the morning."
#7 Texas 4, #19 Baylor 0
Singles – Order of Finish (4,2,6)
1. #10 Sebastian Gorzny (TEX) vs. #17 Devin Badenhorst (BU) 6-4, 6-7 (4), 1-1, unf.
2. Kalin Ivanovski (TEX) def. #106 Zsombor Velcz (BU) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3
3. Abel Forger (TEX) vs. #41 Connor Van Schalkwyk (BU) 3-6, 6-3, 4-2, unf.
4. #51 Sebastian Eriksson (TEX) def. #99 Alexandru Chirita (BU) 6-4, 7-5
5. Jonah Braswell (TEX) vs. Luc Koenig (BU) 6-4, 4-6, 1-2, unf.
6. Lucas Marionneau (TEX) def. Louis Bowden (BU) 6-4, 7-5
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2)
1. Abel Forger/Kalin Ivanovski (TEX) def. Connor Van Schalkwyk/Luc Koenig (BU) 6-3
2. Sebastian Gorzny/Lucas Marionneau (TEX) def. Alexandru Chirita/Zsombor Velcz (BU) 7-5
3. #27 Sebastian Eriksson/Oliver Ojakaar (TEX) vs. Devin Badenhorst/Blake Anderson (BU) 6-5, unf.
Individual Match Key Moments
(by order of finish)
Doubles No. 1: Ivanovski/Forger (TEX) def. Van Schalkwyk/Koenig (BU) 6-3
Match: Texas won consecutive deuce points, holding for 2-1 and breaking for 3-1. That was the first of three-straight breaks with the Longhorns doing so again at deuce for 4-2 before the last three games were held.
Doubles No. 2: Gorzny/Marionneau (TEX) def. Chirita/Velcz (BU) 7-5
Match: The match was on serve until Texas broke at deuce for a 6-5 lead and served it out.
Doubles No. 3: Ojakaar/Eriksson vs. Badenhorst/Anderson (BU) 6-5, unf.
Match: The teams exchanged deuce-point holds to start and the match stayed on serve the entire way until play stopped, including a deuce-point hold for Texas for 6-5.
Singles No. 4: Eriksson (TEX) def. Chirita (BU) 6-4, 7-5
Set One: Eriksson broke first for 2-1, but Chirita broke back at deuce. Chirita was the next to break for 4-2, but Eriksson answered it to start a 4-0 run to finish, including the last two games at deuce.
Set Two: Eriksson broke at deuce to start, but Chirita got the break back for 2-2. After Eriksson held at deuce for 4-4, he later broke for a 6-5 lead before serving out the match.
Singles No. 2: Ivanovski (TEX) def. Velcz (BU) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3
Set One: Velcz earned the only break for a 3-1 lead.
Set Two: Ivanovski secured the only breaks for 2-0 and 6-2.
Set Three: Ivanovski came away with the only break of the set for 5-3 on a deuce point and then served out at love. He had almost broken in the previous Velcz service game up, 15-40, but Velcz was able to hold.
Singles No. 6: Marionneau (TEX) def. Bowden (BU) 6-4, 7-5
Set One: Marionneau broke and held on deuce points with the break being the only one of the set despite two more deuce points, both held by Marionneau for 3-1 and 4-2.
Set Two: After each player held at deuce earlier in the set, Marionneau won three consecutive deuce points to close the match, including the only break of the set for a 6-5 lead.
Singles No. 1: Gorzny (TEX) vs. Badenhorst (BU) 6-4, 6-7 (4), 1-1, unf.
Set One: Gorzny collected the only break for a 4-3 lead and had set points to break leading 5-3 before serving out.
Set Two: Badenhorst broke first for a 5-3 lead, but Gorzny broke back at deuce on the way to a tiebreaker.
Set Two Tiebreaker: Badenhorst used a 3-0 run to separate from a 3-3 tie before winning 7-4.
Singles No. 3: Forger (TEX) vs. Van Schalkwyk (BU) 3-6, 6-3, 4-2, unf.
Set One: Van Schalkwyk opened on a 4-0 run with a deuce-point break in the second game. Forger got one break back for 4-1, but the rest of the set stayed on serve.
Set Two: Five games were won at love with only one point by Van Schalkwyk won against serve in the first four games. Forger held at deuce for a 3-2 lead and after Van Schalkwyk also held, Forger finished on a 3-0 run, breaking for 5-3 and holding at deuce for the set.
Set Three: Forger broke for a 2-1 lead and maintained his break lead until play stopped with three of six games reaching deuce.
Singles No. 5: Braswell (TEX) vs. Koenig (BU) 6-4, 4-6, 1-2, unf.
Set One: Braswell gained the only break for a 2-1 lead and despite two deuce points it stayed on serve the rest of the way.
Set Two: Koenig won three-straight deuce points for a 4-1 lead, but Braswell went on a 3-0 run capped by consecutive deuce points for 4-4. Koenig then held and broke at deuce for the set.
Set Three: Koenig held at love and broke at deuce for 2-0, but Braswell broke back before play halted.
Players Mentioned
