No. 8 Men's Tennis Sweeps No. 2 TCU, 5-0

Austin No. No. 8 Texas Men's Tennis (14-3, 2-0) recorded 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 straight sweep, all against ranked opponents. It also avenged a 4-3 loss to the Horned Frogs in Fort Worth on March 2 and gave Texas wins over both No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 TCU this season.

After clinching the doubles point with wins over Nos. 3 and 2, the Longhorns claimed four singles matches with wins over senior No. 2 Micah Braswell at number 2, junior Pierre Yves Bailly at No. 4, freshman No. 41 Gilles-Arnaud Bailly at number 3, and senior number 1 Eliot Spizzirri at number 1.

“(The win) means there is confidence,” said the head coach Bruce Berque said. “I don't think these guys ever doubted what they were capable of when we had a few losses early in the season. And at some point you may feel some pressure about not living up to expectations, but changing the doubles lineup after the last TCU match was a boost for us. We are gaining much more confidence in our doubles, and I know that once we enter singles with the doubles point in our back pocket, there is a feeling that we will not be denied, and if we concentrate on each court and work hard all the time play, I think that will be the case more often than not.”

In doubles, Micah Braswell and oldest Cleeve Harper were the first off the field with an efficient 6-0 shutout victory over Pedro Vives and Tomas Jirousek at No. 3. The Texas tandem opened the match with a two-point hold and never looked back, winning all remaining matches .

On track 2, Pierre Yves Bailly and oldest Eshan Talluri secured the doubles point with a 6-3 victory over No. 51 Duncan Chan and Lui Maxted. The Longhorn duo took an early 3-0 lead after claiming back-to-back two 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 for a deuce point in the next match 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 give the Texas duo another deuce-point hold. From then on, the match would remain on serve for the 6-3 victory.

Spizzirri and senior Siem Woldeab were in the middle 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 two-point break, followed by a 2-0 scoreline, but Spizzirri and Woldeab quickly responded with a 3-0 run for a 3-2 lead. At 3-3 the Horned Frog duo broke and then held a deuce point for 5-3, but Spizzirri and Woldeab answered again with a 3-0 run before the match was left unfinished.

In singles play Micah Braswell was the first off the field with a 6-4, 6-3 win over No. 6 Fearnley at No. 2. Fearnley started the match on a break, but Braswell returned the favor and went on a 3-0 run. Anxious ended Braswell's run with another break, but Braswell broke and then held for 5-2. Anxious clawed back with a hold followed by a break to cut Braswell's lead to 5-4, but the Texas senior closed the set with a break in the next game. The first five games of the second set remained on serve before Braswell earned a two-point break for 4-2. Fearnley responded with a two-point break of his own, but Braswell broke back again for 5-3 and then served out the match.

Pierre Yves Bailly was next in the singles with a 6-2, 6-3 win over No. 72 Lui Maxted at No. 4. Bailly opened with a break followed by a two-point hold for 2-0, but Maxted tied the set with a break and then a break. However, Bailly then put together a 6-0 run, including a two-point hold for 4-2, to close out the first set and take a 2-0 lead in the second. Maxted halted Bailly's run with a 2-1 hold, but Bailly responded with a 3-0 run, putting the junior together back-to-back games decided by two points for 5-1. Maxted held on and then broke for 5-3, but Bailly broke back to win the match.

The deciding game 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, with a two-point lead in the third game. Vives ended Bailly's run with a two-point hold for 5–1, but Bailly replied with a hold to clinch the set, followed by a break and a hold to open the second. At 2-0, the next four games remained on serve, with Bailly earning a two-point lead in the fourth game of the set. Bailly then broke and held on to earn the conference victory for the Horns.

With the match won, the teams left the matches at Nos. 5 and 6 unfinished, but played the top-10 match at No. 1, where Spizzirri prevailed over No. 8 Pinnington in a sensational superbreaker in the third set , 4-6. , 7-5, 1-0 (12). Pinnington opened the match with a 3-0 run, winning the first two games which were decided by a deuce point, but Spizzirri responded with a 4-0 run, getting a deuce point break along the way. At that point, Pinnington made another 3–0 run, where he earned consecutive deuce points to claim the set, 6–4. Just like in the first set, the second set was very contentious, with seven of the twelve games being decided by two points. Spizzirri opened the match with a two-point break and then held the score at 2-0. The next five matches were all held with the middle three all at deuce point, before Pinnington earned a break for 4–4. Pinnington then held a deuce point for 5–4, extending his win streak to three matches, and had a match point at deuce on Spizzirri's subsequent serve, but Spizzirri fended it off to level it, 5–5, and then broke to continue. , 6-5. In the next match, the Texas senior forced a superbreaker with a two-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 ahead later, 5-2, Pinnington came back to win the next five points for a 7-5 lead. Spizzirri closed the point with a mini-break for 7-6, but Pinnington answered with 8-6. The next two points went to Spizzirri for the tie, but Pinnington regained the lead for another match point, the first of three deflected by Spizzirri in the superbreaker, trailing 9-8, 10-9, 11-10. At that point Spizzirri won two in a row to give himself his first match point at 12-11, and although Pinnington diverted it, Spizzirri won the match on the next for a 14-12 win.

Woldeab and Harper's matches were then both left incomplete, with Woldeab Jirousek leading 7-5, 3-1 at No. 5 when play ended. Woldeab won all five games of the match that were decided by two points, winning three in a row to start the second set. At No. 6, Harper was about to open a third set with Chan after splitting the first two sets, 3-6, 6-2. Harper closed the second set with a 5-0 run after building momentum with a two-point hold.

Next up, the Horns will face BYU in Provo, Utah on Thursday, March 28 at 4:00 PM MT/5:00 PM CT in the first of a series of four straight road games.

#8 Texas 5, #2 TCU 0

Singles Order of finish (2,4,3,1)
1. #1 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) final #8 Jack Pinnington (TCU) 4-6, 7-5, 1-0 (12)
2. #2 Micah Braswell (OFF) final #6 Jake Fearnley (TCU) 6-4, 6-3
3. #41 Gilles-Arnaud Bailly (UT) final #57 Pedro Vives (TCU) 6-1, 6-2
4. Pierre Yves Bailly (UT) final #72 Lazy 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) final #51 Duncan Chan/Lui Maxted (TCU) 6-3
3. Micah Braswell/Cleeve Harper (UT) final Pedro Vives/Tomas Jirousek (TCU) 6-0