Austin – Texas Men's Tennis junior Eliot Spizzirri has been named Big 12 Men's Tennis Player of the Week for the week ending Feb. 26, the conference announced Tuesday.
It marks the third time he has earned the honor this season and the eighth time in his career. The Longhorns have garnered four of the awards this year following Spizzirri's first two on Feb. 14 and Jan. 24, and junior Siem Woldeab's the week before that.
Spizzirri led Texas to a 5-2 win over No. 40 Texas A&M on Sunday with a 6-3, 7-5 win over No. 63 Noah Schachter at No. 1 singles, along with a 6-2 win with partner Cleeve Harper over Schachter and Trey Hilderbrand at No. 1 that helped secure the doubles point against the Aggies.
Spizzirri and Harper were first off in doubles on the way to the point being clinched at No. 2 for a 1-0 lead for the Longhorns. Spizzirri's singles victory then provided a 3-0 lead in the match that was clinched at 4-1 before the 5-2 final.
For the year, Spizzirri is now 22-3 overall and 9-0 in dual matches, all of which have been at the No. 1 line, and two weeks ago he became the first Longhorn since 2015 to ascend to No. 1 in the ITA singles rankings. His only three losses this year have come against Ethan Quinn of Georgia in tournament play, who later reached No. 1, himself, and Nishesh Basavareddy of Stanford, who later was ranked No. 2, in the final of the ITA Fall National Championships. Spizzirri lost twice to Quinn in the fall, but later avenged those by defeating Quinn when he was ranked No. 1 in a dual match win over Georgia. Spizzirri is now 15-0 against all other ranked singles players.
In doubles, he and Harper are 8-5 in dual matches this season with all of those being at No. 1, including two top-20 wins. Spizzirri has led the Longhorns to a, 11-2 record this season with eight top-25 wins, six of which have been in the top-15, including victories over No. 1 Ohio State, No. 4 Michigan and No. 9 Wake Forest that propelled the Longhorns to reach the first ITA National Indoors final in program history. Spizzirri was named the Most Outstanding Player of the ITA Indoors, and to the All-Tournament Team at No. 1 singles. The two team losses this season have come on the road to No. 2 Ohio State, and then to No. 3 TCU in the ITA Indoors final before the Horned Frogs later rose to No. 1.
Texas returns to the court on Thursday, March 9, for a match at No. 24 Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif. at 12 p.m. PT/2 p.m. CT.