Austin – No. 8 Texas Men's Tennis (14-3, 2-0) posted a 5-0 sweep over No. 2 TCU (16-2, 1-1) on Sunday afternoon at the Texas Tennis Center. It was the Longhorns' fifth-straight win and third-consecutive sweep, all against ranked opponents. It also avenged a 4-3 loss to the Horned Frogs in Fort Worth on March 2 and provided Texas with wins over both No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 TCU this season.
After taking the doubles point with wins at Nos. 3 and 2, the Longhorns claimed four singles matches with victories from senior No. 2 Micah Braswell at No. 2, junior Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 4, freshman No. 41 Gilles-Arnaud Bailly at No. 3, and senior No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1.
"(The win) means there's a building of confidence," head coach Bruce Berque said. "I don't think these guys ever doubted what they were capable of when we had a couple of losses early in the season. And at some point, you maybe feel some pressure that you're falling short of expectations, but changing up the doubles lineup after the last TCU match was a lift to us. We're getting a lot more confident in our doubles play, and I know that once we step on the singles court with the doubles point in our back pocket, there's a sense we're not going to be denied, and if we focus on every court and play hard all the way through, I think that's going to be the case more often than not."
In doubles, Micah Braswell and senior Cleeve Harper were the first off the court with an efficient 6-0 shutout win over Pedro Vives and Tomas Jirousek at No. 3. The Texas tandem opened the match with a deuce-point hold and never looked back, winning all of the remaining games.
On court 2, Pierre-Yves Bailly and senior Eshan Talluri secured the doubles point with a 6-3 win over No. 51 Duncan Chan and Lui Maxted. The Longhorn duo jumped out to an early 3-0 lead after claiming consecutive deuce points in the second and third games. Chan and Maxted managed to hold serve to end Talluri and Bailly's run, but the Texas duo held on a deuce point in the following game for 4-1. TCU's tandem answered with a deuce-point hold of their own for 4-2 and threatened to break in the next game before Talluri served back-to-back aces to earn the Texas duo another deuce-point hold. The match would continue to stay on serve from there for the 6-3 victory.
Spizzirri and senior Siem Woldeab were in the midst of a 3-0 run for a 6-5 lead against Jake Fearnley and Jack Pinnington at No. 1 when play stopped. Fearnley and Pinnington opened with a deuce-point break followed by a hold for 2-0, but Spizzirri and Woldeab quickly answered with a 3-0 run for a 3-2 advantage. At 3-3, the Horned Frog duo broke then held on a deuce point for 5-3, but Spizzirri and Woldeab once again answered with a 3-0 run before the match was left unfinished.
In singles play, Micah Braswell was the first off the court with a 6-4, 6-3 win over No. 6 Fearnley at No. 2. Fearnley began the match with a break, but Braswell returned the favor to begin a 3-0 run. Fearnly ended Braswell's run with another break, but Braswell would break then hold for 5-2. Fearnly clawed back with a hold followed by a break to narrow Braswell's lead to 5-4, but the Texas senior closed out the set with a break in the next game. The first five games of the second set stayed on serve before Braswell earned a deuce-point break for 4-2. Fearnley answered with a deuce-point break of his own, but Braswell broke back again for 5-3 and then served out the match.
Pierre-Yves Bailly was next off the singles courts with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over No. 72 Lui Maxted at No. 4. Bailly opened with a break followed by a deuce-point hold for 2-0, but Maxted evened the set with a hold then a break. However, Bailly then set out on a 6-0 run, including a deuce-point hold for 4-2, to close out the first set and provide a 2-0 advantage in the second. Maxted stopped Bailly's run with a hold for 2-1, but Bailly responded with a 3-0 run which saw the junior collect back-to-back games decided at deuce point for 5-1. Maxted held then broke for 5-3, but Bailly broke back to win the match.
The clinching match for Texas was Gilles-Arnaud Bailly's 6-1, 6-2 win over No. 57 Vives on court 3. Bailly sprinted out to a 5-0 lead, which featured a deuce-point hold in the third game. Vives ended Bailly's run with a deuce-point hold for 5-1, but Bailly answered with a hold to clinch the set then a break and a hold to open the second. At 2-0, the next four games stayed on serve, with Bailly earning a deuce-point hold in the set's fourth game. Bailly went on to break then hold to clinch the conference win for the Horns.
With the match clinched, the teams left the contests at Nos. 5 and 6 unfinished but played out the top-10 match-up at No. 1 where Spizzirri prevailed over No. 8 Pinnington in a sensational third-set superbreaker, 4-6, 7-5, 1-0 (12). Pinnington opened the on a 3-0 run, which saw him win the first two games that were decided by deuce point, but Spizzirri answered with a 4-0 run, picking up a deuce-point break along the way. At that point, Pinnington went on another 3-0 run where he earned consecutive deuce points to claim the set, 6-4. Similar to the first set, the second set was highly contested with seven of the twelve games decided by deuce points. Spizzirri opened it with a deuce-point break, then held for 2-0. The next five games were all held with the middle three all at deuce point, before Pinnington earned a break for 4-4. Pinnington then held on a deuce point for 5-4, extending his win streak to three games, and had a match point at deuce on Spizzirri's ensuing serve, but Spizzirri fended it off to even it, 5-5, then broke to go ahead, 6-5. In the following game, the Texas senior forced a superbreaker with a deuce-point hold for 7-5.
In the 10-point breaker, Spizzirri opened with a mini-break and then held both serves for a 3-0 lead. With Spizzirri later leading, 5-2, Pinnington rallied back to win the next five points for a 7-5 advantage. Spizzirri ended the run with a mini-break for 7-6, but Pinnington answered it for 8-6. The next two points belonged to Spizzirri for the tie, but Pinnington reclaimed the lead for another match point, which was the first of three deflected by Spizzirri in the superbreaker, trailing 9-8, 10-9 and 11-10. At that point, Spizzirri won two straight to give himself his first match point at 12-11, and although Pinnington diverted that one, Spizzirri captured the match on the next one for a 14-12 win.
Woldeab and Harper's matches were then both left unfinished with Woldeab leading Jirousek, 7-5, 3-1, at No. 5 when play ended. Woldeab won all five of the match's games that were decided by deuce points, winning three consecutive to begin the second set. At No. 6, Harper was about to begin a third set with Chan after splitting the first two sets, 3-6, 6-2. Harper finished the second set on a 5-0 run after establishing momentum with a deuce-point hold.
Next up, the Horns will face BYU in Provo, Utah, on Thursday, March 28 at 4 p.m. MT/5 p.m. CT in the first of a string of four-straight road matches.
#8 Texas 5, #2 TCU 0
Singles – Order of Finish (2,4,3,1)
1. #1 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. #8 Jack Pinnington (TCU) 4-6, 7-5, 1-0 (12)
2. #2 Micah Braswell (UT) def. #6 Jake Fearnley (TCU) 6-4, 6-3
3. #41 Gilles-Arnaud Bailly (UT) def. #57 Pedro Vives (TCU) 6-1, 6-2
4. Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) def. #72 Lui Maxted (TCU) 6-2, 6-3
5. Siem Woldeab (UT) vs. Tomas Jirousek (TCU) 7-5, 3-1, unf.
6. Cleeve Harper (UT) vs. Duncan Chan (TCU) 3-6, 6-2, unf.
Doubles – Order of Finish (3,2)
1. #53 Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) vs. Jake Fearnley/Jack Pinnington (TCU) 6-5, unf.
2. Pierre-Yves Bailly/Eshan Talluri (UT) def. #51 Duncan Chan/Lui Maxted (TCU) 6-3
3. Micah Braswell/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Pedro Vives/Tomas Jirousek (TCU) 6-0
