Austin – No. 1 Men's Tennis had three singles players and one doubles pair selected to compete individually in the 2023 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championships, the NCAA announced Tuesday.
The singles players are junior Eliot Spizzirri, who was named the top seed, along with sophomore Pierre-Yves Bailly and junior Siem Woldeab, while the doubles team is Spizzirri with junior Cleeve Harper as the 3 seed. Additionally, junior Micah Braswell was named one of 10 alternates for a singles bid should there be withdrawals.
The field is composed of 64 singles players and 32 doubles teams and will be conducted May 22-27 in Lake Nona, Fla., after the conclusion of the team championship.
With Spizzirri in singles and the duo of Spizzirri and Harper in doubles both earning seeded positioning, they are automatically qualified for All-America status by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), which will be announced at a later date.
In the selection process, Spizzirri received the automatic qualification for the Big 12 Conference, while the others were all at-large choices. This will be the second time for both Spizzirri and Bailly in the singles field with it being the second straight for Bailly, while Spizzirri was selected in 2021 and was an alternate in 2022 after playing much of that season with an injury. It will be the first appearance in the singles championship for Woldeab, however he played in the doubles tournament with Spizzirri last season, making it also Spizzirri's second-straight selection in doubles. It is also the second-straight bid for Harper in doubles, who won the National Championship last year with partner Richard Ciamarra.
The Big 12 Player of the Year, Spizzirri earned the No. 1 spot in the ITA singles rankings on Feb. 8 and has maintained it since. He was a first-team All-Big 12 selection in both singles and doubles and been named to the Big 12 Championship and ITA National Indoor Championship all-tournament teams. He was also selected the Most Outstanding Player at the ITA Indoors after leading Texas to its first-ever appearance in the final. Spizzirri is 32-4 overall this season, including 19-1 in dual match play, all at No. 1 singles. He is 24-1 against ranked foes this season, including 11-0 against the top 25.
In doubles, he and Harper were first-team All-Big 12 and are ranked No. 3 by the ITA. They are 20-13 overall this season and 15-9 in dual matches, including six top-20 wins.
A first-team All-Big 12 selection, Bailly is currently ranked No. 30 in singles by the ITA and has been rated as high as No. 23 this season. He is 14-8 this year overall, including a 12-7 mark in dual matches, playing primarily at No. 2 singles where he was this year's Big 12 Individual Champion.
Woldeab, a second-team All-Big 12 honoree in singles and the league's Individual Co-Champion at No. 3, has been ranked as high as No. 13 this year with his current rating sitting at No. 52. He is 26-10 overall and 15-7 in dual matches, playing mostly at No. 4 where he is 8-6, but has also registered a 6-1 mark at No. 3. He got off to a blistering start in fall play, winning 11 of his first 12 matches with all but one of the wins coming against top-100 opponents.
Braswell has missed significant time this season due to injury, but has still been ranked as high as No. 30 in singles by the ITA this season. He is 13-11 overall and 9-9 in dual matches, mostly at No. 3 where he is 8-6. Of his 13 wins, eight have been against ranked opponents.
Texas earned the No. 1 overall seed in the upcoming NCAA Team Championship and will host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 6, in the first round at the Texas Tennis Center. The winner of that match will square off against the winner of No. 37 Pepperdine and No. 41 UTSA at 1 p.m. on Sunday, May 7, with free admission to all matches.
2023 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championships
Singles
1 seed Eliot Spizzirri
At-large Pierre-Yves Bailly
At large Siem Woldeab
Singles Alternate
Micah Braswell
Doubles
3 seed Cleeve Harper/Eliot Spizzirri
