No. 1 Men’s Tennis wins second-straight SEC Championship title

Sunday, April 19

College Station, Texas

12 p.m. CT

University of Texas

Mississippi State

No. 1 Men’s Tennis wins second-straight SEC Championship title

04.19.2026 | Men's Tennis

The Longhorns secured their 10th conference tournament title in program history with a win over Mississippi State on Sunday.

College Station, Texas – No. 1 Texas Men's Tennis captured its second-straight SEC Championship title with a 4-2 win over 2 seed No. 6 Mississippi State on Sunday at the Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station.

Texas has now swept both the regular season and tournament championships both of its seasons in the league. It also marks the 10th conference tournament championship in program history (1990, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2006, 2010, 2018, 2024, 2025, 2026).

After winning the doubles point in decisive fashion at Nos. 2 and 3, the Longhorns found themselves down a set in five of the six singles matches. Mississippi State completed wins at Nos. 4 and 1 to take a 2-1 overall lead, but Texas responded with a straight-sets win by sophomore No. 46 Sebastian Erkisson at No. 3, and followed with three-set comebacks by freshman No. 34 Kalin Ivanovski at No. 2 and freshman Lucas Marionneau for the clinch. Marionneau also clinched the regular the regular season match against the Bulldogs, which was a 4-3 win in Starkville in February.

"I'm really proud of that effort," said head coach Bruce Berque. "I think any coach would be when your team shows resilience, character, toughness and determination. We showed all of those things today, down five first sets and almost six. We just kept hanging in there and finding away. One thing that was nice is some of the guys who were winning this week weren't playing as well, and we had other guys step up, so it was nice to see us doing it different ways from different people. And I was really happy to see us play arguably our best doubles point of the season."

In doubles, the No. 24 duo of Marionneau and senior Sebastian Gorzny was first off the court with a 6-2 win over Niccolo Baroni and Mario Martinez Serrano at No. 2. Moments later, the No. 40 pair of Eriksson and sophomore Oliver Ojakaar came through with the clinch, 6-3, over Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes and Bryan Hernandez Cortes at No. 3. That left the match at No. 1 unfinished where Ivanovski and freshman Abel Forger trailed, 3-4, but were on serve against No. 77 Michal Novansky and Benito Sanchez Martinez.

In the first singles match to finish, No. 93 Forger fell to No. 123 Hernandez Cortes, 6-3, 6-4, at No. 5. No. 3 Gorzny was then downed by No. 7 Sanchez Martinez, 6-2, 6-4 at No. 1. That would be when the Longhorns would turn around singles starting Eriksson, who posted a 7-5, 6-4 victory over No. 91 Martinez Serrano at No. 3 to even the overall match at 2-2.

Three matches remained at that point, all beside each other on the same end of the courts. After dropping his first set and taking the second, Ivanovski maintained a break lead for most of his third set at No. 2. Although he had break chances against him at 15-40 that could have evened the set, 5-5, he responded with three-straight points to take the 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 81 Baroni.

At that same time at No. 6, Marionneau had rallied from a first-set defeat, turning his match around midway through the second set after trailing, 4-2, and at the time of Ivanovski's win, Marionneau was leading, 5-0, in the third. That resulted in his 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 clinch over Ferrer Guimaraes.
In the remaining match at No. 4, Ojakaar had also responded from a first-set loss and had set points earlier in his second set against Raphael Vaksmann prior to it ending up in a tiebreaker that Ojakaar was leading, 7-6, when play stopped.

After the match, Gorzny was named Tournament MVP, while Forger was selected to the All-Tournament Team with Gorzny.

The Longhorns will next await selection to the NCAA Tournament on Monday, April 27, at 4 p.m. CT on NCAA.com.

#1 Texas 4, #6 Mississippi State 2

Singles – Order of Finish (5,1,3,2,6)
1. #7 Benito Sanchez Martinez (MSST) def. #3 Sebastian Gorzny (TEX) 6-2, 6-4
2. #34 Kalin Ivanovski (TEX) def. #84 Niccolo Baroni (MSST) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
3. #46 Sebastian Eriksson (TEX) def. #91 Mario Martinez Serrano (MSST) 7-5, 6-4
4. Oliver Ojakaar (TEX) vs. Raphael Vaksmann (MSST) 4-6, 6-6 (7-6), unf.
5. #123 Bryan Hernandez Cortes (MSST) def. #93 Abel Forger (TEX) 6-3, 6-4
6. Lucas Marionneau (TEX) def. Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes (MSST) 2-6, 7-5, 6-1

Doubles – Order of Finish (2,3)
1. Abel Forger/Kalin Ivanovski (TEX) vs. #77 Michal Novansky/Benito Sanchez Martinez (MSST) 3-4, unf.
2. #24 Sebastian Gorzny/Lucas Marionneau (TEX) def. Niccolo Baroni/Mario Martinez Serrano (MSST) 6-2
3. #40 Sebastian Eriksson/Oliver Ojakaar (TEX) def. Ro Ferrer Guimaraes/Bryan Hernandez Cortes (MSST) 6-3

Individual Match Key Moments
(by order of finish)

Doubles No. 2: Gorzny/Marionneau (TEX) def. Baroni/Martinez Serrano (MSST) 6-2
Match: Texas broke in the opening game, and although Mississippi State later held at deuce to stay within 3-2, the Longhorns broke at deuce for 5-2 before serving it out.

Doubles No. 3: Eriksson/Ojakaar (TEX) def. Ferrer Guimaraes/Hernandez Cortes (MSST) 6-3
Match: Texas broke first, doing so at deuce for 4-3 and then broke again for 6-3 as part of a 4-0 run to finish the match.

Doubles No. 1: Forger/Ivanovski (TEX) vs. Novansky/Sanchez Martinez (MSST) 3-4, unf.
Match: The first four games all went to deuce and all were breaks starting with Mississippi State. The last three games were then all on serve before play stopped.

Singles No. 5: Hernandez Cortes (MSST) def. Forger (TEX) 6-3, 6-4
Set One: Although three of the first five games went to deuce, Hernandez Cortes claimed the only break of the set for 4-2.
Set Two: Hernandez Cortes again took the only break of the set for 5-4.

Singles No. 1: Sanchez Martinez (MSST) def. Gorzny (TEX) 6-2, 6-4
Set One: Gorzny pushed the first two service games of Sanchez Martinez to deuce, but Sanchez Martinez held both and picked up a break in between for a 3-1 lead. He later broke again for 5-2.
Set Two: Sanchez Martinez broke at deuce in the opening game, and although Gorzny got the break back at deuce for 3-3, Sanchez Martinez broke back for the final break despite the next two games also going to deuce.

Singles No. 3: Eriksson (TEX) def. Martinez Serrano (MSST) 7-5, 6-4
Set One: Martinez Serrano held at deuce and then broke to start a 3-0 run, however Eriksson answered the run for 3-3. The next four games were on serve despite two deuce-point holds for Eriksson. He then broke at deuce for 6-5 before serving out the set.
Set Two: Eriksson opened the set, 4-0, and although Martinez Serrano won consecutive deuce points to get within, 4-3, Eriksson maintained his break lead to the win.

Singles No. 2: Ivanovski (TEX) def. Baroni (MSST) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Set One: Just like the match at No. 3, Baroni held at deuce and then broke to start a 3-0 run, and Ivanovski answered the run for 3-3. However, Baroni went on to win the last three games.
Set Two: Ivanovski secured the only break of the set for 3-1 and later held at deuce for 5-2.
Set Three: Ivanovski again claimed the only break of the set for a 2-1 lead and maintained it to the win, including a rally from down 15-40 in the final game.

Singles No. 6: Marionneau (TEX) def. Ferrer Guimaraes (MSST) 2-6, 7-5, 6-1
Set One: Marionneau held and broke at deuce for 2-0, but Ferrer Guimaraes won three-straight deuce points to start a 6-0 run for the set.
Set Two: Marionneau held the first game, and although Ferrer Guimaraes won the next three, including the last two of those at deuce, Marionneau got the break back for 4-4. The next three games were on serve, including the last two of those at deuce until Marionneau broke for 7-5.
Set Three: Marionneau raced out to a 5-0 lead, including a deuce-point break for 2-0, on the way to the 6-1 win.

Singles No. 4: Ojakaar (TEX) vs. Vaksmann (MSST) 4-6, 6-6 (7-6), unf.
Set One: Vaksman took the only break of the set for a 2-1 lead.
Set Two: Vaksman broke and held for 2-0, but Ojakaar got the break back at deuce for 2-2. Despite Ojakaar later leading 5-4 and 0-40, Vaksman managed to hold and the set went on to a tiebreaker.
Set Two Tiebreaker: Vaksman won the first two points, but Ojakaar claimed the next three. Vaksman followed with the next three for a 5-3 lead, but Ojakaar tied it at 5-5. After Vaksman won the next point, Ojakaar fended off a match point and then took a 7-6 lead when play stopped.