Austin – No. 1 Texas Men's Tennis downed No. 39 Oklahoma, 6-1, on Sunday at the Texas Tennis Center to complete a home sweep of their opening Big 12 matches against the Sooners and Oklahoma State.
The Longhorns secured the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 2 and followed with singles victories by juniors Cleeve Harper at No. 4, No. 29 Siem Woldeab at No. 3, No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1 to clinch, sophomore No. 36 Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 2, and senior Nevin Arimilli at No. 5.
After Texas took a 1-0 lead with the doubles point, Oklahoma picked up their only point of the match to even it with a win by Luis Alvarez over senior Chih Chi Huang, 6-4, 6-2, at No. 6.
From there, the rest of the scoring belonged to the Longhorns starting with Harper's 6-3, 7-6 (1) win over Justin Schlageter. Harper used a deuce-point break in the second game to move out to a 3-0 lead, and while Schlageter's next serve also went to deuce, he held for 3-1 before later getting the break back to make it 4-3. However, Harper answered that break in the next game and serve out for the set. In the second, Harper was again the first to break at 2-1 and consolidated it to 3-1 on serve. Two games later, Schlageter broke to even it, but Harper responded again with another break and a hold for 5-3. He then had a chance to serve for the match up 5-4, but Schlageter was able to stay alive with a deuce-point break. The last two games were then on serve to a tiebreaker where it was all Harper, as he won the first three and last four points for a 7-1 win and 2-1 lead for Texas.
A short time later, Woldeab extended that lead with a similar score as he defeated Siphos Montsi, 6-2, 7-6 (10). Woldeab earned an opening break before holding for 2-0, and although Montsi got the break back on a deuce point at 2-2, the rest of the set was Woldeab's, as he went on a 4-0 run started by two deuce-point wins. In the second, Montsi won deuce points on both of his first two serves and sandwiched a break in between for a 3-0 lead. Woldeab put the set back on serve with a break at 5-4, and that's where it stayed to the tiebreaker. There, the players took turns with 3-0 runs starting with Woldeab, who then won the next two points for a 5-3 advantage. He also held a lead of 6-4, but that would be the largest margin the rest of the way. Despite the frame lasting 22 points, Woldeab never trailed as the players exchanged points starting at 6-5 until Woldeab snapped the string to win at 12-10. Overall, there were six ties, and Woldeab had six match points before converting a seventh for the victory.
Moments after that, Spizzirri provided the clinch with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Alex Martinez. Even though the first three games went to deuce, they stayed on serve, as did the fourth, until Martinez used a deuce point in the fifth game for the only break of the set. Once the second started, it didn't take Spizzirri long to record his first break, doing so in the second game for a 3-0 start. Although Martinez eventually got that back to pull within 4-3, Spizzirri immediately answered with another and then served out the set. In the third, Martinez held in the opening game, but Spizzirri set out on a 5-0 run to take control on his way to the 6-2 finish and a 4-1 lead for the Longhorns.
That left two matches on the court that had both gone to three sets and both finished within seconds of each other. Bailly was first with a 6-7 (1), 6-1, 6-1 win over Jordan Hasson. After each player used a deuce-point break as the foundation of a 3-0 run, starting with Bailly, the rest of the set stayed on serve to a tiebreaker. Bailly won the first point there, but Hasson took the rest for a 7-1 win. However, the rest of the match was a different story, as Bailly captured 12 of the final 14 games for his win with only three going to deuce.
Arimilli was then right behind him with a ranked win, defeating No. 121 Nathan Han, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3. Han actually posted the first break of the match at 2-1, but after the next three games stayed on serve to provide him a 4-2 lead, Arimill closed on a 4-0 run for the set. In the second, Han again moved out to a lead, this time 4-0, but this time he was able to maintain, recording wins in three of the four deuce-point games in the set. That sent it to a third, where Arimilli delivered the only break for a 5-3 lead before closing out the day on serve and providing the 6-1 overall final.
Earlier in doubles, the No. 4 duo of Harper and Spizzirri got off the court first for the second-straight match and their fourth-straight victory with a 6-4 win over Han and Baptiste Anselmo at No. 1. After an opening deuce-point hold to start the match, the Longhorns picked up the only break of the contest for a 2-0 lead and maintained that to the win.
There would also be only one break in the match at No. 2, a 6-4 win by Woldeab and Bailly over Martinez and Schlageter. The Longhorns secured that on a deuce point at 5-4 before serving out for the win and a 1-0 lead for Texas.
In the remaining contest at No. 3, Huang and junior Evin McDonald partnered for the third-straight match and were even at 5-5 against Montsi and Hasson when play stopped. That contest stayed on serve the entire way despite four of the first five games going to deuce.
Texas (18-2, 2-0) next heads out for its first Big 12 road match of the season, visiting No. 31 Texas Tech in Lubbock on Thursday, April 6, at 5 p.m. CT.
#1 Texas 6, #39 Oklahoma 1
Singles – Order of Finish (6,4,3,1,2,5)
1. #1 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Alex Martinez (OU) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
2. #36 Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) def. Jordan Hasson (OU) 6-7 (1), 6-1, 6-1
3. #29 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Siphos Montsi (OU) 6-2, 7-6 (10)
4. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Justin Schlageter (OU) 6-3, 7-6 (1)
5. Nevin Arimilli (UT) def. #121 Nathan Han (OU) 6-4, 2-6, 6-3
6. Luis Alvarez (OU) def. Chih Chi Huang (UT) 6-4, 6-2
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2)
1. #4 Eliot Spizzirri/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Baptiste Anselmo/Nathan Han (OU) 6-4
2. Siem Woldeab/Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) def. Alex Martinez/Justin Schlageter (OU) 6-4
3. Chih Chi Huang/Evin McDonald (UT) vs. Siphos Montsi/Jordan Hasson (OU) 5-5, unf.