No. 9 Men's Tennis preview: at No. 44 USC
No. 9 Texas at No. 44 USC
Team Records: Texas (11-3, 0-0 Big 12), USC (5-8, 0-0 Pac-12)
When: Sunday, March 17, 2024, 1 p.m. PT/3 p.m. CT
Where: Marks Tennis Stadium, Los Angeles, Calif.
Live Stats: https://hookem.at/MTN-Stats
Live Video (below live stats on page): https://hookem.at/MTN-Watch
Updated Statistics
Notes
-First serve
Texas enters the match against USC with an 11-3 record, including wins over No. 15 Stanford, No. 13 Michigan, No. 4 South Carolina and No. 1 Ohio State. The Longhorns had chances to emerge from all three defeats, which have included 4-3 scores to No. 1 Virginia and No. 2 TCU, along with a 4-2 decision to No. 14 Arizona at the ITA Indoors. Both matches against the Cavaliers and Horned Frogs came down to the third set of the final singles contest, including the Longhorns holding a match point in the second set of the one against TCU.
-USC Series: USC leads, 23-11
USC leads the overall series with Texas, 23-11, however the Longhorns have won four straight and five of the last six. That includes a 4-1 win in Austin last year, and a trio of 4-3 victories with one coming two years ago, and two more the year prior to that. Last year, the Longhorns won a pair of tiebreakers for the doubles point as all three doubles contests when to breakers, and followed with singles wins by Siem Woldeab, Cleeve Harper and Eliot Spizzirri. Two years ago was a regular season contest in Los Angeles, while in the previous year, the teams first played in the consolation bracket of the ITA Indoors in Champaign, Ill., when USC was No. 1, then in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships on the USTA Campus in Orlando, Fla. The teams also met twice in 2019 when the Longhorns topped the Trojans, 4-0, in the semifinals of the ITA Indoors in Chicago, and USC took a 4-2 win in Austin later in the year. Texas had been scheduled to visit USC in Los Angeles in 2020, but the match was canceled just days before due to the pandemic.
Last Four Meetings
#3 Texas 4, #10 USC 1
Sunday, March 26, 2023
Texas Tennis Center • Austin, Texas
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)
No. 15 Texas 4, No. 9 USC 3
Tuesday, March 15, 2022
David X. Marks Tennis Stadium • Los Angeles, Calif.
Singles – Order of Finish (6,2,1,4,3,5)
1. #7 Stefan Dostanic (USC) def. #38 Micah Braswell (UT) 7-5, 6-4
2. #32 Richard Ciamarra (UT) def. Wojtek Marek (USC) 6-3, 6-2
3. Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. #30 Peter Makk (USC) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
4. Siem Woldeab (UT) def. #116 Bradley Frye (USC) 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (6)
5. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Ryder Jackson (USC) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
6. Ryan Colby (USC) def. Evin McDonald (UT) 6-4, 6-0
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,3)
1. #14 Stefan Dostanic/Bradley Frye (USC) def. Micah Braswell/Chih Chi Huang (UT) 6-4
2. Ryder Jackson/Wojtek Marek (USC) vs. Richard Ciamarra/Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 5-5, unf.
3. Peter Makk/Lodewijk Weststrate (USC) def. Evin McDonald/Siem Woldeab (UT) 7-5
No. 4 Texas 4, No. 12 USC 3
Thursday, May 20, 2021
USTA National Campus • Orlando, Fla. (NCAA Quarterfinals)
Singles – Order of Finish (2,6,1,5,3,4)
1. #49 Daniel Cukierman (USC) def. #23 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 6-4, 2-6, 6-1
2. #38 Micah Braswell (UT) def. #52 Riley Smith (USC) 6-4, 6-3
3. #116 Stefan Dostanic (USC) def. #75 Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
4. #108 Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Bradley Frye (USC) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
5. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Lodewijk Weststrate (USC) 6-2, 0-6, 6-3
6. Jake Sands (USC) def. Evin McDonald (UT) 6-4, 6-4
Doubles – Order of Finish (2,3,1)
1. #11 Siem Woldeab/Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. #10 Daniel Cukierman/Riley Smith (USC) 7-6 (4)
2. Bradley Frye/Stefan Dostanic (USC) def. #78 Cleeve Harper/Chih Chi Huang (UT) 6-2
3. Micah Braswell/Payton Holden (UT) def. Jake Sands/Ryder Jackson (USC) 6-4
No. 5 Texas 4, No. 1 USC 3
Sat., Feb. 13, 2021
Champaign, Ill. (ITA Indoors Consolation)
Singles – Order of Finish (5,1,2,3,6,4)
1. #1 Daniel Cukierman (USC) def. #57 Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-2, 6-2
2. #120 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. #19 Riley Smith (USC) 7-6 (2), 6-3
3. #78 Micah Braswell (UT) def. #104 Stefan Dostanic (USC) 6-4, 5-7, 6-4
4. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. #79 Ryder Jackson (USC) 5-7, 6-1, 6-2
5. Lodewijk Weststrate (USC) def. Chih Chi Huang (UT) 6-0, 6-1
6. Evin McDonald (UT) def. Jake Sands (USC) 2-6, 7-5, 7-5
Doubles – Order of Finish (2,3,1)
1. #1 Daniel Cukierman/Riley Smith (USC) def. Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) 7-6 (2)
2. Stefan Dostanic/Bradley Frye (USC) def. Payton Holden/Chih Chi Huang (UT) 6-1
3. Micah Braswell/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Mor Bulis/Lodewijk Weststrate (USC) 6-2
-Texas vs USC in 2023-24 tournament play
Longhorn Invitational
#17 Micah Braswell (UT) def. #22 Peter Makk (USC) 6-0, 6-3
#16 Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) def. #63 Wojtek Marek (USC) 6-2, 5-7, 6-0
#45 Jonah Braswell (UT) def. Lodewijk Westrate (USC) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Lucas Brown (UT) def. Niroop Vallabhaneni (USC) 6-2, 6-2 1
Eshan Talluri (UT) def. Andrei Volgin (USC) 6-3, 6-4
Karl Lee (USC) def. Cleeve Harper (UT) 7-5, 6-7 (2), 6-3
Samuel Rubell (USC) def. Evin McDonald (UT) 6-4, 6-4
Micah Braswell/Jonah Braswell (UT) def. Niroop Vallabhaneni/Lodewijk Westrate (USC) 8-6
Wojtek Marek/Samuel Rubell (USC) def. #9 Siem Woldeab/Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 8-5
Karl Lee/Peter Makk (USC) def. Evin McDonald/Lucas Brown (UT) 8-4
-ITA Team Rankings
Texas picked up where it left off last season at No. 3 in the preseason coaches poll released January 3 by the ITA, dropped one spot to No. 4 after the match against Virginia, and moved back up to No. 3 on February 7. After the ITA Indoors, the first computer rankings were released on Feb. 20 and the Longhorns were No. 10 where they remained until they moved to No. 12 on March 5. Texas moved back up to No. 9 after defeating No. 1 Ohio State. It's the 85th-straight week in the top 15 dating back to April 2018.
-ITA Individual National Rankings
Texas had five listings in the latest ITA individual rankings that were released on March 5. Eliot Spizzirri and Micah Braswell maintained the top two spots in the singles rankings, while Gilles-Arnaud Bailly was No. 48, and Jonah Braswell was No. 51, and Spizzirri and Harper combined to be No. 6 in doubles.
Texas
Singles
No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri
No. 2 Micah Braswell
No. 48 Gilles-Arnaud Bailly
No. 51 Jonah Braswell
Doubles
No. 6 Cleeve Harper/Eliot Spizzirri
USC
Singles
No. 50 Peter Makk
No. 86 Wojtek Marek
No. 102 Lodewijk Weststrate
Doubles
No. 65 Stefan Dostanic/Oscar Weightman
-Trending
Eliot Spizzirri
Spizzirri began where he left off last season as the No. 1 player in the country and has maintained that position with the exception of one week in February. This year he has compiled a 19-3 overall record and is 11-2 in dual match play. Nine of his 19 wins have come against top-50 opponents with seven of those against the top-25, highlighted by victories over No. 4 Murphy Cassone of Arizona State, and No. 5 Colton Smith of Arizona. He also clinched both the overall match and doubles in the team's win over No. 1 Ohio State on March 10. In doubles, Spizzirri played most of the season with Cleeve Harper, compiling an 11-6 overall record with a 3-5 mark in dual match play. They have four top-40 wins with two of those against pairs from Illinois and Arizona that were both ranked No. 6 at the time they played. However, against Ohio State, the Longhorns shifted their doubles lineup, and Spizzirri reunited with former partner Siem Woldeab with the duo coming through for a tiebreaker win over No. 5 Robert Cash and JJ Tracy to clinch the point. They stayed together against Georgia for a 6-3 win to help take the doubles point.
Micah Braswell
Micah Braswell has emerged as one of the best players in the country this year and is currently on a 25-match winning streak in singles dating back to the fall and has only lost two sets in that span. During the one week (Feb. 7) when Spizzirri wasn't No. 1, it was Braswell in that spot for the first No. 1 ranking of his career. Outside of that, he has held the No. 2 spot throughout the spring season. Overall, he is 28-2 in the 2023-24 year with 12 top-50 wins and a perfect 12-0 mark in dual matches. Recently, he avenged one of his two losses by topping No. 65 Ryan Colby of Georgia in three sets on March 14. His top wins in the rankings have come against No. 12 JJ Tracy of Ohio State in the semifinals of the ITA Fall National Championships, and against No. 8 Jack Pinnington of TCU. He also topped Pinnington for the ITA Fall Nationals singles title. That came on the heels of him also winning the ITA Texas Regionals title. In doubles, Braswell has generally paired with freshman Gilles-Arnaud Bailly, who arrived in January, in dual match play, while he partnered with his brother Jonah in the fall. However, against Ohio State the Longhorns shifted their doubles lineup and Braswell reunited with former partner Cleeve Harper with the pair taking a 6-3 win on the way to the team winning the doubles point. They stayed together against Georgia and clinched the doubles point with a 6-1 victory. He now has a combined 12-6 doubles record and is 8-3 in dual matches, playing mostly at No. 3.
Gilles-Arnaud Bailly
Freshman Gilles-Arnaud Bailly arrived in January and has vaulted to an 8-3 overall singles record and 8-2 in dual matches in his early career, with six of those decisions at No. 3 and three of them at No. 2. In his last two of his last three matches, he has defeated No. 7 JJ Tracy of Ohio State, 6-0, 6-2, and No. 21 Pedro Vives of TCU, 7-6 (5), 7-5, and he entered the rankings himself for the first time on March 5 at No. 48. Bailly had played all of his doubles matches with Micah Braswell, with the duo compiling a 7-2 record with three wins in their last four matches. They led No. 31 of TCU, 5-4, before narrowly falling, 7-5. Bailly did not play doubles in the last match against Ohio State after the Longhorns shifted their doubles lineup, but returned to play with his brother Pierre-Yves against Georgia with their match going unfinished.
Pierre-Yves Bailly
Pierre-Yves Bailly is 13-9 overall this season in singles and is 7-5 in dual matches. He's won two of his last four matches, including over No. 76 Jelani Sarr of South Carolina at ITA Indoors, and the two losses were both against top-40 opponents, including in a third-set superbreaker to No. 16 Jack Anthrop of Ohio State. His general doubles partner has been Siem Woldeab going back to last season, however, Woldeab missed five matches with an injury, during which time Bailly paired with Eshan Talluri. That duo stayed at No. 2 even after Woldeab returned and the Longhorns shifted their doubles lineup against Ohio State, posting a 4-2 record with back-to-back clinches against Michigan and South Carolina at ITA Indoors. However, against Georgia, he paired with his brother Gilles-Arnaud with their match going unfinished. Bailly leads the team in doubles clinches to this point with four.
Siem Woldeab
Woldeab is 8-6 this year in singles contests, but has missed five dual matches with an injury and has only registered a 1-3 record so far in the dual season. He returned against No. 1 Ohio State and won his first set against a ranked opponent, but eventually fell in three sets. Woldeab is also 10-5 overall in doubles and is 5-2 in dual matches, all with Pierre-Yves Bailly except the last two matches. Against Ohio State, the Longhorns shifted their doubles lineup and Woldeab reunited with former partner Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1, and the duo came through with a tiebreaker win to clinch the point against the Buckeyes. They stayed together against Georgia and earned a 6-3 win to help Texas take the doubles point.
Cleeve Harper
Harper has a 5-4 singles record in dual matches to this point, all at No. 5 except against Ohio State, which was at No. 6, as part of a 14-8 overall mark. Three of those wins have been against ranked opponents, most recently against No. 82 Tanapatt Nirundorn of Florida. He also clinched the overall matches against No. 15 Stanford and No. 13 Michigan. In doubles, Harper and Eliot Spizzirri posted an 11-6 overall record with a 3-5 mark in dual match play at No. 1 until the Longhorns shifted their doubles lineup in the last match against Ohio State. In that contest, Harper reunited with former partner Micah Braswell, and the pair earned a 6-3 win at No. 3 as part of Texas winning the doubles point. They then remained together against Georgia and clinched the point. Prior to that, Harper and Spizzirri had four top-40 wins with two of those against pairs from Illinois and Arizona that were both ranked No. 6 at the time they played.
Jonah Braswell
Jonah Braswell transferred to Texas from Florida over the summer and has gotten out to a 13-5 singles record, including 5-2 in dual matches with the highlight being the clinch over his former team. He has three decisions each at Nos. 5 and 6, and one at No. 4. In the fall, he secured a win over No. 26 Jack Pinnington, who is currently No. 8, and he also squared off against his brother, Micah, in the semifinals of the ITA Texas Regionals. Braswell has had three doubles partners this year totaling a 6-5 record, but has most frequently played with Micah, doing so on eight occasions. That includes his last two appearances in dual matches, and he holds a 2-1 doubles mark in four dual matches.
Lucas Brown
Brown has taken a definitive step during his redshirt freshman season, posting a 13-4 overall record, along with a 5-0 mark in six appearances in dual matches, all of those coming at No. 6. In those five wins, he has only dropped 17 combined games. In doubles, Brown is 6-4 with four different partners. He has seen doubles action in three matches, going 2-0 with Jonah Braswell and 0-1 with Pierre-Yves Bailly.
Eshan Talluri
Talluri has evolved into an excellent doubles player and has gone 9-4 this year with a 5-2 mark in dual matches. He played the season opener against Lamar with Evin McDonald and earned a win, but has since played six matches with Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 2, five of which were in the absence of Siem Woldeab. After Woldeab returned and the Longhorns shifted their doubles lineup, the duo stayed together against Ohio State and has a 4-2 record with back-to-back clinches against No. 13 Michigan and No. 4 South Carolina at the ITA National Indoors.
-Berque at the Helm
An accomplished coaching veteran with over two decades of experience with some of the nation's top tennis programs, Bruce Berque was named the fifth head coach of The University of Texas Men's Tennis program on May 23, 2019. Berque is in his sixth season as head coach in Austin and has led the Longhorns to a 107-29 overall record (.787) that includes 11-3 this season, 26-4 last season, 18-11 in 2022, 24-6 in 2021, 13-3 in a 2020 season that was shortened by the pandemic, and 15-2 in 2019 en route to the guiding Texas to its first team National Championship. During Berque's five completed seasons at the helm, Texas is the only program in the nation to finish in the top four in four of those five seasons, and it is the only program nationally to make three NCAA Final Fours in that span. The Longhorns are additionally the only team to have been ranked No. 1 at some point during the regular season or post-season of three of those years. Last season, Texas finished 2023 with 26 wins, which is the second-most for the program since 2010, trailing only the 29 from the 2019 National Championship season. The Longhorns made their third NCAA Final Four appearance in the last four tournaments, while the season also saw the team claim the outright Big 12 regular season championship, make the program's first appearance in the final of the ITA National Indoor Championships, and spend the last six weeks with the nation's No. 1 ranking before finishing with a final ranking of No. 3. During an injury-plagued 2022, the team still managed an 18-11 mark with an appearance in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. His overall record at UT also includes a 24-6 mark in 2021 with an appearance in the Final Four, 13-3 in a pandemic shortened 2020, and 15-2 in 2019 en route to the guiding Texas to its first team National Championship. UT also earned the Big 12 regular season championships in 2019 and 2021.
- Road warriors in Athens
The Longhorns claimed a 4-3 victory on the road at No. 38 Georgia on March 14, clinching at 4-1 before the 4-3 final. After taking the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 3, Texas captured singles wins from senior Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1, Lucas Brown at No. 6, and No. 2 Micah Braswell at No. 2 for the victory. One of the points against the Longhorns came when Jonah Braswell was forced to retire with an injury after having won a first-set tiebreaker and in the midst of a second-set breaker.
-Another win versus No. 1
Texas topped No. 1 Ohio State, 5-2, at a packed Texas Tennis Center on March 10 in front of a crowd of 1,012. The Longhorns clinched the victory at 4-0 before the match reached its final score. In 10 matches against No. 1 teams since 2019, Texas is now 6-4, including 3-0 against the Buckeyes. After shifting the doubles lineup, the Longhorns claimed the doubles point in dramatic fashion with wins at Nos. 3 and 1 and went on to collect four singles victories from Gilles-Arnaud Bailly at No. 3, Micah Braswell at No. 2, Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1 for the clinch, and senior Cleeve Harper at No. 6.
-One point away at No. 2 TCU
The Longhorns came up just short to No. 2 TCU, 4-3, in a non-conference road match in Fort Worth on March 2. After TCU took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 3, Texas captured three singles wins from Micah Braswell at No. 2, Jonah Braswell at No. 6, and Gilles-Arnaud Bailly at No. 3. However, TCU earned singles wins on Nos. 4, 5 and 1 with the overall contest going deep into the third set of the final match at No. 1 where Eliot Spizzirri had a match point in a second-set tiebreaker before the Horned Frogs fended it off and eventually prevailed.
-Red Storm sweep
Texas claimed a 7-0 victory against No. 55 St. John's on Jan. 28 at the Texas Tennis Center. After taking the doubles point with 6-0 sweeps at Nos. 2 and 3, the Longhorns captured all six singles matches in straight sets with wins from Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 4, Micah Braswell at No. 2, Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1 for the clinch, Lucas Brown at No. 6, Gilles-Arnaud Bailly at No. 3, and Jonah Braswell at No. 5.
-Six-straight trips to the ITA National Indoor Championships
In winning the 2024 ITA Kickoff Weekend Texas Regional, the Longhorns advanced to the ITA National Indoor Championships for the sixth-straight year. This year, Texas once again left the tournament with two victories, including sweeps over No. 13 Michigan and No. 4 South Carolina, however both were in consolation matches after the Longhorns fell to No. 14 Arizona, 4-2 in the Round of 16. Last season, they achieved a program first by reaching the final with wins over No. 9 Wake Forest, No. 1 Ohio State and No. 4 Michigan, before falling to No. 3 TCU in the title match. Texas had reached the quarterfinals in all five of the previous years, which includes 2021 when the national site hosted only eight teams and started in the quarters. The Longhorns won their opening round match in each of the four other years against Illinois in 2019, UCLA in 2020, Florida in 2022 and Wake Forest in 2023.
-Back-to-back sweeps at ITA Indoors
The Longhorns put together back-to-back sweeps to close out their trip to the ITA Indoors in New York by defeating No. 13 Michigan, 4-0, and No. 4 South Carolina, 5-0. Against the Gamecocks, Texas claimed a dramatic doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3, and then picked up singles wins at Nos. 5, 1, 2 and 4 from Cleeve Harper, Eliot Spizzirri, Micah Braswell, and Pierre-Yves Bailly, respectively, with Bailly finishing his match point just after Braswell's clinching point. Versus the Wolverines, the Longhorns secured the doubles point with wins at Nos. 3 and 2 and followed with victories from Micah Braswell at No. 2, Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1, and Cleeve Harper at No. 5 for the clinch. Those wins came after Texas ran into a No. 14 Arizona team that was firing on all cylinders. The Wildcats claimed the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3. Then despite singles victories from Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1, and Micah Braswell at No. 2, Arizona was able to secure singles wins at Nos. 3, 4 and 5 to clinch. The Longhorns had evened the overall match at 2-2, but after the Wildcats regained a 3-2 lead, the match No. 5 went in Arizona's favor in a third-set tiebreaker, and the match at No. 6 went unfinished in its third set, preventing Texas from completing the comeback.
-Three-straight wins over Florida
Texas claimed a 4-3 victory against Florida on Feb. 10 at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center. The Gators claimed the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 1, but the Longhorns responded by winning the first four singles matches to clinch at 4-1 and finish with victories from Cleeve Harper at No. 5, Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1, Gilles-Arnaud Bailly at No. 2, and sophomore No. 37 Jonah Braswell at No. 6. Both of the remaining two singles matches then went to third-set superbreakers before resulting in two additional points for Florida.
-Four-straight wins over Stanford
The Longhorns claimed a 4-1 victory against No. 15 Stanford on Feb. 4 at the Texas Tennis Center. It was the fourth-straight win against the Cardinal and the sixth in the last seven meetings. After taking the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 1, the Longhorns secured singles victories from Micah Braswell at No. 2, Gilles-Arnaud Bailly at No. 3, and Cleeve Harper at No. 5. Texas also led the remaining two unfinished singles matches involving Eliot Spizzirri and Jonah Braswell when play stopped.
-ITA Kickoff Weekend Texas Regional Champions
Texas hosted an ITA Kickoff Weekend regional for the 10th-straight year and advanced to the ITA National Indoor Championships for the sixth-consecutive season dating back to 2019. The Longhorns earned a pair of 4-1 wins over UTSA and Oklahoma State. The Roadrunners took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 3, but the Longhorns stormed back, winning four consecutive singles matches including Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1, Micah Braswell at No. 2, Pierre Yves-Bailly at No. 3, and Lucas Brown at No. 6. Against the Cowboys, the Longhorns secured the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3, and then received singles victories from Spizzirri at No. 1, Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 4, and Micah Braswell at No. 2.
-Edged by No. 1 Virginia
Texas took it to the third set of the final singles match, but was edged by No. 1 Virginia, 4-3, at the Texas Tennis Center on January 18. The Cavaliers claimed the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3, and although Texas was able to collect three singles wins by senior Micah Braswell at No. 2, Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 4, and Gilles-Arnaud Bailly at No. 3, Virginia secured wins at Nos. 1, 6 and 5.
-Texas sweeps first two matches of 2024
Texas secured 7-0 sweeps over Lamar (Jan. 12) and Abilene Christian (Jan. 14) without dropping a set in any of the singles and doubles contests to open the 2024 season. The match against Lamar was played at the Texas Tennis Center, while the contest against ACU moved indoors due to cold weather. The Longhorns played out all three doubles matches in both and then Eliot Spizzirri, Gilles-Arnaud Bailly, Pierre-Yves Bailly, Jonah Braswell and Lucas Brown all went 2-0 in singles. In addition to those, Micah Braswell earned a singles win against Lamar, while Siem Woldeab did against ACU.
-Harper named Big 12 Men's Tennis Player of the Week (Jan. 9)
Cleeve Harper went a combined 4-0 without dropping a set in his singles and doubles matches at the Miami Spring Invitational in Coral Gables, Fla. The two doubles victories earned Harper and his partner Eliot Spizzirri the doubles championship and included a decisive 6-1 win over No. 40 Vladislav Melnic and Adrien Burdet of Miami, along with an 8-5 win over Murphy Cassone and Martin Vergara of Arizona State. Harper was also 2-0 in singles with solid straight-sets victories over Vergara at 6-3, 6-4, and Antonio Prat of Miami, 6-4, 6-2.
-Longhorns sweep singles, doubles titles at Miami Spring Invite
In a weekend cut well short due to weather, Texas swept the singles and doubles titles at the Miami Spring Invite, as Micah Braswell won in singles, and the pairing of Cleeve Harper and Eliot Spizzirri won in doubles, both with 2-0 records in those categories. The Longhorns won 15 of their 20 singles matches and six of their nine doubles contests over their three days at the Miami Spring Invite.
-Back from 2023
In the sixth season under head coach Bruce Berque, Texas returns most of its singles and doubles lineups from a team that finished the regular season ranked No. 1, reached the NCAA Final Four and ITA National Indoor final and won the Big 12 Championship in 2023. The departures were seniors Chih Chi Huang and Nevin Arimilli with Huang contributing significantly at No. 3 doubles with multiple partners, while Arimilli took on a regular singles lineup spot later in the season and posted a 10-4 record (7-3 at No. 6). The rest of the roster returns with Eliot Spizzirri going 20-1 at No. 1 and 36-5 overall, Pierre-Yves Bailly posting a 14-9 overall record that included an 11-5 mark at No. 2, Micah Braswell notching a 20-12 overall record, including 12-6 at No. 3, Siem Woldeab splitting time between No. 3 and No. 4 for an 18-8 dual match mark and 30-12 overall, Cleeve Harper registering a 13-4 record at No. 5 with a 19-11 mark overall, and a split between Arimilli and Evin McDonald at No. 6 with McDonald going 6-3 in that spot. Eshan Talluri rounded out the group with a 9-5 overall record.
-Six newcomers arrive for their first dual match season on the 40
The Longhorns add six new faces for 2024 staring with sophomore transfer Jonah Braswell from Florida, who joined the team in the fall. Freshman Rahul Sachdev also arrived in the fall, while the other four are also freshmen but came in the spring. Those include Gilles-Arnaud Bailly, who is the brother of Pierre-Yves Bailly, from Bilzen, Belgium, Evan Burnett from Woodside, Calif., Timo Legout from Paris, France, and Calvin Wang from Laguna Beach, Calif.
-Fall/Summer Wrap-up
The Longhorns had a number of impressive results during 2023 fall play, highlighted by Micah Braswell and Eliot Spizzirri combining to sweep the singles titles at the two fall majors. Braswell took the ITA National Fall Championships, while Spizzirri won the ITA All-American Championships. It gave Texas the sweep for just the second time in program history and the first time by two different players. Yuya Ito previously won both tournaments in 2019. It also marked just the fourth time different players from the same school combined to win the two titles. In addition to the singles titles, Spizzirri and Cleeve Harper advanced to the doubles final of the All-American Championships. Braswell had reached the Fall Nationals with another singles title at the ITA Texas Regionals, becoming the third Longhorn since 2017 to win that championship, along with Christian Sigsgaard (2018) and Leo Telles (2017). In the semifinals, Braswell had to defeat his brother and new teammate, Jonah, to get to the final. Lucas Brown also made it to the singles consolation final. Spizzirri went on to help Team USA win the championship of the Master'U BNP Paribas Championships in Paris in December, while in the summer, he played with the USTA Collegiate Summer Team and followed that by reaching the third round of qualifying at the U.S. Open. Overall, Texas posted a 53-25 singles record in four events, including the Longhorn Invitational, with Micah Braswell leading the way with a 14-2 mark, followed by Spizzirri, who was 6-0. Jonah Braswell, Brown and Harper also posted at least six wins.
-Spizzirri leads the way for 2023 national and regional awards
Eliot Spizzirri had a historic 2023 season, being named the ITA National Player of the Year, the ITA Senior Player of the Year, the Big 12 Player of the Year, and Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and was one of six players nationally to be selected to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America First Team. Spizzirri was just the second Longhorn to hold the top singles spot at the end of the season since the rankings began in 1981, along with Steve Bryan in 1990. He was one of three ITA All-Americans on the team last season, earning those honors in both singles and doubles, to go along his partner Cleeve Harper in doubles, and Micah Braswell in singles. Harper was also tabbed to the CSC Academic All-America Second Team. In addition to those, Nevin Arimilli picked up the ITA Texas Region Most Improved Senior Award.
-Back-to-back NCAA Doubles Finalists
Eliot Spizzirri and Cleeve Harper reached the finals of the 2023 NCAA Doubles Championship after a year earlier Harper paired with Richard Ciamarra to take the title. It was the eighth all-time final appearance in doubles for Texas, and the first in consecutive seasons, following Lloyd Glasspool and Søren Hess-Olesen in 2015, who won the title, Chris Camillone and David Holiner in 2013, Chad Clark and Trey Phillips in 1995, Mitch Michulka and Michael Penman in 1990, Charles Beckman and Royce Deppe in 1985, and Gary Plock and Kevin Curren 1978.
-Pulling in the Big 12 honors
Texas earned several Big 12 Men's Tennis postseason awards in 2023, including Eliot Spizzirri as Player of the Year, five All-Big 12 selections with three of those on the first team, and a conference-leading six individual champions. Spizzirri became the sixth Longhorn to be named the Big 12 Men's Player of the Year with the last being Christian Sigsgaard, who shared the honor in 2019. The others include Søren Hess-Olesen in 2014, Dimitar Kutrovsky in 2010, Travis Helgeson in 2006 and Jean Simon in 2002. The All-Big 12 team honorees included first-team selections in Spizzirri and sophomore Pierre-Yves Bailly in singles and the duo of Spizzirri and junior Cleeve Harper in doubles. Junior Siem Woldeab earned second-team accolades in singles, while the pair of Woldeab and Bailly was also on the second team in doubles. The conference also honored individual champions at each position based on record in conference play, and Texas garnered a league-leading six with no other team having more than two. In singles, the Longhorns had a champion at the top three lines, including Spizzirri at No. 1, Bailly at No. 2, and Woldeab at No. 3 as a co-champion. Senior Nevin Arimilli was then also a co-champion at No. 5. In doubles, it was Spizzirri and Harper at No. 1, along with the combo of senior Chih Chi Huang and junior Evin McDonald at No. 3.
-Big 12 Champs
The Longhorns finished their 2023 Big 12 slate with a perfect 5-0 record and captured the outright Big 12 regular season title with a 5-2 win over No. 3 TCU in front of a record crowd of 1,332 at the Texas Tennis Center on April 15. It marked the third regular season conference championship in the last four completed years and the 10th overall in program history, including six outright. After the Horned Frogs won the doubles point, the Longhorns picked up five singles wins from Cleeve Harper at No. 5, Nevin Arimilli at No. 6, Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1, Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 2 for the clinch, and Micah Braswell at No. 3.
-First-ever final at ITA Indoor Nationals
Texas traveled to Chicago for the 2023 ITA National Indoor Championships from Feb. 17-20 and came home with the program's first trip to the tournament final and first runner-up trophy. In doing so, the Longhorns completed an impressive run that featured five victories over ranked opponents with three of those coming against the top-10, including No. 22 Cal and No. 14 Arizona at the ITA Kickoff Weekend earlier in Austin, followed by No. 9 Wake Forest, No. 1 Ohio State and No. 4 Michigan before finally falling to No. 3 TCU in Chicago.
-Year seven at the Texas Tennis Center
Texas is in its seventh year at the Texas Tennis Center with a 6-1 mark this season and a now has a 77-9 (.895) overall record in its history. Last season, the Longhorns were 13-0, and additionally, set an all-time Texas Tennis attendance record of 1,332 against TCU in a match that saw the Longhorns clinch the Big 12 regular season title. The season before that, the Longhorns posted a 10-3 record with the only losses coming to top-five teams by 4-3 scores against No. 1 Florida and No. 2 Ohio State, and 6-0 to No. 4 Baylor. Texas posted a 14-2 mark in 2021, which included wins over No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 9 Florida and No. 15 Arizona. In a shortened season in 2020, UT recorded a 9-0 record with wins against No. 8 Stanford, No. 18 Georgia and No. 21 Florida State. The Longhorns finished 2019 at 15-1, including wins over No. 1 Ohio State, No. 6 Baylor and No. 12 Columbia, along with three NCAA Tournament victories. The lone loss that year came to No. 15 USC. During its inaugural season, Texas posted a 10-2 record, including winning the 2018 Big 12 Tournament.
