No. 4 Texas men’s tennis climbed back from an early deficit to stun No. 22 South Carolina, winning its third straight Southeastern Conference match of the season against South Carolina in Columbia.
The Longhorns struggled in doubles play, dropping two of the three courts to surrender the opening point. South Carolina senior Lucas da Silva and redshirt freshman Paul Barbier Gazeu won 6-4 over senior Sebastian Gorzny and freshman Lucas Marionneau, while South Carolina sophomore Max Stenzer and junior Sean Daryabeigi fought back-to-back sets to defeat Texas freshman Kalin Ivanovski and freshman Abel Forger 7-5.
Texas avoided a sweep thanks to the No. 12 duo of sophomores Oliver Ojakäär and Sebastian Eriksson, who delivered a dominant 6-1 victory over sophomores Cole Henceroth and Atakan Karahan. The win marked Ojakäär and Eriksson’s sixth doubles win together this dual-match season.
Forger opened the singles, delivering a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Karahan. After an early hold from Karahan in the first set, Forger surged with a five-set run to finish the set. He broke the second set with a 4-0 start. Though Karahan briefly narrowed the gap, Forger sealed the straight-set win.
Soon after, Eriksson secured a straight-sets victory over Gazeu, 6-2, 7-6. Eriksson controlled the opener with an early break and closed it out confidently. In the second set, he battled to three consecutive breaks before heading into a tiebreaker. Trailing 6-4 in the breaker, Eriksson went on a 4-0 run to deliver the victory.
Ojakäär continued his undefeated return to the singles lineup, earning a decisive 6-3, 6-3 win over South Carolina freshman Charlie Swaine. The match marked his third dual-match appearance in the singles since his return against TCU at the 2026 ITA National Team Indoor Championship.
After trailing in the doubles, Texas counted on Ojakäär to help swing the momentum and gain momentum in the singles. He has been dominant all season, winning every completed singles match and leaving just one unfinished against Ohio State.
“The lineup decisions have been challenging this year for singles just because of our health status, but we’re trying to be pretty careful with the guys that are coming back from injury,” head coach Bruce Berque said.
In a three-set defeat, Gorzny’s nine-match singles winning streak came to an end against da Silva. After claiming the first set 4-6, Gorzny was unable to regain control and lost the final two sets 6-2, 6-3.
The Longhorns return to action March 1 at 1 p.m. to face No. 13 Georgia at home.