Austin – No. 6 Texas Men's Tennis defeated No. 22 Cal, 4-1, on Saturday at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center to advance to the ITA Kickoff Austin Regional Championship. The Longhorns will play No. 14 Arizona on Sunday at 12 p.m. CT.
Texas is now 4-0 to start the year with three of those coming against top-25 opponents. Despite coming up short in the doubles point for the first time this season, the Longhorns rallied for four singles wins by four juniors in No. 3 Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1, No. 13 Siem Woldeab at No. 4, No. 30 Micah Braswell at No. 3, and Cleeve Harper at No. 5 for the clinch.
After doubles had come down to a tiebreaker in the deciding third match, Spizzirri produced an efficient 6-2, 6-2 win over Yuta Kikuchi to even the overall score at 1-1. Spizzirri opened the match with a deuce-point hold, and the first five games stayed on serve to a 3-2 lead for Spizzirri. That's when he set out on a 9-0 run to take the first set and establish a 5-0 lead in the second. Two of the games in the second set had gone to deuce at that point, and Kikuchi responded with two of his own to pull within 5-2, but Spizzirri closed it from there.
Woldeab followed almost immediately after Spizzirri with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Siddhant Banthia to give the Longhorns a 2-1 lead. Woldeab began the first set with a break and a hold for a 2-0 lead. He held his next serve with a deuce point and the rest of the games stayed on serve up to his 4-2 lead when he broke again and held to take the set. In the second, Banthia jumped out to a 3-0 lead on the strength of a break in the second game. Woldeab answered with a 3-0 run of his own that included deuce-point wins in the last two to put the set back on serve. That's where the next two games would also stay until Woldeab broke for a 5-4 lead prior to serving out the match.
Braswell was next of the court shortly behind Woldeab with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Carl Emil Overbeck. After falling behind, 2-0, to start the match due to a break in the second game, Braswell responded by winning five of the next six games to go up 5-3, only dropping a deuce point at 3-1. That was the first of three-straight deuce points with Braswell taking the other two. Overbeck used one more on serve to pull back within 5-4, but Braswell also held to take the set. In the second, it was Braswell who got out to a 2-0 lead with a break and hold. Overbeck was able to hold his following two serves, but other than that, it was all Braswell the rest of the way for his win, including deuce point wins at 3-1 and 5-2, giving Texas a 3-1 lead.
Moments after that, Harper secured the overall match with a 6-4, 6-1 over Derrick Chen. The first set stayed on serve starting with Harper all the way to his 5-4 lead when he got the break he needed to take the set. In the second, Chen picked up an opening break, but from there Harper swept the rest of the match to his win.
In the remaining two singles matches, sophomore Pierre-Yves Bailly was trailing No. 52 Ryder Jackson, 5-7, 3-3 at No. 2, as was senior Chih Chi Huang to Philip Hjorth at No. 6, 6-7 (2), 3-1. Bailly had grabbed an opening break, but Jackson answered it and the rest of the set stayed on serve until Jackson broke on a deuce point to win, 7-5. In the second, Bailly broke for a 2-1 lead that he consolidated to 3-1 on serve, but Jackson got the break back in the last game before play stopped. In Huang's match, he had broken and held on deuce points for a 2-0 lead that he maintained until Hjorth got the break back on a deuce point at 4-4. The rest of the set then stayed on serve to the tiebreaker where Huang took a 2-1 lead, but Hjorth went on a 6-0 run from there. The first three games of the second set where then on serve until Huang broke for 3-1 as the match ended.
In doubles, after Cal had won at No. 3, the No. 7 duo of Harper and Spizzirri evened things with a 7-5 win over Overbeck and Banthia. Cal took the only deuce point of the match to hold at 2-2, and then took a 3-2 lead with the first break. However, Texas broke right back, held and broke again for a 5-3 lead. After the Bears answered the second break to stay alive, the next two games were on serve until the Longhorns broke again for the win.
That left the deciding match at No. 2 where Woldeab and Bailly went to a tiebreaker against Jackson and Lucas Magnaudet, but came up just short, 7-6 (5). Despite three deuce points, the entire match stayed on serve up to the tiebreaker. The Bears had won theirs at 1-0 and 6-5, while the Longhorns won at 6-6 to go to the breaker. There, Texas grabbed the first mini-break on the opening point, however Cal got it right back on the next. The Longhorns regained the lead at 2-1, but after that, the Bears went on a 5-0 run for a 6-2 lead. Woldeab and Bailly made an attempt to rally and pulled within 6-5, but Cal captured the next point, the match and the doubles point.
In the match at No. 3, Huang and junior Eshan Talluri had fallen to Kikuchi and Hjorth, 6-2. The first three games all went to deuce point with the first two being breaks, starting with Cal. Texas then held on the last of the deuce points for a 2-1 lead, but the Bears closed on a 5-0 run for their win.
#6 Texas 4, #22 Cal 1
Singles – Order of Finish (1,4,3,5)
1. #3 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Yuta Kikuchi (CAL) 6-2, 6-2
2. Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) vs. #52 Ryder Jackson (CAL) 5-7, 3-3, unf.
3. #30 Micah Braswell (UT) def. Carl Emil Overbeck (CAL) 6-4, 6-2
4. #13 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Siddhant Banthia (CAL) 6-2, 6-4
5. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Derrick Chen (CAL) 6-4, 6-1
6. Chih Chi Huang (UT) vs. Philip Hjorth (CAL) 6-7 (2), 3-1, unf.
Doubles – Order of Finish (3,1,2)
1. #7 Eliot Spizzirri/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Carl Emil Overbeck/Siddhant Banthia (CAL) 7-5
2. Lucas Magnaudet/Ryder Jackson (CAL) def. Siem Woldeab/Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 7-6 (5)
3. Yuta Kikuchi/Philip Hjorth (CAL) def. Chih Chi Huang/Eshan Talluri (UT) 6-2
