Austin – No. 1 Texas Men's Tennis downed No. 34 Oklahoma State, 5-2, to win its Big 12 Conference opener on Friday at the Texas Tennis Center.
The Longhorns secured the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 3 and followed with singles victories by juniors No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1, No. 29 Siem Woldeab at No. 3, and Evin McDonald at No. 6 for the clinch, along with senior Nevin Arimilli at No. 5.
After Texas took a 1-0 lead with the doubles point, Spizzirri produced a 6-2, 6-3 win over his former juniors doubles partner No. 90 Tyler Zink at No. 1. With the first set tied at 2-2, Spizzirri rallied from a 0-40 deficit to hold serve and start a 4-0 run to the finish with three of those coming on deuce points. In the second, Spizzirri captured the only break of the set on another deuce point for a 3-1 lead, and although there would be three more deuce points, the rest of the match stayed on serve to his win.
A short time later, Woldeab extended the Longhorns' lead to 3-0 with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Chase Ferguson. After Woldeab broke for a 2-0 lead, Ferguson broke back to put the set on serve again where it stayed until Woldeab broke again at 5-3 and then served it out. In the second, Woldeab bolted out to a 4-0 lead, and although Ferguson pulled back within one at 4-3 with the last two at deuce, that would be as close as he would get, as Woldeab took the final two games and the match.
Oklahoma State got on the board with a 6-4, 6-2 win by Isaac Becroft over sophomore No. 36 Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 2. Bailly led 3-2 on serve in the first, but a deuce-point hold began a 3-0 run for Becroft on his way to a 6-4 win. Becroft then used deuce points, first for an opening break in the second, and then for a 5-1 lead, before the 6-2 final.
That set the stage for McDonald to get his second clinch of the season, after doing so against Texas A&M on Feb. 26, with a 6-4, 7-6 (7) win over Alessio Basile. In the first set, McDonald jumped out to a 4-0 lead, and although Basile attempted a comeback by cutting the lead to one at 5-4, McDonald closed it on serve in the next game. In the second, McDonald broke first on a deuce point at 2-1 and consolidated to 3-1 on serve, but Basile got the break back on a deuce point at 3-3 and regained the lead with a hold. From there, the rest of the set stayed on serve to the tiebreaker where Basile turned a 3-3 tie into a 6-3 advantage. However, McDonald fought off two match points to start a 4-0 run as part of winning six of the next seven for the 9-7 decision.
That left two matches on the court with the first to finish being Arimilli's 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (5) superbreaker win against Francisco Pini. It was Arimilli who moved out to a 4-1 lead in the first set, but Pini responded with a 5-0 run to take it. In the second, Arimilli again established a lead at 3-0, and again, Pini came back and tied it at 3-3. However, this time it was Arimilli who controlled the rest of the set with another 3-0 run to win it. At that point, the players went to a superbreaker where Arimilli used a 6-0 run to turn a 3-2 deficit into an 8-3 lead en route to the 10-5 win and a 5-1 lead for Texas.
The final match also went down to the wire with Alex Garcia edging junior Cleeve Harper, 1-6, 6-3, 7-5, at No. 4. Harper used a pair of 3-0 runs to take the first set, but after each player picked up a break in the second, Garcia held for a 4-3 lead on a deuce point to start a 3-0 run to even the match. The third set then stayed on serve to 5-5 before Garcia prevailed on consecutive deuce points to win.
Earlier in doubles, the No. 4 duo of Harper and Spizzirri got off the court first with an efficient 6-1 win over the No. 78 pair of Ferguson and Zink at No. 1. The Longhorns raced out to a 5-0 lead with only one game going to deuce at 4-0, and then finished the match on another deuce point for the win.
The match at No. 3 was next with McDonald and senior Chih Chi Huang taking a 6-3 victory over Garcia and Pini to secure the point. Despite each team winning a deuce point, the match stayed on serve to a 4-3 lead for Texas. McDonald and Huang then captured a second-straight deuce point for the first break at 5-3 before serving out for the win.
In the remaining contest at No. 2, Woldeab and Bailly led Basile and Carl Roothman, 5-2, when play finished. There was also only one break in that match, which came at 4-2 for the Longhorns, who then held to 5-2.
Texas (17-2, 1-0) will continue its homestand versus No. 44 Oklahoma on Sunday at 1 p.m. with the match airing on Longhorn Network.
#1 Texas 5, #34 Oklahoma State 2
Singles – Order of Finish (1,3,2,6,5,4)
1. #1 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. #90 Tyler Zink (OSUM) 6-2, 6-3
2. Isaac Becroft (OSUM) def. #36 Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 6-4, 6-2
3. #29 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Chase Ferguson (OSUM) 6-3, 6-3
4. Alex Garcia (OSUM) def. Cleeve Harper (UT) 1-6, 6-3, 7-5
5. Nevin Arimilli (UT) def. Francisco Pini (OSUM) 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (5)
6. Evin McDonald (UT) def. Alessio Basile (OSUM) 6-4, 7-6 (7)
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,3)
1. #4 Eliot Spizzirri/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. #78 Chase Ferguson/Tyler Zink (OSUM) 6-1
2. Siem Woldeab/Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) vs. Alessio Basile/Carl Roothman (OSUM) 5-2, unf.
3. Chih Chi Huang/Evin McDonald (UT) def. Alex Garcia/Francisco Pini (OSUM) 6-3
