No. 14 (13 seed) Texas vs. No. 5 (4 seed) Florida (Round of 16)
When: Friday, Feb. 18, 2022
Where: Nordstrom Tennis Center, Seattle, Washington
Team Records: Texas (6-3, 0-0 Big 12), Florida (5-1, 0-0 SEC)
Live Stats: https://hookem.at/MTN-Stats
Live Video: https://hookem.at/MTN-Watch
Web Broadcast: Cracked Racquets (YouTube)
Tournament Central
Updated Team Stats
-Tournament Schedule (All times Pacific)
NTC – Nordstrom Tennis Center STC – Seattle Tennis Center
Friday, February 18 (Round of 16)
Match 1 – STC: No. 11 South Carolina vs. No. 6 Stanford, 9 a.m.
Match 2 – NTC: No. 5 TCU vs. No. 12 Virginia, 9 a.m.
Match 3 – STC: No. 3 Tennessee vs. 14 Texas A&M, 12 p.m.
Match 4 – NTC: No. 4 Florida vs. No. 13 Texas, 12 p.m. (2 p.m. CT)
Match 5 – STC: No. 7 Kentucky vs. No. 10 USC, 3:30 p.m.
Match 6 – NTC: No. 8 Wake Forest vs. No. 9 Georgia, 3:30 p.m.
Match 7 – STC: No. 2 Baylor vs. No. 15 Ole Miss, 6:30 p.m.
Match 8 – NTC: No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 16 Washington, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, February 19 (Quarterfinals)
Match 9 – NTC: Winner Match 2 vs Winner Match 4 , 9 a.m.
Match 10 – STC: Winner Match 1 vs Winner Match 3, 12 p.m.
Match 11 – NTC: Winner Match 6 vs Winner Match 8, 3:30 p.m.
Match 12 – STC: Winner Match 5 vs Winner Match 7, 6:30 p.m.
Consolation Draw
Match 13 – STC: Loser Match 3 vs Loser Match 1, 9 a.m.
Match 14 – NTC: Loser Match 2 vs Loser Match 4, 12 p.m.
Match 15 – STC: Loser Match 5 vs Loser Match 7, 3:30 p.m.
Match 16 – NTC Loser Match 6 vs Loser Match 8, 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, February 20 (Semifinals)
Match 17 – NTC: Winner Match 9 vs Winner Match 11, 12 p.m.
Match 18 – NTC: Winner Match 10 vs Winner Match 12, 3:30 p.m.
Consolation Draw
Match 19 – NTC: Loser Match 9 vs Loser Match 11, 9 a.m.
Match 20 – STC: Loser Match 13 vs Loser Match 15, 9 a.m.
Match 21 – STC: Winner Match 13 vs Winner Match 15, 12 p.m.
Match 22 – NTC/STC: Loser Match 14 vs Loser Match 16, 3:30 or 6:30 p.m.
Match 23 – NTC/STC: Winner Match 14 vs Winner Match 16, 3:30 or 6:30 p.m.
Match 24 – STC: Loser Match 10 vs Loser Match 12, 6:30 p.m.
Monday, February 21 (Finals)
Championship Match – NTC: Winner Match 17 vs Winner Match 18, 12 p.m.
Notes
-ITA National Team Indoor Championships
Texas is appearing in the ITA Indoor Nationals for the fourth-straight season, and the seventh in the last nine, only missing in 2016 and 2018 in that stretch. The Longhorns will open the tournament against fourth-seeded No. 5 Florida at 12 p.m. PT/2 p.m. CT on Friday. Depending on the result of the matches, the Longhorns will then play either fifth-seeded No. 5 TCU or 12th-seeded No. 7 Virginia at either 9 a.m. PT/11 a.m. CT (quarterfinals) or 12 p.m. PT/2 p.m. CT (consolation bracket) on Saturday. Texas reached the semifinals of the tournament in 2019 and the quarterfinals in 2020.
-Florida Series: Texas leads, 12-8
Texas leads the all-time series with Florida, 12-8, including a 4-3 win by the Gators earlier this year in Austin on Jan. 16. Last year, they met twice with each team winning once. Texas took a 4-3 decision in Austin during the ITA Kickoff Weekend that sent the Longhorns to the ITA National Indoors, while Florida won 4-0 in the NCAA Semifinals on the USTA National Campus in Orlando before going on to win the 2021 National Championship. Two seasons ago, the No. 2 Longhorns opened their dual match season at No. 1 Florida and came away with a 5-2 win, using five singles victories, all against ranked opponents. Prior to that, the teams met in the semifinals of the 2019 NCAA Championship as No. 2 Texas defeated No. 4 Florida, 4-2, also on the USTA National Campus in Orlando, on their way to winning the 2019 National Championship.
-Last Five Meetings
2022: No. 1 Florida 4, No. 3 Texas 3 – Austin, Texas (Texas Tennis Center)
2021: No. 1 Florida 4, No. 4 Texas 0 – NCAA Championship semifinals, Orlando, Fla.
2021: No. 6 Texas 4, No. 9 Florida 3 – ITA Kickoff, Austin, Texas (Texas Tennis Center)
2020: No. 2 Texas 5, No. 1 Florida 2 – Gainesville, Fla.
2019: No. 2 Texas 4, No. 4 Florida 2 – NCAA Championship semifinals, Orlando, Fla.
No. 1 Florida 4, No. 3 Texas 3
Sun., Jan. 16, 2022 • Austin, Texas • Texas Tennis Center
Singles – Order of Finish (2,5,6,4,1,3)
1. Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Sam Riffice (UF) 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (6)
2. #20 Micah Braswell (UT) def. Duarte Vale (UF) 6-2, 6-3
3. #2 Ben Shelton (UF) def. Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-1
4. Richard Ciamarra (UT) def. #107 Andy Andrade (UF) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
5. #61 Mattias Siimar (UF) def. #73 Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-4, 6-4
6. #111 Josh Goodger (UF) def. Chih Chi Huang (UT) 6-2, 7-6 (7)
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2,3)
1. #23 Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Ben Shelton/Sam Riffice (UF) 6-2
2. Duarte Vale/Abedallah Shelbayh (UF) def. #13 Richard Ciamarra/Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-2
3. #51 Mattias Siimar/Andy Andrade (UF) def. Micah Braswell/Chih Chi Huang (UT) 7-6 (5)
No. 2 (1 seed) Florida 4, No. 4 (4 seed) Texas 0
Fri., May 22, 2021 • Orlando, Fla. • USTA National Campus (NCAA Semifinals)
Singles – Order of Finish (5,4,3)
1. #4 Duarte Vale (UF) vs. #23 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 6-4, 5-6, unf.
2. #6 Sam Riffice (UF) vs. #38 Micah Braswell (UT) 6-7 (3), 2-3, unf.
3. #18 Andy Andrade (UF) def. #75 Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-3, 7-5
4. #51 Blaise Bicknell (UF) def. #108 Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-1, 7-5
5. Ben Shelton (UF) def. Chih Chi Huang (UT) 6-3, 6-0
6. #79 Josh Goodger (UF) vs. Evin McDonald (UT) 2-6, 6-4, 3-4, unf.
Doubles – Order of Finish (3,2)
1. #16 Duarte Vale/Johannes Ingildsen (UF) vs. #11 Siem Woldeab/Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 5-5, unf.
2. Sam Riffice/Ben Shelton (UF) def. #78 Cleeve Harper/Chih Chi Huang (UT) 6-4
3. Brian Berdusco/Will Grant (UF) def. Micah Braswell/Payton Holden (UT) 6-2
No. 6 Texas 4, No. 9 Florida Gators 3
Sat., Jan. 23, 2021 • Austin, Texas (ITA Kickoff)
Singles – Order of Finish (3,4,5,1,6,2)
1. #57 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. #12 Duarte Vale (UF) 7-5, 7-5
2. #120 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. #8 Sam Riffice (UF) 5-7, 6-4, 6-3
3. #85 Andy Andrade (UF) def. #78 Micah Braswell (UT) 6-3, 6-0
4. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Johannes Ingildsen (UF) 6-2, 6-2
5. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Ben Shelton (UF) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)
6. #68 Blaise Bicknell (UF) def. Evin McDonald (UT) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,3)
1. #45 Duarte Vale/Sam Riffice (UF) def. Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-2
2. Payton Holden/Chih Chi Huang (UT) vs. Johannes Ingildsen/Ben Shelton (UF) 5-4, unf.
3. Andy Andrade/Will Grant (UF) def. Micah Braswell/Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-2
No. 2 Texas 5, No. 1 Florida 2
Wed., Jan. 15, 2020 • Gainesville, Fla.
Singles – Order of finish (3,2,5,6,1,4)
1. No. 2 Yuya Ito (UT) def. No. 31 Oliver Crawford (UF), 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
2. No. 13 Christian Sigsgaard (UT) def. No. 4 Sam Riffice (UF), 6-1, 6-4
3. No. 53 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. No. 17 Duarte Vale (UF), 7-5, 6-1
4. Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. No. 72 Andy Andrade (UF), 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2
5. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. No. 71 Lukas Greif (UF), 7-5, 6-3
6. No. 118 Blaise Bicknell (UF) def. Cleeve Harper (UT), 7-5, 6-2
Doubles – Order of finish (3,2)
1. No. 14 Sam Riffice/Oliver Crawford (UF) vs. No. 4 Yuya Ito/Christian Sigsgaard (UT), 6-5, unf.
2. Johannes Ingildsen/Will Grant (UF) def. Eliot Spizzirri/Jacob Bullard (UT), 7-5
3. Duarte Vale/Josh Goodger (UF) def. Chih Chi Huang/Cleeve Harper (UT), 6-3
No. 2 (2 seed) Texas 4, No. 4 (3 seed) Florida 2
Sat., May 18, 2019 • Orlando, Fla. • USTA National Campus (NCAA Semifinals)
Singles – Order of Finish (2,6,1,5,3)
1. #9 Oliver Crawford (UF) def. #7 Christian Sigsgaard (UT), 6-4, 6-3
2. #12 Yuya Ito (UT) def. #54 Sam Riffice (UF), 6-2, 6-2
3. #80 Leonardo Telles (UT) def. #113 Johannes Ingildsen (UF), 6-4, 7-5
4. #55 Harrison Scott (UT) vs. Alfredo Perez (UF), 6-4, 3-6, 3-3, unf.
5. #59 Andres Andrade (UF) def. Colin Markes (UT), 7-6 (4), 6-4
6. Rodrigo Banzer (UT) def. McClain Kessler (UF) 6-2, 6-4
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,3)
1. #5 Christian Sigsgaard/Harrison Scott (UT) def. Johannes Ingildsen/McClain Kessler (UF), 6-3
2. Colin Markes/Leonardo Telles (UT) vs. Oliver Crawford/Alfredo Perez (UF), 5-6, unf.
3. Chih Chi Huang/Yuya Ito (UT) def. Duarte Vale/Andres Andrade (UF), 7-6 (1)
-Texas vs. Florida in 2021-22 tournament play
Did not meet
-ITA Team Rankings
Texas is ranked No. 14 in the latest 2022 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Top 25 Coaches Poll released on Feb. 9. It marks the first week Texas has been outside of the top 10 after 43-straight weeks in dating back to the beginning of the 2019 season. Florida is No. 5 in the poll, which is voted on by the ITA National Ranking Committee.
-ITA Individual Rankings
Texas has six listings in the most recent ITA individual rankings that were released Feb. 9 with four in singles and two doubles pairs, however Eliot Spizzirri did not play singles in the fall and had only played two spring matches when the rankings were released and does not appear in them.
Texas
Singles
No. 57 Micah Braswell
No. 62 Pierre-Yves Bailly
No. 75 Richard Ciamarra
No. 110 Cleeve Harper
Doubles
No. 14 Richard Ciamarra/Cleeve Harper
No. 39 Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab
Florida
Singles
No. 3 Ben Shelton
No. 33 Mattias Siimar
No. 92 Sam Riffice
No. 121 Nate Bonetto
Doubles
No. 17 Abedallah Shelbayh/Mattias Siimar
No. 44 Andres Andrade/Mattias Siimar
No. 58 Andres Andrade/Duarte Vale
-Sweeping Up Rice and UCF
Texas completed its second sweep of the weekend with a 4-0 victory over UCF on Feb. 13 at the Texas Tennis Center. The Longhorns won the doubles point and followed with singles victories by Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 2, Siem Woldeab at No. 5, and Micah Braswell at No. 1. Bailly returned to the lineup after not playing in the previous match and picked up a top-50 win with a 6-1, 6-4 decision over No. 50 Trey Hilderbrand. Texas had opened the weekend with a 7-0 sweep of Rice on Jan 11. The Longhorns used the doubles point and four straight-sets singles wins from Woldeab at No. 4, Cleeve Harper at No. 5, Braswell at No. 1, and Chih Chi Huang at No. 6, along with two more third-set superbreaker wins from Richard Ciamarra at No. 3, and Eliot Spizzirri at No. 2.
-Non-conference in Waco
The Longhorns traveled to Waco to face No. 2 Baylor on Feb. 7 in a match that had originally been scheduled for Feb. 4 but was rescheduled due to travel conditions with winter weather. Richard Ciamarra won his singles match and the Longhorns were close in two other singles matches by Pierre-Yves Bailly and Cleeve Harper that went to superbreakers, along with the doubles point, but ultimately fell 6-1.
-Braswell Makes It Back-to-Back Big 12 Players of the Week for Texas
Micah Braswell was named Big 12 Men's Tennis Player of the Week for the week ending January 30, the conference. It marks Braswell's first conference weekly honor of the season and the second of his career. It was also the second-straight week a Longhorn earned the award after senior Richard Ciamarra did so the week before.
-Sweeping the ITA Kickoff Weekend
Texas hosted the ITA Kickoff Weekend for the eighth-straight year going back to the 2014 season when the Longhorns traveled to Nashville. The Longhorns produced 4-0 sweeps in both of their matches against Columbia and Oregon and have advanced in the ITA Indoor Nationals in each of the last four seasons, and seven out of the last nine, only missing in 2016 and 2018 in that stretch.
-Ciamarra Earns First Big 12 Player of the Week Honor
Richard Ciamarra picked up his first Big 12 Player of the Week honor since joining the Longhorns this season as a graduate transfer. Ciamarra went 4-0 with two ranked singles wins against No. 14 Arizona and RV Arizona State after having to move up in the lineup due to injuries. That also included two doubles victories with partner Cleeve Harper. It was also the first weekly honor for the Longhorns this season after two weeks of play.
-Arizona Swing
The Longhorns dropped their first match of their Arizona road trip to No. t-14 Arizona, 4-3, in Tucson on Jan. 21. It was the first road dual match of the season for Texas, which rallied for three singles victories following the Wildcats' clinch. The wins came from Cleeve Harper at No. 5, Richard Ciamarra at No. 4 and Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 3. However, they rebounded for a 6-1 win over Arizona State two days later, sweeping all six singles matches from Micah Braswell at No. 2, Harper at No. 4, Nevin Arimilli at No. 5, Evin McDonald at No. 6, Ciamarra at No. 3, and Bailly at No 1.
-So Close Against No. 1
Texas posted singles wins at Nos. 1, 2 and 4 against No. 1 Florida, but were edged, 4-3, by the defending champion Gators on Jan. 16 at the Texas Tennis Center. The singles victories included Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1, Micah Braswell at No. 2 and Richard Ciamarra at No. 4 after Florida had won the doubles point in a tiebreaker of the deciding third match in which they led by three points.
-25th-Straight Season-Opening Win
The Longhorns took their season opener over UTSA, 6-1, on Jan. 14 at the Texas Tennis Center. It marked the 25th-straight season-opening victory for the Longhorns dating back to 1998. Texas used the doubles point and five singles wins from Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 2, Richard Ciamarra at No. 3, No. 105 Siem Woldeab at No. 4, No. 73 Cleeve Harper at No. 5, and Chih Chi Huang at No. 6. Eliot Spizzirri did not play singles, but did partner with Woldeab at No. 1 doubles for a win to help secure that point.
-Miami Spring Invite
The Longhorns began the spring season with individual play against opponents from No. 9 Georgia, No. 11 UCF and Miami. The tournament had been designed for round robin competition against each of the three teams, however only two members of the Hurricanes were available to play. Additionally, weather cancelled a majority of the singles matches on the second day. For Texas, Eliot Spizzirri did not play, but the results were highlighted by freshman Pierre-Yves Bailly picking up a win over No. 16 Trey Hilderbrand of UCF in his first singles match as a Longhorn, along with the No. 13 pair of Richard Ciamarra and Cleeve Harper topping the No. 22 duo of Hilderbrand and Bogdan Pavel of UCF.
-Challenging Non-Conference Schedule
The Longhorns have 11 non-conference dual matches scheduled this season against teams that appear in the ITA national rankings, including home matches with No. 1 Florida (L, 4-3, Jan. 16), RV Columbia (W, 4-0, Jan. 29), No. 1 Ohio State (Mar. 12), and No. 19 Oklahoma (Mar. 27), and road contests at No. t-14 Arizona (L, 4-3, Jan. 21), RV Arizona State (W, 6-1, Jan. 23), No. 2 Baylor (L, 6-1, Feb. 7), No. 9 Georgia (Mar. 1), No. 12 Texas A&M (Mar. 9), No. 11 USC (Mar. 15), No. 21 Pepperdine (Mar. 18). The matches against Baylor and prior to Big 12 play and are non-conference with those teams meeting again later in conference play.
-Back from the Final Four
In the fourth season under head coach Bruce Berque, Texas returned almost all of its regular singles and doubles lineups from a team that reached the Final Four of last year's NCAA Championships. Of the retuning players, Eliot Spizzirri earned All-America honors in both singles and doubles last season, while Siem Woldeab did so in doubles and was a second-team All-Big 12 selection in singles. Micah Braswell was also second-team all-conference in singles and named the unanimous Big 12 Freshman of the Year, while Cleeve Harper shared the Big 12 Individual Championship at No. 4 singles. Chih Chi Huang and Evin McDonald return after playing majority of the matches at No. 5 and No. 6 singles, respectively, as do Nevin Arimilli and Eshan Talluri.
-Two New Faces
The Longhorns add two new faces in graduate transfer Richard Ciamarra from Notre Dame, who arrived in the fall, and true freshman Pierre-Yves Bailly, who joins the team for the spring. Ciamarra was a 2020 ITA All-American in singles and a three-time All-ACC selection and was ranked as high as No. 6 in singles and No. 28 in doubles in 2021. Bailly has been the top junior player in Belgium and reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Juniors, along with the second round of the Roland Garros Juniors, in 2021.
-Berque at the Helm
Bruce Berque is in his fourth season as the head coach at Texas having taken over midway through the 2019 season. From there, he has led the Longhorns to a 58-14 overall record (.806) that includes 24-6 last season with an appearance in the Final Four and a share of the Big 12 regular season title, 13-3 in a season shortened by the pandemic in 2020, and 15-2 in 2019 en route to the guiding Texas to its first team National Championship. The Longhorns also earned the Big 12 regular season championship that year. Texas finished ranked in the top four in all three of the previous seasons at No. 3 in 2021, No. 4 in 2020 and No. 1 in 2019.
-Summer/Fall Wrap-up
Eliot Spizzirri and Chih Chi Huang both missed all of fall singles play due to injury with Huang also missing doubles, but Spizzirri played in limited doubles at the ITA Fall Nationals. Richard Ciamarra and Siem Woldeab were also working through injuries in the fall. However, over the summer, Spizzirri won the singles title of the ITF Futures in Decatur, Ill. for his first pro singles title, along with winning the doubles title at the ITF Futures in Champaign, Ill., the week before. He then earned a singles qualifying wild card to the U.S. Open and advanced to the second round with a win over ATP No. 163 Alejandro Tabilo. After that, he received a doubles main draw wild card at the U.S. Open. Later in the fall, Spizzirri and Woldeab reached the quarterfinals of the ITA Fall Nationals, and Spizzirri later paired with former Longhorn Colin Markes to make the semifinals of the DropshotLLC Pro Tennis Open in Austin.
Micah Braswell posted eight singles wins in the fall, including reaching the semifinals of the ITA Texas Regionals where he came up just short in three sets to No. 18 Juan Carlos Aguilar. Cleeve Harper picked up his first pro title, taking the M15 Cancun with partner Liam Draxl. Prior to that, Harper and Ciamarra reached the finals of the ITA Texas Regionals shortly after advancing to the round of 16 at the ITA All-American Championships. January enrollee Pierre-Yves Bailly also captured his first pro singles title at the Monastir 15K in Tunisia and additionally reached the doubles final there in November 2021.
-Year Five at the Texas Tennis Center
Texas opened its fifth year of play at the Texas Tennis Center this year and is 5-1 so far to give the Longhorns a 53-6 (.898) overall record in its history. 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 that featured wins against No. 8 Stanford, No. 18 Georgia and No. 21 Florida State. The Longhorns finished 2019 with a 15-1 mark, 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.
