Norman, Okla. – No. 6 Men’s Tennis fought back for a 4-3 victory against No. 28 Oklahoma in Norman on Sunday to win the team’s third-straight road match and sweep its two matches in the state of Oklahoma.
In tough, windy conditions with sophomore Siem Woldeab out of the lineup due to injury, the Longhorns used four singles wins by junior Nevin Arimilli at No. 6, sophomore Micah Braswell at No. 2, junior Chih Chi Huang at No. 4 and sophomore Evin McDonald at No. 5 for the win. For McDonald, it was his first clinch as a Longhorn.
After falling in the doubles point, it was Arimilli, who moved into the lineup with the absence of Woldeab, who got Texas on the board first with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Max Stewart. After each player held serve to open the match starting with Arimilli, he went on a 4-0 run to stretch out to a 5-1 lead. Stewart got one game back on a deuce point, but Arimilli closed the set from there. In the second, Stewart opened with a break on a deuce point and then held for a 2-0 lead, but Arimilli put together a 3-0 run to take it back. The set stayed on serve to 4-3 when Arimilli picked up another break and then held on a deuce point for the win.
Moments later, No. 69 Mason Beiler gave the lead back to Oklahoma with a 6-3, 7-5 win over sophomore Cleeve Harper at No. 3. Beiler used a trio of 2-0 runs to take the first set, while the second set stayed on serve all the way until the final game when Beiler broke for the win.
The remaining four matches all went to three sets, and it was Braswell with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Alex Martinez that once again evened the overall match. With the first set tied 2-2, Martinez picked up a break on a deuce point to take the lead and the rest of the set stayed on serve to give him the win. Martinez also grabbed a break in the first game of the second set and then held for a 2-0 lead that he advanced to 3-1 on serve, but at that point, Braswell flipped the script with a 5-0 run to send it to the third. Once again, Martinez took leads of 2-0 and 3-1, but Braswell secured a break to get back within one and then held to even it. The next two games stayed on serve until Braswell captured a deuce break point for a 5-4 lead and finished it on serve.
Huang followed right behind to quickly give the Longhorns the lead for the first time with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 decision over Nathan Han. After Huang earned a quick break in the first game, the rest of the set stayed on serve, including each player winning one of two consecutive deuce points at 4-3 and 5-3. Huang once again broke in the first game of the second set, but from there, Han went on a 7-0 run to take the set and a go up a break at 1-0 in the third. However, Huang immediately broke back on a deuce point and held for a 2-1 lead. After Han put together a 3-0 run, including a break on a deuce point, Huang took it from there with a streak of four straight games for the win.
At No. 1, sophomore No. 120 Eliot Spizzirri mounted a comeback against Jake Van Emburgh after being down a set and 5-3 in the second. Spizzirri ran off three straight games, including a deuce point at 5-5 to send it to a tiebreaker where he won the last three points to take the frame 7-3. However, Van Emburgh grabbed a 4-0 lead in the third on the strength of deuce points in the second and third games and added one more deuce win to go up 5-1 before closing for a 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-1 win that tied the overall match at 3-3.
That left it to McDonald, who went to a tiebreaker of his own in the first set against Justin Schlageter after the frame stayed on serve the entire way, despite five deuce points. With the tiebreaker even at 2-2, the players alternated 2-0 runs starting with McDonald all the way to an 8-6 win for him. In the third set, Schlageter took leads of 3-1 and 4-2, both on deuce point breaks, but McDonald used a deuce point win of his own on serve to catch him at 5-5. From there, McDonald broke and served out for the 7-6 (6), 5-7, 7-5 victory and 4-3 overall win, sending his teammates onto the court in celebration.
Earlier in doubles, the lack of Woldeab being available shuffled the Longhorns lineup and pairings at all three positions. Huang moved up to join Spizzirri at No. 1, and although Braswell and Harper had previously played eight dual matches together this season, this was the first at No. 2. At No. 3, sophomore Jacob Bullard and senior Payton Holden partnered for just the second time in any match with the other coming one month ago against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi that went unfinished at 4-4.
Braswell and Harper quickly jumped out to a 5-0 lead in their match against Beiler and Stewart and finished it at 6-1 after the Oklahoma pair won their only game on serve. The duo of Van Emburgh and Matt Rodriguez got the Sooners back in the point with a 7-5 win over Bullard and Holden in a match that stayed on serve up to 5-5. That’s when Oklahoma picked up the lone break of the match on a deuce point and then held. That left the deciding match at No. 1 where it stayed on serve starting with Spizzirri and Huang up to 3-3 against Han and Martinez, including three deuce point wins for the Longhorns. However, the Sooners got two of those deuce points back in the next two games for a 5-3 edge leading to a 6-4 win on serve.
Texas (11-3) returns to the courts for the final match of their four-match road stretch against Rice at 1 p.m. on Friday in Houston.
#6 Texas 4, #28 OU 3
Singles – Order of Finish (6,3,2,4,1,5)
1. Jake Van Emburgh (OU) def. #120 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-1
2. #78 Micah Braswell (UT) def. Alex Martinez (OU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
3. #69 Mason Beiler (OU) def. Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-3, 7-5
4. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Nathan Han (OU) 6-4, 1-6, 6-4
5. Evin McDonald (UT) def. Justin Schlageter (OU) 7-6 (6), 5-7, 7-5
6. Nevin Arimilli (UT) def. Max Stewart (OU) 6-2, 6-3
Doubles – Order of Finish (2,3,1)
1. Alex Martinez/Nathan Han (OU) def. Chih Chi Huang/Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 6-4
2. Cleeve Harper/Micah Braswell (UT) def. Mason Beiler/Max Stewart (OU) 6-1
3. Jake Van Emburgh/Matt Rodriguez (OU) def. Payton Holden/Jacob Bullard (UT) 7-5