Austin – No. 4 Texas Men's Tennis (4-1) claimed a 4-1 victory against Oklahoma State (4-1) on Sunday afternoon at the Texas Tennis Center. With the win, the Longhorns advanced to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships for the sixth-straight year. The National Indoors will take place from Feb. 16-19 in New York, N.Y. The win was also Bruce Berque's 100th as head coach at Texas.
After taking the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3, the Longhorns received singles victories from senior No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1, junior No. 49 Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 4, and senior No. 2 Micah Braswell at No. 2.
In doubles, the tandem of Micah Braswell and freshman Gilles-Arnaud Bailly finished first by taking down Leighton Allen and Eric Schiessl, 6-0, at No. 3. The Texas duo held the match's only deuce point in the fourth game en route to their win. Moments later, Pierre-Yves Bailly and senior Siem Woldeab clinched the doubles point for the Horns with a 6-1 win over Alessio Basile and Isaac Becroft on No. 2. OSU held their first serve for 1-1, but the Longhorn duo would go on to win all remaining games to claim the point.
At No. 1, the nation's third-ranked doubles team in Eliot Spizzirri and senior Cleeve Harper led Alex Garcia and Tyler Zink, 4-3, when play stopped. Both teams broke to begin the match for 1-1 before Texas held its next serve. The fourth game featured another break for Texas with the Horns winning a deuce point for 3-1. Both teams held the next two games before OSU ended the trend with a break, but the match was halted shortly after.
In singles play, Spizzirri was the first to finish, registering an efficient 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 1 over No. 18 Zink. Spizzirri opened the match on a 5-0 run, which featured a deuce point break in the second game before Zink managed to hold for 5-1. Spizzirri closed out the first set with a hold and began the second set with a deuce-point break to ignite another 5-0 run and a 4-0 lead. Zink held for 4-1, but the Texas senior would close out the match in the following games.
No. 49 Pierre-Yves Bailly was next off the singles courts with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Basile at No. 4. Both players broke to begin the match, with Bailly's being a deuce point for 1-1. The next break would be in the sixth game, giving Bailly a 4-2 advantage. The junior would go on to close out the first set in the next two games. The second set also began with a break by Basile, but this time when Bailly aimed to break back, Basile managed to hold the deuce point for 2-0. Both players then held the next two games before Bailly broke and held for 3-3. The next two games were also breaks for 4-4 until Bailly held for the lead and broke again on a deuce point for the win.
With Texas leading the match 3-0, No. 82 Cleeve Harper fell to Eric Schiessl, 7-5, 6-2, at No. 5, making the score 3-1. Harper benefited from two early deuce point holds for a 2-1 advantage, but Schiessl held then broke for a 3-2 lead. Harper managed to break back in the next game to even the score, and both players then proceeded to hold their next two serves before the Schiessl secured a critical break for 6-5 and then served out the set. Schiessl's break began a 6-0 run which gave him a 4-0 lead in the second set. The second and third games of the second set were decided by deuce points, but Schiessl was able to win them both. Harper held his final two serves of the match with the second being at deuce, but Schiessl would secure the only singles win of the contest for the Cowboys with a deuce-point hold.
The clinching match for Texas was No. 2 Micah Braswell's 6-4, 7-6 (3) win over No. 48 Garcia at No. 2. Braswell broke the third game and then held for a 3-1 advantage. That would be the only break of the first set, with Braswell winning the final game on a deuce point-hold. The senior's momentum carried him into the second set where he broke on a deuce point for a 1-0 lead. The next break occurred at 2-1 where Garcia evened the set, and then proceeded to claim a deuce point hold giving him a 3-2 lead. Braswell would break later in the set for a 5-4 advantage and had a match point at deuce in the next game, but Garcia would not go down without a fight as he fended it off for the break. Both players held their next serves, leading a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, Braswell grabbed a mini-break and held his serves for a 3-0 lead. He added another mini-break for 4-1, and although Garcia got it back on the next point, Braswell claimed the following two points for 6-2. He then closed out the match two points later on serve.
The two Texas freshman playing in singles were still competing in their matches when play was stopped. On No. 3, Gilles-Arnaud Bailly dropped the first set 6-4 to Becroft, but was leading 5-4 in the second set. In the first, Becroft began with a break then a deuce point hold for an early advantage. The next break was on a deuce point for Becroft for a 4-1 lead, and then he held for 5-1. Although Bailly would take the set's next three games to narrow the deficit, Becroft stopped the string with a hold to close out the first set. In the second, Bailly held then broke, but Becroft flipped that with his hold being on a deuce point for 2-2. The match's next break was claimed by Becroft for 4-3, but Bailly would break back, and the freshman held his next serve for 5-4 before play was stopped.
In the match at No. 6, Lucas Brown dropped the first set to Francisco Pini, 6-4, before responding with an efficient 6-2 win in the second. Brown was unable to recover from a critical Pini break for 5-4 which saw Pini hold a deuce point in the following game to win the first set. In the second, Brown jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Pini held in the fourth game. Both players held serve in the next three games, but Brown would win the set with a deuce-point break, and play halted before the start of the third set.
Up next, the Longhorns will host No. 9 Stanford on Sunday, Feb. 4, at 2:30 p.m. CT at the Texas Tennis Center.
#4 Texas 4, Oklahoma State 1
Singles – Order of Finish (1,4,5,2)
1. #1 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. #18 Tyler Zink (OKSTM) 6-1, 6-1
2. #2 Micah Braswell (UT) def. #48 Alex Garcia (OKSTM) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)
3. Gilles-Arnaud Bailly (UT) vs. Isaac Becroft (OKSTM) 4-6, 5-4, unfinished
4. #49 Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) def. Alessio Basile (OKSTM) 6-2, 6-4
5. Erik Schiessl (OKSTM) def. #82 Cleeve Harper (UT) 7-5, 6-2
6. Lucas Brown (UT) vs. Francisco Pini (OKSTM) 4-6, 6-2, unfinished
Doubles – Order of Finish (3,2)
1. #3 Eliot Spizzirri/Cleeve Harper (UT) vs. Alex Garcia/Tyler Zink (OKSTM) 4-3, unfinished
2. Pierre-Yves Bailly/Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Alessio Basile/Isaac Becroft (OKSTM) 6-1
3. Micah Braswell/Gilles-Arnaud Bailly (UT) def. Leighton Allen/Erik Schiessl (OKSTM) 6-0
