Austin – Men's Tennis junior Eliot Spizzirri reached No. 1 in the initial spring Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) singles and doubles rankings released on Wednesday. In doing so, Spizzirri became the first Longhorn to earn the top spot in singles since Søren Hess-Olesen in 2015.
So far this year, Spizzirri has posted a 17-3 overall singles record with a 4-0 start in dual matches playing at the No. 1 position in all six of Texas' contests. The dual match wins include a victory over then-No. 1 Ethan Quinn of Georgia on Jan. 22. He had previously been ranked No. 3 at the conclusion of fall tournament play, having only lost to Quinn twice, and eventual No. 2 Nishesh Basavareddy of Stanford in the final of the ITA Fall National Championships.Â
Spizzirri registered eight ranked wins in the fall, all of which were against opponents in the top 65, while seven of those were in the top 45, five were in the top 30 and two were in the top 10. He then opened the spring with another top-10 win at the Miami Spring Invite prior to the start of dual match play. Of his 17 total wins, only three have gone to three sets with one of those being the victory over Quinn.
The Longhorns checked in to the latest rankings with six singles players and one doubles pair, as Spizzirri also garnered a top-five doubles ranking partnered with junior Cleeve Harper. The other five ranked in singles were junior Siem Woldeab at No. 25, sophomore Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 33, junior Micah Braswell at No. 65, Harper at No. 112, and junior Eshan Talluri at No. 113. The team ranking fell one spot from the previous week to No. 7 after its first loss of the season on the road at No. 2 Ohio State.
Texas returns home to the Texas Tennis Center to face Pepperdine on Friday, Feb. 10, at 5 p.m. CT, followed by a rematch with No. 17 Arizona on Sunday, Feb. 12, at 1 p.m. CT. The Wildcats just visited Austin for the ITA Kickoff Weekend with the Longhorns winning the matchup with No. 14 Arizona, 4-0, on January 29.
