No. 3 Men's Tennis preview: Florida
Team Records: Texas (5-1, 0-0 Big 12), Florida (3-3, 0-0 SEC)
When: Saturday, February 10, 2024, 1 p.m. CT
Where: Weller Indoor Tennis Center, Austin, Texas
Live Stats: https://hookem.at/MTN-Stats
Due to the match being played indoors, there will be no live video available.
Updated Statistics
Notes
-Florida Series: Texas leads, 14-8
Texas leads the all-time series with Florida, 14-8, including a 5-2 win in Gainesville last season that is part of the Longhorns winning five of the past seven meetings over the last five years. It also includes two 4-3 decisions in 2022, with one by each team. The Longhorns' win came on Feb. 18 in the first round of the ITA National Indoor Championships in Seattle against the fifth-ranked Gators. The previous year in 2021, the teams also met twice with each winning once. Texas took a 4-3 decision in Austin during the ITA Kickoff Weekend that sent the Longhorns to the ITA National Indoors, while Florida won 4-0 in the NCAA Semifinals on the USTA National Campus in Orlando before going on to win the 2021 National Championship. Four seasons ago, the No. 2 Longhorns opened their dual match season at No. 1 Florida and came away with another 5-2 win, using five singles victories, all against ranked opponents. Prior to that, the teams met in the semifinals of the 2019 NCAA Championship as No. 2 Texas defeated No. 4 Florida, 4-2, also on the USTA National Campus in Orlando, on their way to winning the 2019 National Championship.
-Last Seven Meetings
2023: No. 8 Texas 5, No. 13 Florida 2 – Gainesville, Fla.
2022: No. 14 Texas 4, No. 5 Florida 3 – ITA National Indoors first round, Seattle, Wash.
2022: No. 1 Florida 4, No. 3 Texas 3 – Austin, Texas (Texas Tennis Center)
2021: No. 1 Florida 4, No. 4 Texas 0 – NCAA Championship semifinals, Orlando, Fla.
2021: No. 6 Texas 4, No. 9 Florida 3 – ITA Kickoff, Austin, Texas (Texas Tennis Center)
2020: No. 2 Texas 5, No. 1 Florida 2 – Gainesville, Fla.
2019: No. 2 Texas 4, No. 4 Florida 2 – NCAA Championship semifinals, Orlando, Fla.
-Last Three Box Scores
No. 8 Texas 5, No. 13 Florida 2
Sunday, January 15, 2023
Gainesville, Fla. • Ring Tennis Complex
Singles – Order of Finish (4,5,2,6,1,3)
1. #3 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Axel Nefve (UF) 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2
2. Will Grant (UF) def. #30 Micah Braswell (UT) 6-3, 7-6 (5)
3. #93 Jonah Braswell (UF) def. Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 6-2, 6-7 (4), 3-1, ret.
4. #13 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Lukas Greif (UF) 6-1, 6-2
5. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Togan Tokac (UF) 6-4, 6-2
6. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Tanapatt Nirundorn (UF) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,3)
1. #7 Cleeve Harper/Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Will Grant/Axel Nefve (UF) 6-1
2. #10 Tanapatt Nirundorn/Togan Tokac (UF) vs. Chih Chi Huang/Eshan Talluri (UT) 5-4, unf.
3. Pierre-Yves Bailly/Siem Woldeab (UT) def. #43 Jonah Braswell/Lukas Greif (UF) 6-1
No. 14 (13 seed) Texas 4, No. 5 (4 seed) Florida 3
Friday, February 18, 2022
Seattle, Wash. • Nordstrom Tennis Center (ITA Indoors first round)
Singles – Order of Finish (5,1,4,3,6,2)
1. #57 Micah Braswell (UT) def. #92 Sam Riffice (UF) 7-5, 7-5
2. #62 Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) def. #3 Ben Shelton (UF) 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2
3. #75 Richard Ciamarra (UT) def. Duarte Vale (UF) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
4. Andy Andrade (UF) def. Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
5. #33 Mattias Siimar (UF) def. Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-1, 7-6 (4)
6. Josh Goodger (UF) def. #110 Cleeve Harper (UT) 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5)
Doubles – Order of Finish (2,1)
1. #14 Richard Ciamarra/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Sam Riffice/Ben Shelton (UF) 6-4
2. Siem Woldeab/Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) def. #44 Mattias Siimar/Andy Andrade (UF) 6-2
3. Abedallah Shelbayh/Duarte Vale (UF) vs. Micah Braswell/Chih Chi Huang (UT) 4-4, unf.
No. 1 Florida 4, No. 3 Texas 3
Sunday, January 16, 2022
Austin, Texas • Texas Tennis Center
Singles – Order of Finish (2,5,6,4,1,3)
1. Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Sam Riffice (UF) 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (6)
2. #20 Micah Braswell (UT) def. Duarte Vale (UF) 6-2, 6-3
3. #2 Ben Shelton (UF) def. Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-1
4. Richard Ciamarra (UT) def. #107 Andy Andrade (UF) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
5. #61 Mattias Siimar (UF) def. #73 Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-4, 6-4
6. #111 Josh Goodger (UF) def. Chih Chi Huang (UT) 6-2, 7-6 (7)
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2,3)
1. #23 Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Ben Shelton/Sam Riffice (UF) 6-2
2. Duarte Vale/Abedallah Shelbayh (UF) def. #13 Richard Ciamarra/Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-2
3. #51 Mattias Siimar/Andy Andrade (UF) def. Micah Braswell/Chih Chi Huang (UT) 7-6 (5)
-Texas vs. Florida in 2023-24 tournament play
ITA All-America Championships
Jeremy Jin (Florida) def. #16 Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-1
#9 Siem Woldeab/Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) def. #35 Aidan Kim/Tanapatt Nirundorn (Florida), 6-3, 7-6 (7)
-Four straight wins over Stanford
The Longhorns claimed a 4-1 victory against No. 15 Stanford on Feb. 4 at the Texas Tennis Center. It was the fourth-straight win against the Cardinal and the sixth in the last seven meetings. After taking the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 1, the Longhorns secured singles victories from Micah Braswell at No. 2, Gilles-Arnaud Bailly at No. 3, and Cleeve Harper at No. 5. Texas also led the remaining two unfinished singles matches involving Eliot Spizzirri and Jonah Braswell when play stopped.
-ITA Kickoff Weekend Texas Regional Champions
Texas hosted an ITA Kickoff Weekend regional for the 10th-straight year and advanced to the ITA National Indoor Championships for the sixth-consecutive season dating back to 2019. The Longhorns earned a pair of 4-1 wins over UTSA and Oklahoma State. The Roadrunners took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 3, but the Longhorns stormed back, winning four consecutive singles matches including Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1, Micah Braswell at No. 2, Pierre Yves-Bailly at No. 3, and Lucas Brown at No. 6. Against the Cowboys, the Longhorns secured the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3, and then received singles victories from Spizzirri at No. 1, Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 4, and Micah Braswell at No. 2.
-Edged by No. 1 Virginia
Texas took it to the third set of the final singles match, but was edged by No. 1 Virginia, 4-3, at the Texas Tennis Center on January 18. The Cavaliers claimed the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3, and although Texas was able to collect three singles wins by senior Micah Braswell at No. 2, Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 4, and Gilles-Arnaud Bailly at No. 3, Virginia secured wins at Nos. 1, 6 and 5.
-Texas sweeps first two matches of 2024
Texas secured 7-0 sweeps over Lamar (Jan. 12) and Abilene Christian (Jan. 14) without dropping a set in any of the singles and doubles contests to open the 2024 season. The match against Lamar was played at the Texas Tennis Center, while the contest against ACU moved indoors due to cold weather. The Longhorns played out all three doubles matches in both and then Eliot Spizzirri, Gilles-Arnaud Bailly, Pierre-Yves Bailly, Jonah Braswell and Lucas Brown all went 2-0 in singles. In addition to those, Micah Braswell earned a singles win against Lamar, while Siem Woldeab did against ACU.
-Longhorns sweep singles, doubles titles at Miami Spring Invite
In a weekend cut well short due to weather, Texas swept the singles and doubles titles at the Miami Spring Invite, as Micah Braswell won in singles, and the pairing of Cleeve Harper and Eliot Spizzirri won in doubles, both with 2-0 records in those categories. The Longhorns won 15 of their 20 singles matches and six of their nine doubles contests over their three days at the Miami Spring Invite.
-Harper named Big 12 Men's Tennis Player of the Week (Jan. 9)
Cleeve Harper went a combined 4-0 without dropping a set in his singles and doubles matches at the Miami Spring Invitational in Coral Gables, Fla. The two doubles victories earned Harper and his partner Eliot Spizzirri the doubles championship and included a decisive 6-1 win over No. 40 Vladislav Melnic and Adrien Burdet of Miami, along with an 8-5 win over Murphy Cassone and Martin Vergara of Arizona State. Harper was also 2-0 in singles with solid straight-sets victories over Vergara at 6-3, 6-4, and Antonio Prat of Miami, 6-4, 6-2.
-ITA Team Rankings
Texas picked up where it left off last season at No. 3 in the preseason coaches poll released January 3 by the ITA, dropped one spot to No. 4 after the match against Virginia, and moved back up to No. 3 in the most recent release on February 7. It's the 81st-straight week in the top 15 dating back to April 2018.
-ITA Individual National Rankings
Texas had five listings in the latest ITA individual fall rankings that were released on February 7. Eliot Spizzirri and Micah Braswell maintained the top two spots in the singles rankings, while Jonah Braswell was No. 37, and Pierre-Yves Bailly was No. 53. Siem Woldeab and Cleeve Harper moved out after having both been in the post-fall rankings. Spizzirri and Harper combined to be No. 5 in doubles.
Texas
Singles
No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri
No. 2 Micah Braswell
No. 37 Jonah Braswell
No. 53 Pierre-Yves Bailly
Doubles
No. 5 Cleeve Harper/Eliot Spizzirri
Florida
Singles
No. 82 Tanapatt Nirundorn
No. 89 Jeremy Jin
Doubles
No. 58 Nate Bonetto/Aidan Kim
-Berque at the Helm
An accomplished coaching veteran with over two decades of experience with some of the nation's top tennis programs, Bruce Berque was named the fifth head coach of The University of Texas Men's Tennis program on May 23, 2019. Berque is in his sixth season as head coach in Austin and has led the Longhorns to a 101-27 overall record (.789) that includes 5-1 this season, 26-4 last season, 18-11 in 2022, 24-6 in 2021, 13-3 in a 2020 season that was shortened by the pandemic, and 15-2 in 2019 en route to the guiding Texas to its first team National Championship. During Berque's five completed seasons at the helm, Texas is the only program in the nation to finish in the top four in four of those five seasons, and it is the only program nationally to make three NCAA Final Fours in that span. The Longhorns are additionally the only team to have been ranked No. 1 at some point during the regular season or post-season of three of those years. Last season, Texas finished 2023 with 26 wins, which is the second-most for the program since 2010, trailing only the 29 from the 2019 National Championship season. The Longhorns made their third NCAA Final Four appearance in the last four tournaments, while the season also saw the team claim the outright Big 12 regular season championship, make the program's first appearance in the final of the ITA National Indoor Championships, and spend the last six weeks with the nation's No. 1 ranking before finishing with a final ranking of No. 3. During an injury-plagued 2022, the team still managed an 18-11 mark with an appearance in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. His overall record at UT also includes a 24-6 mark in 2021 with an appearance in the Final Four, 13-3 in a pandemic shortened 2020, and 15-2 in 2019 en route to the guiding Texas to its first team National Championship. UT also earned the Big 12 regular season championships in 2019 and 2021.
-Back from 2023
In the sixth season under head coach Bruce Berque, Texas returns most of its singles and doubles lineups from a team that finished the regular season ranked No. 1, reached the NCAA Final Four and ITA National Indoor final and won the Big 12 Championship in 2023. The departures were seniors Chih Chi Huang and Nevin Arimilli with Huang contributing significantly at No. 3 doubles with multiple partners, while Arimilli took on a regular singles lineup spot later in the season and posted a 10-4 record (7-3 at No. 6). The rest of the roster returns with Eliot Spizzirri going 20-1 at No. 1 and 36-5 overall, Pierre-Yves Bailly posting a 14-9 overall record that included an 11-5 mark at No. 2, Micah Braswell notching a 20-12 overall record, including 12-6 at No. 3, Siem Woldeab splitting time between No. 3 and No. 4 for an 18-8 dual match mark and 30-12 overall, Cleeve Harper registering a 13-4 record at No. 5 with a 19-11 mark overall, and a split between Arimilli and Evin McDonald at No. 6 with McDonald going 6-3 in that spot. Eshan Talluri rounded out the group with a 9-5 overall record.
-Six newcomers arrive for their first dual match season on the 40
The Longhorns add six new faces for 2024 staring with sophomore transfer Jonah Braswell from Florida, who joined the team in the fall. Freshman Rahul Sachdev also arrived in the fall, while the other four are also freshmen but came in the spring. Those include Gilles-Arnaud Bailly, who is the brother of Pierre-Yves Bailly, from Bilzen, Belgium, Evan Burnett from Woodside, Calif., Timo Legout from Paris, France, and Calvin Wang from Laguna Beach, Calif.
-Fall/Summer Wrap-up
The Longhorns had a number of impressive results during 2023 fall play, highlighted by Micah Braswell and Eliot Spizzirri combining to sweep the singles titles at the two fall majors. Braswell took the ITA National Fall Championships, while Spizzirri won the ITA All-American Championships. It gave Texas the sweep for just the second time in program history and the first time by two different players. Yuya Ito previously won both tournaments in 2019. It also marked just the fourth time different players from the same school combined to win the two titles. In addition to the singles titles, Spizzirri and Cleeve Harper advanced to the doubles final of the All-American Championships. Braswell had reached the Fall Nationals with another singles title at the ITA Texas Regionals, becoming the third Longhorn since 2017 to win that championship, along with Christian Sigsgaard (2018) and Leo Telles (2017). In the semifinals, Braswell had to defeat his brother and new teammate, Jonah, to get to the final. Lucas Brown also made it to the singles consolation final. Spizzirri went on to help Team USA win the championship of the Master'U BNP Paribas Championships in Paris in December, while in the summer, he played with the USTA Collegiate Summer Team and followed that by reaching the third round of qualifying at the U.S. Open. Overall, Texas posted a 53-25 singles record in four events, including the Longhorn Invitational, with Micah Braswell leading the way with a 14-2 mark, followed by Spizzirri, who was 6-0. Jonah Braswell, Brown and Harper also posted at least six wins.
-Spizzirri leads the way for 2023 national and regional awards
Eliot Spizzirri had a historic 2023 season, being named the ITA National Player of the Year, the ITA Senior Player of the Year, the Big 12 Player of the Year, and Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and was one of six players nationally to be selected to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America First Team. Spizzirri was just the second Longhorn to hold the top singles spot at the end of the season since the rankings began in 1981, along with Steve Bryan in 1990. He was one of three ITA All-Americans on the team last season, earning those honors in both singles and doubles, to go along his partner Cleeve Harper in doubles, and Micah Braswell in singles. Harper was also tabbed to the CSC Academic All-America Second Team. In addition to those, Nevin Arimilli picked up the ITA Texas Region Most Improved Senior Award.
-Back-to-back NCAA Doubles Finalists
Eliot Spizzirri and Cleeve Harper reached the finals of the 2023 NCAA Doubles Championship after a year earlier Harper paired with Richard Ciamarra to take the title. It was the eighth all-time final appearance in doubles for Texas, and the first in consecutive seasons, following Lloyd Glasspool and Søren Hess-Olesen in 2015, who won the title, Chris Camillone and David Holiner in 2013, Chad Clark and Trey Phillips in 1995, Mitch Michulka and Michael Penman in 1990, Charles Beckman and Royce Deppe in 1985, and Gary Plock and Kevin Curren 1978.
-Pulling in the Big 12 honors
Texas earned several Big 12 Men's Tennis postseason awards in 2023, including Eliot Spizzirri as Player of the Year, five All-Big 12 selections with three of those on the first team, and a conference-leading six individual champions. Spizzirri became the sixth Longhorn to be named the Big 12 Men's Player of the Year with the last being Christian Sigsgaard, who shared the honor in 2019. The others include Søren Hess-Olesen in 2014, Dimitar Kutrovsky in 2010, Travis Helgeson in 2006 and Jean Simon in 2002. The All-Big 12 team honorees included first-team selections in Spizzirri and sophomore Pierre-Yves Bailly in singles and the duo of Spizzirri and junior Cleeve Harper in doubles. Junior Siem Woldeab earned second-team accolades in singles, while the pair of Woldeab and Bailly was also on the second team in doubles. The conference also honored individual champions at each position based on record in conference play, and Texas garnered a league-leading six with no other team having more than two. In singles, the Longhorns had a champion at the top three lines, including Spizzirri at No. 1, Bailly at No. 2, and Woldeab at No. 3 as a co-champion. Senior Nevin Arimilli was then also a co-champion at No. 5. In doubles, it was Spizzirri and Harper at No. 1, along with the combo of senior Chih Chi Huang and junior Evin McDonald at No. 3.
-Big 12 Champs
The Longhorns finished their 2023 Big 12 slate with a perfect 5-0 record and captured the outright Big 12 regular season title with a 5-2 win over No. 3 TCU in front of a record crowd of 1,332 at the Texas Tennis Center on April 15. It marked the third regular season conference championship in the last four completed years and the 10th overall in program history, including six outright. After the Horned Frogs won the doubles point, the Longhorns picked up five singles wins from Cleeve Harper at No. 5, Nevin Arimilli at No. 6, Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1, Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 2 for the clinch, and Micah Braswell at No. 3.
-First-ever final at ITA Indoor Nationals
Texas traveled to Chicago for the 2023 ITA National Indoor Championships from Feb. 17-20 and came home with the program's first trip to the tournament final and first runner-up trophy. In doing so, the Longhorns completed an impressive run that featured five victories over ranked opponents with three of those coming against the top-10, including No. 22 Cal and No. 14 Arizona at the ITA Kickoff Weekend earlier in Austin, followed by No. 9 Wake Forest, No. 1 Ohio State and No. 4 Michigan before finally falling to No. 3 TCU in Chicago.
-Year seven at the Texas Tennis Center
Texas is in its seventh year at the Texas Tennis Center with a 4-1 mark this season and a now has a 75-9 (.892) overall record in its history. Last season, the Longhorns were 13-0, and additionally, set an all-time Texas Tennis attendance record of 1,332 against TCU in a match that saw the Longhorns clinch the Big 12 regular season title. The season before that, the Longhorns posted a 10-3 record with the only losses coming to top-five teams by 4-3 scores against No. 1 Florida and No. 2 Ohio State, and 6-0 to No. 4 Baylor. Texas posted a 14-2 mark in 2021, which included wins over No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 9 Florida and No. 15 Arizona. In a shortened season in 2020, UT recorded a 9-0 record with wins against No. 8 Stanford, No. 18 Georgia and No. 21 Florida State. The Longhorns finished 2019 at 15-1, including wins over No. 1 Ohio State, No. 6 Baylor and No. 12 Columbia, along with three NCAA Tournament victories. The lone loss that year came to No. 15 USC. During its inaugural season, Texas posted a 10-2 record, including winning the 2018 Big 12 Tournament.
