Austin – No. 3 Texas Men's Tennis defeated No. 10 USC, 4-1, at the Texas Tennis Center on Sunday to conclude non-conference play and earn their fifth top-10 victory of the season. It was also the fourth-straight win against the Trojans over the last two years in the series.
The Longhorns captured a dramatic doubles point where all three matches went to a tiebreaker, winning at Nos. 3 and 1, before collecting singles victories by juniors No. 29 Siem Woldeab at No. 3, Cleeve Harper at No. 4, and No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1 for the clinch.
After the doubles point, USC squared the overall match at 1-1 with a 6-3, 6-4 win by No. 124 Bradley Frye over junior Evin McDonald at No. 6. Frye picked up the only break of each set at 3-1 in the first and 4-3 in the second and maintained those to his win.
Woldeab regained the lead for Texas with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Wojtek Marek. Woldeab broke in the second game for a 2-0 lead, but Marek broke back to put the match on serve. That's where it would stay up to a 6-5 lead for Woldeab despite Marek's next four service games going to deuce. Marek held on the first three, but the fourth was taken by Woldeab to win the set at 7-5. After Marek broke to open the second, Woldeab owned it from there with a 6-0 run to the finish, including deuce-point wins at 1-1 and 3-1.
Next, it was Harper's turn, as he extended the UT lead to 3-1 with a 7-6 (2), 6-3 win over Lodewijk Weststrate. Harper was the first to break on a deuce point at 5-3, but Weststrate was able to answer it in the next game. The last three games then stayed on serve with the final two going to deuce to send the set to a tiebreaker. There, Harper raced away from a 2-2 tie with a 5-0 run to finish the set. In the second, Harper began with a break and a hold for a 2-0 lead, but after Weststrate held and broke to even it, Harper went on a 3-0 run with a pair of breaks. Weststrate managed to stay alive with a break of his own, but Harper collected another on a deuce point to win it, 6-3.
That left two matches close to completion in the Longhorns' favor, and it was Spizzirri who got home first with a three-set win over No. 32 Stefan Dostanic, 3-6, 6-0, 6-4. In the first, Dostanic broke on a deuce point for a 2-0 lead that he made 3-0 on serve. Spizzirri got the break back on a deuce point of his own to trail 4-3, but Dostanic broke back and held for the set. Spizzirri started the second set with a deuce-point hold and proceeded to go on a 7-0 run that provided him with a 1-0 lead in the third. The following five games were all on serve until Dostanic broke for a 4-3 lead on a deuce point, but Spizzirri answered it to start a 3-0 run to the victory for Texas.
The other match that was close to finishing was sophomore No. 36 Pierre-Yves Bailly, who led No. 26 Peter Makk, 7-5, 5-2, at No. 2 when play stopped. The match started with five-straight holds to leave Bailly up 3-2, and after he earned the first break to go up 4-2, it started a string of four-streak breaks to give him a 5-4 edge. Makk then broke on a deuce point to even it, but Bailly secured the last two games for the set. Bailly broke first again in the second for a 2-1 lead that he consolidated to 3-1 on serve on a deuce point, and the rest of the set stayed on serve until play concluded at 5-2.
In the other unfinished match, senior Nevin Arimilli was even with Ryan Colby, 6-3, 3-6, 1-1 at No. 5. Arimilli bolted out to a 5-0 lead with a pair of deuce points at 3-0 and 4-0, and although Colby responded with a 3-0 stretch, Arimilli held for the set at 6-3. In the second, Arimilli took a 3-2 lead with a deuce-point break, but Colby answered it to start a 4-0 run for his set, and the third was tied at 1-1 when play stopped.
Earlier, Texas emerged from a doubles point where all three matches went to tiebreakers. McDonald and senior Chih Chi Huang were the first to finish with a 7-6 (6) win over Colby and Dostanic at No. 3. The Trojans opened the match with a hold and a break for a 2-0 lead, but the Longhorns broke back and held to even it. The match stayed on serve from there all the way to the tiebreaker despite USC claiming deuce points for leads of 5-4 and 6-5. In the breaker, each team broke the other's first serve, but Texas broke again for a 3-1 lead. After the lead moved to 4-2, the Trojans went on a 3-0 run for a 5-4 lead. However, McDonald and Huang would win four of the last five points down the stretch and turn a 6-6 tie into an 8-6 win with the final two.
The next match to reach a tiebreaker would also be the next to finish, which was the No. 4 duo of Harper and Spizzirri with a 7-6 (1) win over Frye and Makk at No. 1. That contest stayed on serve the entire way to the tiebreaker with each team winning a deuce point on serve at 2-2 for USC and 6-5 for Texas to lead. The breaker, however, was all Longhorns, as they vaulted out to a 6-0 advantage before clinching at 7-1.
In the remaining match, Woldeab and Bailly had fought back to overcome a 4-0 deficit against Marek and Samuel Rubell with all four games going to the Trojans at deuce. Each team then held to make it 5-1 USC, but Texas set out on a 5-0 run from there to the tiebreaker after coming close to a 6-0 run that the Trojans just prevented with a deuce break. Play stopped with the score tied 2-2 in the breaker.
Texas (16-2) will open Big 12 play with a pair of home matches next weekend at the Texas Tennis Center, first against No. 36 Oklahoma State on Friday at 6:30 p.m., then versus No. 44 Oklahoma on Sunday at 1 p.m. Both matches will air on Longhorn Network.
#3 Texas 4, #10 USC 1
Singles – Order of Finish (6,3,4,1)
1. #1 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. #32 Stefan Dostanic (USC) 3-6, 6-0, 6-4
2. #36 Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) vs. #26 Peter Makk (USC) 7-5, 5-2, unf.
3. #29 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Wojtek Marek (USC) 7-5, 6-1
4. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Lodewijk Weststrate (USC) 7-6 (2), 6-3
5. Nevin Arimilli (UT) vs. Ryan Colby (USC) 6-3, 3-6, 1-1, unf.
6. #124 Bradley Frye (USC) def. Evin McDonald (UT) 6-3, 6-4
Doubles – Order of Finish (3,1)
1. #4 Eliot Spizzirri/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Bradley Frye/Peter Makk (USC) 7-6 (1)
2. Siem Woldeab/Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) vs. Wojtek Marek/Samuel Rubell (USC) 6-6 (2-2), unf.
3. Chih Chi Huang/Evin McDonald (UT) def. Ryan Colby/Stefan Dostanic (USC) 7-6 (6)
