Austin – Texas Men's Tennis junior Eliot Spizzirri has been named Big 12 Men's Tennis Player of the Week for the week ending Feb. 12, the conference announced Tuesday.
It marks the second time he has earned the honor this season and the seventh time in his career. The Longhorns have garnered three of the awards this year following Spizzirri's first on Jan. 24, and junior Siem Woldeab's the week before that.
Spizzirri posted three overall wins this past week, including two top-100 singles victories, in leading Texas to a 2-0 record in home matches against Pepperdine (5-2) and No. 18 Arizona (4-2). The win against Arizona was the second in two weeks against the Wildcats, who also visited Austin for the ITA Kickoff Weekend, an indoor match the Longhorns won, 4-0.
Spizzirri produced efficient straight-sets singles wins, first against No. 89 Tim Zeitvogel of Pepperdine, 6-4, 6-2, which gave Texas the lead in that match at 2-1, and then a top-25 victory over No. 22 Jonas Ziverts of Arizona, 6-2, 6-3, that provided a 3-1 lead in that contest. In a 6-3 doubles win against the Wildcats, Spizzirri and partner Cleeve Harper were first off the court on the way to Texas later claiming a key doubles point.
For the year, Spizzirri is now 19-3 overall and 6-0 in dual matches, all of which were at the No. 1 line, and this past week he became the first Longhorn since 2015 to ascend to No. 1 in the ITA singles rankings. His only three losses this year have come against Ethan Quinn of Georgia in tournament play, who later reached No. 1, himself, and Nishesh Basavareddy of Stanford, who later was ranked No. 2, in the final of the ITA Fall National Championships. Spizzirri lost twice to Quinn in the fall, but later avenged those by defeating Quinn when he was ranked No. 1 in a dual match win over Georgia. Spizzirri is now 13-0 against all other ranked singles players. In doubles, he and Harper are 6-2 in dual matches this season with all of those being at No. 1, including two top-20 wins.
Spizzirri has led the Longhorns to a 7-1 record this season with five top-25 wins and another against a team receiving votes. The lone loss came on the road last week to No. 2 Ohio State, which is now ranked No. 1.
Texas returns to the court for the ITA National Indoor Championships from Feb. 17-20 in Chicago. The Longhorns will open with No. 9 Wake Forest on Friday at 6:30 p.m. CT.
