No. 3 Men’s Tennis opens SEC play with 6-1 win at Alabama

Saturday, February 21

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

1 p.m. CT

University of Texas

Alabama

No. 3 Men’s Tennis opens SEC play with 6-1 win at Alabama

02.21.2026 | Men's Tennis

The Longhorns played the first of three road matches to start conference play and earned a win in their first-ever trip to Tuscaloosa.

Tuscaloosa, Ala. – No. 3 Texas Men's Tennis opened SEC play with a 6-1 win at Alabama on Saturday at the Alabama Tennis Stadium. It was the first-ever trip to Tuscaloosa and the first of three-straight road matches to start conference play.

Texas started the match with 6-3 wins on all three doubles courts, first at No. 3 and then an almost simultaneous finish at Nos. 2 and 1 with match point at No. 2 ending a split-second before No. 1 leading to all three matches counting. Senior Jonah Braswell was first off the singles court for a 2-0 lead, and after the Crimson Tide picked up its lone match at No. 6, the Longhorns registered victories by freshman No. 67 Abel Forger at No. 3, senior No. 3 Sebastian Gorzny at No. 1, another virtually simultaneous finish by freshman Lucas Marionneau at No. 5 just after Gorzny, and finally a superbreaker win by sophomore No. 40 Sebastian Eriksson at No. 2.

In the three 6-3 doubles decisions for Texas, freshman Kalin Ivanovski was out of the lineup, so Forger paired with sophomore Evan Burnett at No. 3 to be first off the court after defeating Rohan Hazratwala and Gray Voelzke. The No. 12 duo of Eriksson and sophomore Oliver Ojakaar then downed Vit Kalina and Matic Kriznik with the final shot by Alabama landing a few inches beyond the baseline just before the last shot by the Crimson Tide at No. 1 hit the net. That provided the No. 25 tandem of Gorzny and Marionneau a top-20 win over No. 18 Andrii Zimnokh and Jacob Olar.

In singles, Braswell increased the Texas lead to 2-0 with an efficient, 6-2, 6-1 win over Olar at No. 4. Freshman Mariano Dedura-Palomero had stepped into the lineup at No. 6, but fell to Yoshka Sborowsky, 6-3, 6-4, to give Alabama its lone point of the match.

It was all Texas from there, as Forger rebounded from dropping his first set to sweep the second and third sets in his win over Kalina, 4-6, 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3. In the second near simultaneous ending of the match Gorzny crossed the finish line just ahead of Marionneau for the clinch with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over Zimnokh. Gorzny then looked across to No. 5 just in time to see the conclusion of Marionneau's 7-5, 6-4 win over Carlos Gimenez Perez for a 5-1 lead for the Longhorns. Eriksson closed the action with a superbreaker win over No. 90 Kriznik, 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (5), at No. 2.

The Longhorns will next head to Starkville, Miss., for a top-10 match against No. 10 Mississippi State on Monday at 11 a.m. CT.

#3 Texas 6, Alabama 1

Singles – Order of Finish (4,6,3,1,5,2)
1. #3 Sebastian Gorzny (TEX) def. Andrii Zimnokh (ALA) 6-3, 7-6 (4)
2. #40 Sebastian Eriksson (TEX) def. #90 Matic Kriznik (ALA) 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (5)
3. #67 Abel Forger (TEX) def. Vit Kalina (ALA) 4-6, 6-0, 6-0
4. Jonah Braswell (TEX) def. Jacob Olar (ALA) 6-2, 6-1
5. Lucas Marionneau (TEX) def. Carlos Gimenez Perez (ALA) 7-5, 6-4
6. Yoshka Sborowsky (ALA) def. Mariano Dedura-Palomero (TEX) 6-3, 6-4

Doubles – Order of Finish (3,2,1)
1. #25 Sebastian Gorzny/Lucas Marionneau (TEX) def. #18 Andrii Zimnokh/Jacob Olar (ALA) 6-3
2. #12 Oliver Ojakaar/Sebastian Eriksson (TEX) def. Vit Kalina/Matic Kriznik (ALA) 6-3
3. Evan Burnett/Abel Forger (TEX) def. Rohan Hazratwala/Gray Voelzke (ALA) 6-3

Individual Match Key Moments
(by order of finish)

Doubles No. 3: Burnett/Forger def. Hazratwala/Voelzke (ALA) 6-3
Match: Texas won consecutive deuce points for a hold for 2-1 and the only break of the match for 3-1. The Longhorns later held at deuce for the match.

Doubles No. 2: Eriksson/Ojakaar (TEX) def. Kalina/Kriznik (ALA) 6-3
Match: Texas grabbed the only break of the match for 2-0. The Longhorns had a match point at deuce leading 5-2, and although Alabama held, Texas serve out in the next game.

Doubles No. 1: Gorzny/Marionneau (TEX) def. Olar/Zimnokh (ALA) 6-3
Match: Alabama broke in the opening game, but Texas broke back on a deuce point. The Longhorns earned the only other break for 3-1 and consolidated at deuce for 4-1. The teams l

Singles No. 4: Jo. Braswell (TEX) vs. Olar (ALA) 6-2, 6-1
Set One: The first three games were breaks, including a Braswell serve at deuce, until Braswell held for 3-1. Olar also held, but Braswell closed on a 3-0 run.
Set Two: Olar held in the opening game, but Braswell swept the set from there.

Singles No. 6: Sborowsky (ALA) def. Dedura-Palomero (TEX) 6-3, 6-4
Set One: Dedura-Palomero broke at deuce for 2-0, but Sborowsky answered it and later closed on a 4-0 run for the set after trailing, 3-2.
Set Two: Sborowsky got out to a 3-0 lead with a break in the second game. Dedura-Palomero broke back for 3-2, which was the first of three-straight breaks with one at deuce for Sborowsky. Dedura-Palomero held for 4-4, but Dedura-Palomero took the last two games to win.

Singles No. 3: Forger (TEX) def. Kalina (ALA) 4-6, 6-0, 6-0
Set One: Kalina broke at deuce to start, but Forger got the break back for 2-2. Despite a string of three-straight deuce points, the set was on serve until Kalina broke for 5-4 and served out.
Sets Two and Three: Forger swept the last 12 games with one deuce in the second set and two in the third.

Singles No. 1: Gorzny (TEX) def. Zimnokh (ALA) 6-3, 7-6 (4)
Set One: Gorzny broke twice for leads of 2-0 and 5-1, and although Zimnokh broke back and held for 5-3, Gorzny served out the set.
Set Two: Gorzny broke first on a deuce point for a 4-3 lead, but Zimnokh answered it. Zimnokh held at deuce for 6-5 before Gorzny held for a tiebreaker.
Set Two Tiebreaker: Gornzy grabbed the first mini-break for a 3-1 lead and the players alternated points until Gorzny won two straight for the 7-4 win.

Singles No. 5: Marionneau (TEX) def. Gimenez Perez (ALA) 7-5, 6-4
Set One: Despite two deuce-point holds for Gimenez Perez, the set stayed on serve until Marionneau broke for 6-5 and served out on a deuce point.
Set Two: Marionneau secured the only break in the opening game at deuce and later held at deuce for the match.

Singles No. 2: Eriksson (TEX) def. Kriznik (ALA) 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (5)
Set One: Kriznik broke at deuce and held for 2-0, but Eriksson went on a 5-0 run, including a deuce-point break for 4-2. Kriznik got back within 5-4 on a deuce-point break, but Eriksson broke back for the set.
Set Two: Kriznik collected the only break of the set for a 3-2 lead.
Superbreaker: Eriksson used a 3-0 run for a 4-1 lead, and although Kriznik got back within 4-3, Eriksson produced another 3-0 run for 7-3 and maintained for the 10-5 win.