Austin – No. 4 Texas Men's Tennis (4-1) claimed a 4-1 victory over UTSA (1-2) on Saturday afternoon at the Texas Tennis Center. With the victory, the Longhorns advance to the ITA Kickoff Weekend regional final and will play Oklahoma State on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT at the Texas Tennis Center. The winner of each regional site will advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships on Feb. 16-19 in New York, N.Y.
After UTSA took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 3, the Longhorns stormed back in singles play, winning four consecutive matches to take the match. Texas received singles victories from senior No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1, senior No. 2 Micah Braswell at No. 2, junior No. 49 Pierre Yves-Bailly at No. 3, and sophomore Lucas Brown at No. 6.
In doubles, the tandem of Pierre-Yves Bailly and Lucas Brown fell to UTSA's Miguel Alonso and Tiago Torres, 6-4 at No. 3. The Longhorns served first, and despite three deuce-point wins for 2-1, 3-2 and 4-4, the Roadrunners picked up the only break of the match on a deuce-point win of their own for a 5-4 lead. They then held in the next game to take the match.
On No. 1, Spizzirri and Cleeve Harper found themselves in a tight match against Alan Magadan and Tomas Pinho of UTSA. Although there were four deuce points in the stretch, both duos held serve until UTSA broke to go up 6-5. Not to be outdone, Spizzirri and Harper answered with a break of their own to win the next game and force a tiebreaker. Spizzirri and Harper jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the tiebreaker, but UTSA answered with a 3-0 run for the lead. Texas then tied it, 3-3, but the Roadrunners recaptured the lead on the next point and maintained to a 7-5 win to secure the doubles point.
In the remaining doubles match at No. 2, Micah and Jonah Braswell stormed back from a 5-3 deficit to make it 6-6 and force a tiebreaker against UTSA's Garrett Skelly and Jackson Ross. The Braswell brothers were up 2-1 in the tiebreaker when play was stopped.
In singles, Spizzirri was the first to finish, registering a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 1 over Magadan. After being knotted up at 2-2 early in the first set, Spizzirri went on an 8-0 run that included two deuce-point wins in the first set for 4-2 and 6-2. That set him up with a 4-0 lead in the second before Magadan earned a break fo 4-1. However, Spizzirri closed it out to give Texas their first point of the day and even the overall score, 1-1.
On No. 3, Pierre-Yves Bailly gave Texas a 2-1 lead by defeating No. 115 Tomas Pinho, 6-2, 6-1. Bailly opened the match with a break and took an early 2-0 lead before Pinho held for 2-1, however Bailly went on a 3-0 run capped by a deuce-point hold for 5-1, and both players held their next serve for 6-2. In the second set, Bailly opened things up with a big deuce-point break to start another 3-0 run, and after Pinho picked up a break for 3-1, Bailly went 3-0 again to the victory.
Lucas Brown then defeated Garrett Skelly, 6-2, 6-2, on No. 6 to extend the team lead to 3-1. Brown opened the first set with a 3-0 run, breaking Skelly twice with the second time on a deuce point. Skelly was able answer it with a deuce-point break of his own for 3-1, but Brown won the next two game for 5-1 and closed, 6-2. In the second set, Skelly opened with a deuce-point hold, but Brown answered by going on a 5-0 run and only dropped one more game on a deuce-point where he had a break opportunity, but he finished on serve in the next game.
The clinching match for Texas was Micah Braswell's 6-3, 6-2 win over Tiago Torres at No. 2. Three of the first four games were decided by a deuce point, with each player breaking and holding starting with Torres to put it back on serve at 2-2. Braswell then went on a 3-0 run that included a big deuce point win to go up, 5-2. Torres held serve to answer, but Braswell closed out the first set immediately after. In the second set, both Braswell and Torres earned a break to open, but Braswell went on a 4-0 run for a 5-1 lead. After Torres won the next game, Braswell closed out the match by winning another big deuce point to give UT the win by a score of 4-1.
When play stopped, Texas was even in one match at one set a piece and trailed in another. Harper had just won the second set, 6-4, after dropping the first set to Jackson Ross, 6-1 at No. 4, while Danijal Muminovic led Jonah Braswell, 6-2, 4-3 at No. 5.
In the match at No. 4, Ross went on two separate 3-0 runs in the first set with Harper picking up a hold for 3-1. However, in the second set, Harper stormed back. After finding himself down 4-3, Harper won the next three consecutive games, including two on deuce points for 4-4 and to win, 6-4.
On No. 5, Muminovic opened with a 5-1 run and finished with a 6-2 first-set victory. In the second, Braswell opened with a deuce-point break, but Muminovic grabbed the next two games. The following three all went to deuce with Braswell securing the first two and Muminovic the last to even it, 3-3. Muminovic then took the last game to lead 4-3 at the conclusion.
#4 Texas 4, UTSA 1
Singles – Order of Finish (1,3,6,2)
1. #1 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Alan Magadan (UTSA) 6-2, 6-1
2. #2 Micah Braswell (UT) def. Tiago Torres (UTSA) 6-3, 6-2
3. #49 Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) def. #115 Tomas Pinho (UTSA) 6-2, 6-1
4. #82 Cleeve Harper (UT) vs. Jackson Ross (UTSA) 1-6, 6-4, 0-0, unf.
5. #28 Jonah Braswell (UT) vs. Danijal Muminovic (UTSA) 2-6, 3-4, unf.
6. Lucas Brown (UT) def. Garrett Skelly (UTSA) 6-2, 6-2
Doubles – Order of Finish (3,1)
1. Alan Magadan/Tomas Pinho (UTSA) def. #3 Eliot Spizzirri/Cleeve Harper (UT) 7-6 (5)
2. Micah Braswell/Jonah Braswell (UT) vs. Garrett Skelly/Jackson Ross (UTSA) 6-6 (2-1), unf.
3. Miguel Alonso/Tiago Torres (UTSA) def. Pierre-Yves Bailly/Lucas Brown (UT) 6-4
