Texas Men's Tennis Proves They Are Among Nation's Best With Demolition of No. 1 Ohio State

Texas Men's Tennis began the 2024 spring season with incredibly high expectations as the No. 3 ranked team in the country. Despite a few hiccups over the last two months, the Horns proved why they are a legitimate National Title contender with a 4-0 dismantling of the No. 1 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes on Sunday.

In front of a packed crowd at the Texas Tennis Center, the Longhorns put together a complete team performance to down the 2024 National Men's Team Indoor Champions.

Texas men's tennis tops No. 1 Ohio State in convincing upset

It started with a strong rallying effort during the doubles matches. After dropping Court No. 2 doubles 2-6, the Horns knew they needed to win Courts 1 and 3 to snag the coveted doubles point.

At Court No. 3, Micah Braswell and Cleave Harper secured an early break and did not look back in their 6-3 victory over Jack Anthrop and Alex Bernard. This left the onus on the Court No. 1 duo of Eliot Spizzirri and Siem Woldeab to secure victory for the Horns.

Briefly, if you are new to college team tennis, the scoring works as follows:

• Seven total points are available (one doubles, six singles), and the first to four wins the duel.
• Teams start the duel by playing three doubles matches. The team that wins two of these matches secures the doubles point.
• Following doubles, the teams play six singles matches. If you win the doubles point, you only need three singles victories to reach four total points. If you lose doubles, you must win four of six singles matches to reach four points.

Coming into this match, Texas was 7-0 when they won the doubles point and just 2-3 when they lost it. This is why securing a victory on Court No. 1 doubles became so paramount in today's duel.

Fifth-year seniors Spizzirri and Woldeab were a 2022 All-American doubles pairing, but they had not played doubles together in nearly two years. That said, the duo did not miss a beat, playing with cohesion and perfectly complementing each other's games.

Spizzirri and Woldeab overcame an early break to take down the No. 5 ranked Buckeye duo of Robert Cash and JJ Tracy 7-6 (5).

From there, the momentum spiraled for the Longhorns. Texas won the first set on all six singles courts and was on its way to a massive victory over the top-ranked Buckeyes.

Freshman Gilles-Arnaud Bailly was first on the board with a 6-0, 6-2 dismantling of the No. 7 ranked player in the country, JJ Tracy, on Court No. 3. Micah Braswell followed that up with a 6-2, 6-4 thrashing of No. 32 Justin Boulais on Court No. 2. Moments later, current top-ranked singles player Eliot Spizzirri finsihed off No. 17 Cannon Kingsley with a beautiful backhand volley, securing a 6-3, 6-3 win and a 4-0 team sweep for the Longhorns.

The other three singles matches were played to completion, including a 7-6 (5), 7-5 win for Cleeve Harper at Court No. 6. The final scoreline was as follows:

Doubles:

1. Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) def. #5 Robert Cash/JJ Tracy (OSU) 7-6 (7-5)

2. Andrew Lutschaunig/Justin Boulais (OSU) def. Pierre-Yves Bailly/Eshan Talluri (UT) 6-2

3. Micah Braswell/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Jack Anthrop/Alexander Bernard (OSU) 6-3

Singles:

1. #1 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. #17 Cannon Kingsley (OSU) 6-3, 6-3

2. #2 Micah Braswell (UT) def. #32 Justin Boulais (OSU) 6-2, 6-4

3. #48 Gilles-Arnaud Bailly (UT) def. #7 JJ Tracy (OSU) 6-0, 6-2

4. #16 Jack Anthrop (OSU) def. Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-5)

5. #91 Alexander Bernard (OSU) def. Siem Woldeab (UT) 1-6, 6-3, 6-3

6. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Bryce Nakashima (OSU) 7-6 (7-5), 7-5

This was a massive win for the Horns for multiple reasons. First, Texas was the first team to beat Ohio State this year, knocking their record down to 16-1. Second, it proved that the Longhorns should still be considered legitimate contenders for the May 2024 NCAA Men's Tennis Team Championship.

It seemed as if Texas was starting to become underrated on the national landscape after a few tough losses to begin the season. The Horns came into this duel with a 9-3 record, though those three losses were all extremely tight. Texas dropped 4-3 duels to No. 1 Virginia and No. 2 TCU, along with a 4-2 decision to No. 14 Arizona at the ITA Indoors.

These three losses slid the Horns down nine spots from their preseason mark of No. 3 to a current mark of No. 12. Those matches, however, could have easily gone the other way and we could be talking about an undefeated Texas team.

The win over the No. 1 ranked Buckeyes adds to Texas's already impressive resume, which includes wins over No. 4 South Carolina, No. 14 Michigan, and No. 15 Stanford.

We will certainly see Texas Men's Tennis rise in the Mar. 12 team rankings, but how high will this win propel them? For my money, Texas, TCU, Ohio State, and Virginia are in a tier of their own this season.

The Horns are right back to work on Thursday with a mid-week trip to take on No. 48 Georgia in Athens. They follow that up with a cross-country flight for a Sunday match against No. 32 USC before beginning their seven-match Big 12 season at home against No. 34 UCF at the Texas Tennis Center on Friday, Mar. 22.

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