Chicago – No. 7 Texas Men's Tennis advanced to the first ITA National Team Indoor Championships final in program history with a 4-3 win over No. 4 Michigan at the XS Tennis Village in Chicago on Sunday. The title match will feature a familiar foe and be an all-Texas affair as the Longhorns will square off against defending champion No. 3 TCU on Monday at 12 p.m. CT.
For the second-straight day, Texas earned a top-five win and delivered an opponent its first loss of the season as Ohio State had been 13-0, while the Wolverines entered Sunday's match at 12-0.
The Longhorns captured the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3, including a dramatic tiebreaker to clinch at No. 3, before adding singles victories from juniors No. 112 Cleeve Harper at No. 5, No. 25 Siem Woldeab at No. 4, and No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1 to clinch.
All three singles wins came after Michigan had taken a 3-1 overall lead. At that point, Harper secured the Texas' first victory with a 6-3, 6-4 decision over Jacob Bickersteth. It was Bickersteth who picked up the first break of the match for a 3-2 lead, but the first set belonged to Harper after that as he went on a 4-0 run, including winning the last three on deuce points. The first three games of the second set were also decided at deuce and all three were breaks until Harper snapped the string with a hold to go up, 3-1. The rest of the set stayed on serve from there with Harper claiming the win on a deuce point to cut the Wolverines' lead to 3-2.
Shortly after that, Woldeab evened up the overall match with a 7-5, 6-4 win over No. 36 Gavin Young at No. 4. It was Young's first dual match loss of the season after entering with a 7-0 record. Woldeab opened the match with a deuce-point hold, and after Young also held, three straight breaks left Young with a 3-2 lead that he pushed to 4-2 on serve. He then broke again on a deuce point to up his lead to a 5-2, but it was all Woldeab from there as he set out on a 5-0 run to take the set with only one game reaching deuce, which Woldeab won for a 6-5 lead. The second set opened with the same scoring pattern as the first, including Woldeab breaking on a deuce point for 2-2. However, this time it would be Woldeab who would win the next two games starting with a deuce-point hold followed by a break for 4-2. Young countered with a break and a deuce point hold to even it, but Woldeab answered with another deuce-point hold and break combo to take the match.
That left all eyes on court 1 where Spizzirri had gone to a third set against No. 7 Andrew Fenty. After an uncharacteristic first set where Spizzirri fell, 6-1, the second would be a different story. Three of the first four games went to deuce with Fenty holding his opening serve on one. Spizzirri also held and then used the other two deuce points to break and hold again for a 3-1 lead. Fenty eventually got the break back at 5-5, but Spizzirri answered the break on a deuce point and served out the set to go to a third. There, each player held their opening serve with Spizzirri doing so at deuce. That started another run of three deuce points in four games with Spizzirri gathering the first break on one of those for a 3-2 lead that he consolidated to 4-2 on serve before breaking again to lead 5-2. Fenty did break back to get within 5-3 and have a chance to draw closer on serve, but Spizzirri would not be denied and broke again to send the team streaming onto the winner's court for the second-straight match.
In the previous singles matches, like in Spizzirri's opening set, junior No. 65 Micah Braswell had a pair of uncharacteristic sets as he fell to No. 20 Ondrej Styler, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 3. Styler produced a 7-0 run to take a 2-2 first-set tie to a 3-0 second-set lead on the way to his win that tied the score.
The match at No. 6 finished next with senior Nevin Arimilli being downed by Will Cooksey, 7-6 (3), 6-1. Cooksey was the first to break, doing so for a 2-1 lead on a deuce point. The rest of the set then stayed on serve until Arimilli got the break back on a deuce point of his own at 5-5 and consolidating at 6-5. He had a chance to take the set in the next game, but Cooksey held on a deuce point to keep it alive and get to a tiebreaker where he jumped out to a 5-0 lead. Arimilli won three of the next four points to get back in it, however Cooksey was able to close it on the next point at 7-3. In the second, after Arimilli picked up a break in the opening game, Cooksey finished the match on a 6-0 run that gave Michigan a 2-1 overall lead.
Just after that, the Wolverines moved ahead, 3-1, as sophomore No. 33 Pierre-Yves Bailly was defeated by No. 42 Patrick Maloney, 7-5, 6-3, at No. 2. Once again, the third and fourth games of a set were both breaks, first by Maloney and then Bailly. The set then stayed on serve until Maloney broke again for a 6-5 lead on a deuce point before serving out the set. In the second, Maloney came up with the only two breaks, first for a 3-2 lead and then to take the match at 6-3 on a deuce point.
Earlier in doubles, after the No. 6 duo of Fenty and Young used a 4-0 run to close their match against the No. 4 pair of Harper and Spizzirri for a 6-2 win at No. 1, the Longhorns responded with wins in the remaining matches to take the point.
That started with Woldeab and Bailly topping Maloney and Styler, 6-3, at No. 2. The Texas duo captured the only break of the match at 4-2 and had a chance for another on Michigan's next serve that went to deuce. Although the Wolverines took that point to hold, the Longhorns served it out in the next game.
That left the deciding match at No. 3 where Braswell and senior Chih Chi Huang prevailed over Cooksey and Nino Ehrenschneider, 7-6 (4). The whole match stayed on serve with each team winning a deuce point, at 5-4 for Michigan and 5-5 for Texas, as the Longhorns warded off a match point in theirs. In the tiebreaker, Braswell and Huang took the first two points and five of the first six to establish a 5-1 lead. The Wolverines fought back with three-straight to get within one, but the Longhorns clinched from there by securing the final two points.
#7 Texas 4, #4 Michigan 3
Singles – Order of Finish (3,6,2,5,4,1)
1. #1 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. #7 Andrew Fenty (MICH) 1-6, 7-5, 6-3
2. #42 Patrick Maloney (MICH) def. #33 Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 7-5, 6-3
3. #20 Ondrej Styler (MICH) def. #65 Micah Braswell (UT) 6-2, 6-1
4. #25 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. #36 Gavin Young (MICH) 7-5, 6-4
5. #112 Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Jacob Bickersteth (MICH) 6-3, 6-4
6. Will Cooksey (MICH) def. Nevin Arimilli (UT) 7-6 (3), 6-1
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2,3)
1. #6 Andrew Fenty/Gavin Young (MICH) def. #4 Eliot Spizzirri/Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-2
2. Pierre-Yves Bailly/Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Patrick Maloney/Ondrej Styler (MICH) 6-3
3. Chih Chi Huang/Micah Braswell (UT) def. Will Cooksey/Nino Ehrenschneider (MICH) 7-6 (4)
