No. 14 Men's Tennis preview: ITA National Team Indoor Quarterfinals
No. 14 (13 seed) Texas vs. No. 4 (5 seed) TCU
When: Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022
Where: Nordstrom Tennis Center, Seattle, Washington
Team Records: Texas (7-3, 0-0 Big 12), TCU (9-1, 0-0 Big 12)
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 def. No. 6 Stanford, 4-3
Match 2 – NTC: No. 5 TCU def. No. 12 Virginia, 4-2
Match 3 – STC: No. 3 Tennessee def. 14 Texas A&M, 4-0
Match 4 – NTC: No. 13 Texas def. No. 4 Florida, 4-3
Match 5 – STC: No. 7 Kentucky def. No. 10 USC, 4-0
Match 6 – NTC: No. 8 Wake Forest def. No. 9 Georgia, 4-3
Match 7 – STC: No. 2 Baylor def. No. 15 Ole Miss, 4-1
Match 8 – NTC: No. 1 Ohio State def. No. 16 Washington, 4-1
Saturday, February 19 (Quarterfinals)
Match 9 – NTC: No. 5 TCU vs No. 13 Texas, 9 a.m. (11 a.m. CT)
Match 10 – STC: No. 11 South Carolina vs No. 3 Tennessee, 12 p.m.
Match 11 – NTC: No. 8 Wake Forest vs No. 1 Ohio State, 3:30 p.m.
Match 12 – STC: No. 7 Kentucky vs No. 2 Baylor, 6:30 p.m.
Consolation Draw
Match 13 – STC: 14 Texas A&M vs No. 6 Stanford, 9 a.m.
Match 14 – NTC: No. 12 Virginia vs No. 4 Florida, 12 p.m.
Match 15 – STC: No. 10 USC vs No. 15 Ole Miss, 3:30 p.m.
Match 16 – NTC No. 9 Georgia vs No. 16 Washington, 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 topped fourth-seeded No. 5 Florida, 4-3 to reach the quarterfinals for the third time in the last four years. They will now play fifth-seeded No. 5 TCU at 9 a.m. PT/11 a.m. CT on Saturday. Texas reached the semifinals of the tournament in 2019 and the quarterfinals in 2020.
-TCU Series: Texas leads, 65-22-4
Texas leads the all-time series with TCU, 65-22-4, with the last meeting being last year's Big 12 Conference opener, a match which the Horned Frogs won, 4-3 in Austin. That match went the limit with the overall match decided in a third-set tiebreaker of the final singles match. Prior to that, it was in the quarterfinals of the 2019 NCAA Championships when the Longhorns took a 4-1 win at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla. Texas also won the regular season match-up that year, 6-1, in Fort Worth. The teams did not face each other in 2020 due to the pandemic shortened season. Texas Prior to 2019, TCU had taken the previous four matches with two in Austin and two in Fort Worth with the Longhorns' last win in Austin came in 2014.
Last Three Meetings
No. 8 TCU 4, No. 7 Texas 3
Sat., April 3, 2021
Austin, Texas • Texas Tennis Center
Singles – Order of Finish (4,6,3,2,5,1)
1. #18 Luc Fomba (TCU) def. #23 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 6-7 (1), 6-3, 7-6 (0)
2. #10 Alastair Gray (TCU) def. #16 Micah Braswell (UT) 6-4, 7-6 (3)
3. #99 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. #47 Sander Jong (TCU) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3
4. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. #99 Jake Fearnley (TCU) 6-4, 6-2
5. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Tadeas Paroulek (TCU) 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4)
6. Juan Martin (TCU) def. Evin McDonald (UT) 6-4, 6-4
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,3)
1. #11 Alastair Gray/Luc Fomba (TCU) def. #12 Siem Woldeab/Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 6-4
2. Cleeve Harper/Chih Chi Huang (UT) vs. Sander Jong/Tadeas Paroulek (TCU) 5-5, unf.
3. Jake Fearnley/Max Kurzban (TCU) def. Micah Braswell/Jacob Bullard (UT) 6-4
No. 2 (2 seed) Texas 4, No. 9 (10 seed) TCU 1
Thurs., May 16, 2019
USTA National Campus • Orlando, Fla. (NCAA Championship Quarterfinals)
Singles – Order of Finish (1,6,2,4)
1. #4 Alex Rybakov (TCU) def. #7 Christian Sigsgaard (UT), 6-4, 6-2
2. #12 Yuya Ito (UT) def. #28 Alastair Gray (TCU), 7-5, 6-1
3. #80 Leonardo Telles (UT) vs. Reese Stalder (TCU), 7-6 (3), 4-3, unf.
4. #55 Harrison Scott (UT) def. Bertus Kruger (TCU), 7-6 (4), 6-3
5. Colin Markes (UT) vs. Luc Fomba (TCU), 6-4, 5-6, unf.
6. Rodrigo Banzer (UT) def. Sander Jong (TCU), 6-4, 6-2
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2)
1. #5 Harrison Scott/Christian Sigsgaard (UT) def. #15 Alastair Gray/Alex Rybakov (TCU), 6-2
2. Colin Markes/Leonardo Telles (UT) def. #22 Bertus Kruger/Reese Stalder (TCU), 6-3
3. Chih Chi Huang/Yuya Ito (UT) vs. Sander Jong/Luc Fomba (TCU), 3-5, unf.
No. 4 Texas 6, No. 10 TCU 1
Sat., April 16, 2019
Friedman Tennis Center • Fort Worth, Texas
Singles – Order of Finish (2,3,5,1,4,6)
1. #7 Christian Sigsgaard (UT) def. #4 Alex Rybakov (TCU), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
2. #5 Yuya Ito (UT) def. #20 Alastair Gray (TCU), 6-4, 6-2
3. #90 Leonardo Telles (UT) def. Reese Stalder (TCU), 6-3, 7-5
4. #61 Harrison Scott (UT) def. Bertus Kruger (TCU), 6-2, 5-7, 6-2
5. Colin Markes (UT) def. Luc Fomba (TCU), 6-2, 2-6, 6-4
6. Rodrigo Banzer (UT) def. Sander Jong (TCU), 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 1-0 (10-7)
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2)
1. #45 Alastair Gray/Alex Rybakov (TCU) def. #3 Harrison Scott/Christian Sigsgaard (UT), 6-4
2. #13 Bertus Kruger/Reese Stalder (TCU) def. Colin Markes/Leonardo Telles (UT), 6-3
3. Chih Chi Huang/Yuya Ito (UT) vs. Luc Fomba/Sander Jong (TCU), 5-3, unf.
-Texas vs. TCU in 2021-22 tournament play
Battle in the Bay Classic
No. 81 Jake Fearnley (TCU) def. Nevin Arimilli (UT), 6-2, 6-3
Lui Maxted (TCU) def. No. 17 Micah Braswell (UT), 6-2, 6-4
ITA Texas Regionals
No. 17 Micah Braswell (UT) def. Lui Maxted (TCU), 6-0, 6-1
No. 17 Micah Braswell (UT) def. No. 43 Sander Jong (TCU), 6-4, 7-5
No. 43 Sander Jong (TCU) def. Nevin Arimilli (UT), 6-3, 6-0
No. 18 Juan Carlos Aguilar (TCU) def. No. 17 Micah Braswell (UT), 3-6, 6-2, 6-4
No. 18 Juan Carlos Aguilar (TCU) def. Evin McDonald (UT), 6-4, 6-2
Richard Ciamarra/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Juan Carlos Aguilar/Luc Fomba (UT), 8-7 (5)
Juan Carlos Aguilar/Luc Fomba (TCU) def. Nevin Arimilli/Evin McDonald (UT), 8-4
Lui Maxted/Pedro Vives (TCU) def. Richard Ciamarra/Cleeve Harper (UT), 1-6, 6-4, 1-0 (8)
ITA National Fall Championships
Lui Maxted/Pedro Vives (TCU) def. No. 2 Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT), 6-4, 6-4
-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. TCU is No. 4 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
TCU
Singles
No. 15 Juan Carlos Aguilar
No. 44 Luc Fomba
No. 52 Jake Fearnley
No. 69 Lui Maxted
No. 109 Sander Jong
Doubles
No. 4 Lui Maxted/Pedro Vives
No. 25 Lui Maxted/Sander Jong
-Texas Avenges Loss to Florida
Texas and Florida squared off for the second time this season after Florida won, 4-3, on Jan. 16 in Austin. The Longhorns returned the favor with a 4-3 win of their own on Feb. 18 at the ITA National Indoor Championships in Seattle. Texas won the doubles point and recorded singles wins by Micah Braswell at No. 1 and Richard Ciamarra at No. 3, along with the clincher by freshman Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 2 that broke a 3-3 overall tie. Bailly's win came over No. 3 Ben Shelton, while Braswell topped defending NCAA Singles Champion Sam Riffice.
-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 13 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), 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), and neutral site matches against No. 5 Florida (W, 4-3, Feb. 18) and No. 4 TCU (Feb. 19) at the ITA Indoors. The matches against Baylor, Oklahoma and TCU 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 59-14 overall record (.808) 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.
