{"id":584093,"date":"2026-04-04T02:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T02:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/584093\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T02:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T02:27:09","slug":"no-2-mens-tennis-preview-at-no-18-auburn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/584093\/","title":{"rendered":"No. 2 Men\u2019s Tennis preview: at No. 18 Auburn"},"content":{"rendered":"

No. 2 Texas at No. 18 Auburn

\nTeam Records:\u00a0Texas (19-6, 10-2 SEC), Auburn (15-7, 5-6 SEC)

\nWhen:\u00a0Saturday, April 4, 2026, 12 p.m. CT

\nWhere:\u00a0Yarbrough Tennis Center, Auburn, Ala.

\nLive Stats:\u00a0https:\/\/hookem.at\/MTN-Stats<\/a>\u2028

\nLive Video:\u00a0https:\/\/hookem.at\/MTN-Watch<\/a><\/p>\n

Updated Statistics<\/a><\/p>\n

Notes<\/p>\n

-Auburn Series: Texas leads, 6-1

\nTexas leads the all-time series with Auburn, 6-1, with the Longhorns taking a two 4-1 decisions last year, first in Austin and then in the quarterfinals of the SEC Championship in Columbia, S.C. Prior to that, the teams last met in 2012 in a consolation match of the ITA Indoors, which Texas won, 4-2. The lone loss for the Longhorns came in the first meeting in 1984, 5-4, in the NCAA round of 16. They then played the next year in Austin with Texas winning, 8-1. The next match came in 1993 in Montgomery, Ala., which was a 5-2 win for the Longhorns, followed by 2004 when Texas won, 4-3, in the NCAA first round in Athens, Ga.<\/p>\n

Last Two Box Scores<\/p>\n

#4 Texas 4, #33 Auburn 1

\nFriday, April 18, 2025

\nColumbia, S.C. \u2022 Carolina Tennis Center (SEC quarterfinals)

\nSingles \u2013 Order of Finish (6,3,1,2)

\n1. #2 Timo Legout<\/a> (UT) def. Will Nolan (AUB) 6-2, 6-4

\n2. #22 Sebastian Gorzny<\/a> (UT) def. #68 Alex Frusina (AUB) 7-5, 7-5

\n3. #46 Pierre-Yves Bailly<\/a> (UT) def. Billy Blaydes (AUB) 6-4, 6-2

\n4. #72 Jonah Braswell<\/a> (UT) vs. Hamza Nasridinov (AUB) 1-6, 6-5, unf.

\n5. Sebastian Eriksson<\/a> (UT) vs. Nicholas Heng (AUB) 1-6, 6-1, 5-1, unf.

\n6. Evan Burnett<\/a> (UT) def. Joey Phillips (AUB) 6-2, 6-3<\/p>\n

Doubles \u2013 Order of Finish (2,3,1)

\n1. Alex Frusina\/Will Nolan (AUB) def. #9 Timo Legout<\/a>\/Lucas Brown<\/a> (UT) 7-6 (8-6)

\n2. #78 Pierre-Yves Bailly<\/a>\/Sebastian Eriksson<\/a> (UT) def. Billy Blaydes\/Joey Phillips (AUB) 6-1

\n3. Jake Kennedy\/Hamza Nasridinov (AUB) def. Evan Burnett<\/a>\/Jonah Braswell<\/a> (UT) 6-3<\/p>\n

#4 Texas 4, #32 Auburn 1

\nSaturday, March 8, 2025

\nAustin, Texas \u2022 Texas Tennis Center

\nSingles \u2013 Order of Finish (6,5,2,4)

\n1. #7 Timo Legout<\/a> (TEX) vs. Will Nolan (AUB) 6-3, 5-4, unf.

\n2. Alex Frusina (AUB) def. #13 Sebastian Gorzny<\/a> (TEX) 6-4, 7-5

\n3. #64 Pierre-Yves Bailly<\/a> (TEX) vs. Billy Blaydes (AUB) 6-2, 5-5, unf.

\n4. #39 Jonah Braswell<\/a> (TEX) def. Joey Phillips (AUB) 6-4, 6-2

\n5. Sebastian Eriksson<\/a> (TEX) def. Hamza Nasridinov (AUB) 6-2, 7-5

\n6. Lucas Brown<\/a> (TEX) def. Nicholas Heng (AUB) 6-2, 6-2<\/p>\n

Doubles \u2013 Order of Finish (2,3)

\n1. #10 Timo Legout<\/a>\/Lucas Brown<\/a> (TEX) vs. #13 Will Nolan\/Billy Blaydes (AUB) 5-2, unf.

\n2. Jonah Braswell<\/a>\/Sebastian Gorzny<\/a> (TEX) def. Alex Frusina\/Joey Phillips (AUB) 6-2

\n3. Pierre-Yves Bailly<\/a>\/Sebastian Eriksson<\/a> (TEX) def. Thomas Kennedy\/Nicholas Heng (AUB) 6-2<\/p>\n

-ITA Team Rankings

\nTexas was tabbed No. 2 in the preseason poll released January 7 by the ITA and ended up cycling back to that position on March 3, moved to No. 3 on March 10 and back to No. 2 on March 31. In between, the Longhorns were No. 4 on January 21, No. 5 on January 28, No. 7 on February 4, No. 3 on February 19, and back to No. 4 on February 24. It’s the 119th-straight rankings week in the top 15 dating back to April 2018.<\/p>\n

-ITA Individual National Rankings

\nTexas had six listings in the most recent ITA individual rankings that were released March 31 with four in singles and two doubles pairs. In singles, Sebastian Gorzny<\/a> stayed in the top five at No. 3, while Kalin Ivanovski<\/a> moved from 19 to 31, Sebastian Eriksson<\/a> went from 43 to 36, and Abel Forger<\/a> moved from 90 to 97. Meanwhile in doubles, Gorzny and Lucas Marionneau<\/a> shifted from 23 to 26, and Eriksson and Oliver Ojakaar<\/a> went from 19 to 38.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Texas<\/p>\n

Singles\u00a0

\nNo. 3 Sebastian Gorzny<\/a>

\nNo. 31 Kalin Ivanovski<\/a>

\nNo. 36 Sebastian Eriksson<\/a>

\nNo. 97 Abel Forger<\/a><\/p>\n

Doubles

\nNo. 26 Sebastian Gorzny<\/a>\/Lucas Marionneau<\/a>

\nNo. 38 Sebastian Eriksson<\/a>\/Oliver Ojakaar<\/a><\/p>\n

Auburn<\/p>\n

Singles\u00a0

\nNo. 26 Hamza Nasridinov

\nNo. 78 Billy Blaydes<\/p>\n

Doubles

\nNo. 10 Billy Blaydes\/Freddy Blaydes<\/p>\n

-Three-straight sweeps

\nTexas swept No. 24 Ole Miss, 4-0, on April 2 at the Palmer\/Salloum Tennis Center in Oxford. It was the Longhorns’ third-straight sweep and fifth-straight victory overall. Texas claimed the doubles point with wins at Nos. 3 and 2 and followed with singles victories by Oliver Ojakaar<\/a> at No. 3, Sebastian Erkisson at No. 2, and Marionneau at No. 6 for the clinch. Abel Forger<\/a> was also potentially one game away from a win at No. 4 when play stopped.<\/p>\n

-Sweeping the weekend

\nTexas swept No. 36 Arkansas, 4-0, on March 29 at the Texas Tennis Center. The match was the Longhorns’ fourth-straight win and completed a pair of sweeps in their weekend homestand, including defeating Tennessee on Friday. Texas put together a solid doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 2 to capture the point, while also leading at No. 3 when play stopped. The Longhorns then followed with singles victories by Abel Forger<\/a> at No. 4, Oliver Ojakaar<\/a> at No. 3, and Lucas Marionneau<\/a> at No. 6 for the clinch.<\/p>\n

-Sweeping the Vols

\nTexas swept No. 51 Tennessee, 4-0, on March 27 at the Texas Tennis Center. Texas took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 3 and 1 and was also a game away from a win at No. 2 when play stopped. The Longhorns then followed with singles victories by Lucas Marionneau<\/a> at No. 6, Oliver Ojakaar<\/a> at No. 3 and Sebastian Gorzny<\/a> at No. 1. Abel Forger<\/a> was also close to breaking for a chance to serve out his match at No. 4 when play halted.<\/p>\n

-Turning the Cats blue

\nTexas downed No. 27 Kentucky, 4-2, on March 22 at the Boone Tennis Complex in Lexington. The win gave the Longhorns a sweep of their weekend road trip with a pair of top-30 victories. Texas came up just short in doubles in a tiebreaker of the deciding match at No. 2 after having won at No. 3 but fallen at No. 1. The Longhorns then rallied for four singles victories, including Oliver Ojakaar<\/a> at No. 5 and Lucas Marionneau<\/a> at No. 6 to give them a 2-1 lead. Then after Kentucky tied it with a win at No. 2, Texas closed with victories by Sebastian Gorzny<\/a> at No. 1 and 43 Sebastian Eriksson<\/a> at No. 3 for the clinch. Abel Forger<\/a> also had a break lead in his third set at No. 4 when play stopped.<\/p>\n

-Bounce back sweep in Nashville

\nThe Longhorns swept to No. 13 Vanderbilt, 4-0, on March 20 at the Lummis Family Tennis Center in Nashville. Texas snapped a string of having lost four-straight doubles points and six of the last seven by securing wins at Nos. 3 and 2 with Vanderbilt winning at No. 1 in between. The Longhorns then followed with singles victories by Sebastian Gorzny<\/a> at No. 1, Sebastian Eriksson<\/a> at No. 3, and Lucas Marionneau<\/a> at No. 6. Jonah Braswell<\/a> was also two points from a possible win at No. 4 when play stopped.<\/p>\n

-Slip against the Sooners

\nThe Longhorns fell to No. 28 Oklahoma, 4-1, on March 15 at the Texas Tennis Center. The loss snapped a 12-match winning streak in the rivalry for the Longhorns, who had late chances in both doubles and singles and led in the remaining two singles contests when play stopped. During doubles, Oklahoma won six of the seven deuce points and had two of the three breaks combined across the three matches with all three breaks coming in the match at No. 2, a match the Sooners won. The other two doubles contests both stayed on serve throughout with the deciding match at No. 1 going to a tiebreaker, while No. 3 was left unfinished. Lucas Marionneau<\/a> later cut that deficit to one at No. 6 singles, but from there, the matches at both Nos. 2 and 3 needed late breaks that didn’t come in order to get back on serve in their second sets.<\/p>\n

-Lone Star Showdown victory

\nTexas took the Cotton Holdings Lone Star Showdown, 4-2, over No. 11 Texas A&M on March 13 at the Texas Tennis Center. The Longhorns produced four singles victories to register their ninth-straight win over the Aggies. Although Texas came up just short in a tiebreaker in the deciding doubles match, the Longhorns responded with singles victories by Lucas Marionneau<\/a> at No. 5, Sebastian Gorzny<\/a> at No. 1, and Sebastian Eriksson<\/a> at No. 2 for a 3-1 lead. Texas A&M got back within one with a win at No. 4, but the clinch then came from Evan Burnett<\/a> at No. 6. Abel Forger<\/a> was also potentially one game away from winning his match at No. 3 when play stopped.<\/p>\n

-Coming up short in a pair of shorthanded back-to-back top-10 matches

\nTexas came up just short to No. 6 LSU, 4-3, at the Texas Tennis Center on March 6 and to No. 7 TCU, 4-1, at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center on March 7. The Longhorns were forced into a number of lineup changes for both matches due to injuries to Kalin Ivanovski<\/a> and Oliver Ojakaar<\/a>. Despite that, the LSU match came down to late in the third set of the deciding singles match. With changes to Nos. 2 and 3 doubles, LSU went on to take both of those. The teams then alternated points from there with Texas receiving wins from Lucas Marionneau<\/a> at No. 6, Jonah Braswell<\/a> at No. 5 and Sebastian Eriksson<\/a> at No. 3. The overall match came down to No. 1 where Sebastian Gorzny<\/a> fell 7-5 in the third set. Against TCU, the Horned Frogs took doubles at Nos. 1 and 2, and Braswell evened the overall match at No. 4 singles. TCU won at Nos. 6, 5 and 2 to clinch, but Texas had previously had match points at No. 2 and held leads in unfinished matches at Nos. 1 and 3 when play stopped.<\/p>\n

-Back at the TTC with a top-15 sweep

\nTexas swept No. 13 Georgia, 4-0, at the Texas Tennis Center on March 1. It was the ninth-straight win for the Longhorns, seven of which against top-25 opponents. Texas secured the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 1 with Georgia taking No. 3 in between. The Longhorns then followed with singles victories by Abel Forger<\/a> at No. 3, Lucas Marionneau<\/a> at No. 6, and Oliver Ojakaar<\/a> at No. 5 for the clinch.<\/p>\n

-Finishing 3-0 on SEC opening road trip

\nTexas secured a 4-2 victory at No. 22 South Carolina on February 26 to complete their opening SEC road trip with a 3-0 record. It was the Longhorns’ second-straight match to go indoors, although this time the move happened after most singles first sets were complete. Texas started out coming up just short in the doubles point after a 7-5 loss in the deciding match at No. 2. Texas had claimed an efficient 6-1 win at No. 3 to start, but South Carolina answered with a 6-4 win at No. 1. The Longhorns followed with singles victories by Abel Forger<\/a> at No. 4, Oliver Ojakaar<\/a> at No. 6, and No. 40 Sebastian Eriksson<\/a> at No. 3 to extend to a 3-1 lead. The Gamecocks picked up another point at No. 1, but Jonah Braswell<\/a> clinched the match at No. 5.<\/p>\n

-Top-10 road victory in Starkville

\nTexas rallied for a 4-3 top-10 road victory at No. 10 Mississippi State in a match that was moved indoors to the Rula Tennis Pavilion on February 23 in Starkville. The Longhorns trailed, 1-0 after the doubles point and 3-2 late before completing the comeback. In its first match in Starkville since 1996, Texas started out coming up just short in the doubles point after a tiebreaker loss in the deciding match at No. 1. Mississippi State had earlier taken the match at No. 3 before the Longhorns evened it with a win at No. 2. After doubles, every singles match ended up going the distance to three sets. Texas claimed the first two of those with wins by Kalin Ivanovski<\/a> at No. 2, and Oliver Ojakaar<\/a> at No. 5. However, the Mississippi State tied the match a split second later at No. 3 and reclaimed the lead moments after that at No. 4. That left two courts in play with the Longhorns needing both, which they secured with victories first by Sebastian Gorzny<\/a> at No. 1, and then Lucas Marionneau<\/a> at No. 6 for the clinch.<\/p>\n

-SEC opening win in first trip to Tuscaloosa

\nTexas opened SEC play with a 6-1 win at Alabama on February 21 in the first-ever trip to Tuscaloosa. The Longhorns started the match with 6-3 wins on all three doubles courts, first at No. 3 and then an almost simultaneous finish at Nos. 2 and 1 with match point at No. 2 ending a split-second before No. 1 leading to all three matches counting. Jonah Braswell<\/a> was first off the singles court for a 2-0 lead, and after the Crimson Tide picked up its lone match at No. 6, the Longhorns registered victories by Abel Forger<\/a> at No. 3, Sebastian Gorzny<\/a> at No. 1, another virtually simultaneous finish by Lucas Marionneau<\/a> at No. 5 just after Gorzny, and finally a superbreaker win by Sebastian Eriksson<\/a> at No. 2.<\/p>\n

-ITA Indoors All-Tournament Team filled with Horns

\nLonghorns claimed four of the six singles spots on the ITA All-Tournament Team released by the ITA on February 20, including the Most Outstanding Player in senior Sebastian Gorzny<\/a>, who was also All-Tournament at No. 1 Singles. Additionally, Texas had freshman Kalin Ivanovski<\/a> at No. 2 Singles, sophomore Sebastian Eriksson<\/a> at No. 4 Singles, and freshman Lucas Marionneau<\/a> at No. 6 Singles. All four players collected three singles wins over the course of the four matches at the national sites in Waco and Dallas that began in the round of 16 through the final.<\/p>\n

-Gorzny, Ivanovski earn SEC Men’s Tennis Athlete, Freshman of the Week

\nTexas swept the SEC weekly awards as senior Sebastian Gorzny<\/a> was named Athlete of the Week, and Kalin Ivanovski<\/a> was chosen Freshman of the Week, the conference announced on February 18. It marked the second weekly SEC honor for Gorzny this season and in his career, and the first for Ivanovski. The duo helped Texas to the program’s first ITA Indoors National Championship with four wins over No. 8 Texas A&M, No. 5 TCU, No. 19 Baylor and No. 2 Ohio State on the way to the title. Gorzny went 3-0 in singles with two top-15 victories and another top-50 win, all at No. 1. He also went 2-2 in doubles, including a tiebreaker win over the nation’s No. 1 doubles team. Ivanovski posted a 3-0 record in singles play, all against ranked opponents at No. 2. He also went 1-1 in doubles, along with an unfinished tiebreaker match against the nation’s No. 7 pair, all at No. 1.<\/p>\n

-Texas wins program’s first ITA Indoors National Championship

\nTexas won the program’s first ITA Indoors National Championship with a 4-2 win over No. 2 Ohio State on January 17 at the Styslinger\/Altec Tennis Complex in Dallas. It was the Longhorns’ second appearance in the tournament final with the last being in 2023 in Chicago. The win avenged an earlier season loss on the road at Ohio State on January 29 and completed an impressive run that included a sweep of a trio of in-state foes including a 4-0 sweep of No. 19 Baylor in the semifinals in Dallas, and No. 5 TCU in the quarterfinals and No. 8 Texas A&M in the round of 16 in Waco. The Longhorns had previously beaten UNC Wilmington and South Florida in the first and second rounds in Austin on January 23 and 24, respectively. The match against the Buckeyes opened in remarkable fashion with all three doubles courts extending to a tiebreaker. Ohio State, which had all three of its teams in the top-eight of the doubles rankings held match points on all three courts at various times, but the Longhorns fought back and emerged with wins at Nos. 2 and 3 to take the point. The teams then went back and forth in singles with the Buckeyes winning at No. 3 singles to tie it, but Sebastian Gorzny<\/a> regained the lead with a win at No. 1. Ohio State then took the match at No. 4, but Lucas Marionneau<\/a> produced a three-set victory at No. 6 for a 3-2 advantage. That left two courts in action at Nos. 2 and 5, and Kalin Ivanovski<\/a> crossed the finish line first at No. 2 to deliver the championship.<\/p>\n

-Two top-10 wins to reach ITA Indoors semifinals

\nTexas defeated two top-10 opponents to reach the semifinals of ITA National Indoor Championships on February 13 and 14. The Longhorns were placed in Waco and topped No. 8 Texas A&M, 4-2, on Friday, and then No. 5 TCU, 4-3, on Saturday. It marks the second-straight year and third time in the last for Texas has advanced to the semifinals. Although Texas A&M moved out to a 2-0 lead with the doubles point that came via wins at Nos. 3 and 1, along with the first singles contest at No. 6, Texas responded with four-straight singles victories by Abel Forger<\/a> at No. 2, Sebastian Eriksson<\/a> at No. 3, Sebastian Gorzny<\/a> at No. 1, and Lucas Marionneau<\/a> at No. 5 for the clinch. Then for the second-straight match, the Longhorns found themselves in a 2-0 deficit after dropping the doubles point via matches at Nos. 1 and 2, along with the first singles contest at No. 5. However, they again responded with four singles wins, starting with a top-five victory for Sebastian Gorzny<\/a> at No. 1, and a win by Kalin Ivanovski<\/a> at No. 2 to even it, 2-2. The Horned Frogs briefly retook the lead with a win at No. 3, but Texas completed the comeback with wins by Sebastian Eriksson<\/a> at No. 4 and Oliver Ojakaar<\/a> at No. 6 to clinch it. The match for Ojakaar was just his second singles match in the 2025-26 year with the other coming in fall play, making it first in a dual match since March 2 of last year.<\/p>\n

-Sweeping Corpus Christi

\nTexas swept Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 7-0, at the Texas Tennis Center on February 7. The Longhorns did not drop a set throughout the overall match in winning doubles contests at Nos. 2 and 3, and following with singles victories by Abel Forger<\/a> at No. 2, Sebastian Gorzny<\/a> at No. 1, Mariano Dedura-Palomero<\/a> at No. 5 for the clinch, Evan Burnett<\/a> at No. 6, Lucas Marionneau<\/a> at No. 4, and Jonah Braswell<\/a> at No. 3.<\/p>\n

-Facing the best

\nAlthough the Longhorns have three losses this season, the week after the third one against Ohio State on January 30, the three opponents they were defeated by were then ranked Nos. 1, 2 and 3 in the nation \u2013 Virginia, Ohio State and Wake Forest, respectively.<\/p>\n

-Downed at Ohio State

\nTexas fell on the road at No. 6 Ohio State, 4-1, on January 30 at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center in Columbus. The Longhorns secured two individual top-five wins during the match but came up short in their first road match of the season. Ohio State came into the match with three top-10 doubles teams and took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 1 surrounding Texas’ victory at No. 3, which was one of the Longhorns’ top-five victories. The Buckeyes went up 2-0 after freshman Kalin Ivanovski<\/a> was forced to retire in singles, and although Texas pulled within one when senior No. 39 Sebastian Gorzny<\/a> earned the other top-five win at No. 1, the Buckeyes closed by taking Nos. 6 and 5.<\/p>\n

-Gorzny earns first SEC Athlete of the Week honor

\nSebastian Gorzny<\/a> was named the SEC Men’s Tennis Athlete of the Week for the week of January 21-27, the conference announced January 28. It marked the first weekly SEC honor of his career. Gorzny went a combined 6-0 in leading Texas to wins over UNC Wilmington and South Florida to earn the ITA Kickoff Weekend Austin Regional Championship, along with a close loss to top-ranked Wake Forest. Gorzny did not drop a set during his six wins and collected two top-30 singles victories over No. 12 DK Suresh of Wake Forest and No. 28 Hugo Car of South Florida, in addition to defeating Jordi Domenech of UNCW, all of which came at No. 1 singles. He was also first off the respective doubles or singles court in five of his six matches. In doubles, he paired with Lucas Marionneau<\/a> in all three wins, all of which came in decisive fashion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

-Back to the ITA Indoors

\nTexas won the championship of the ITA Kickoff Weekend Austin Regional with a pair of 4-0 sweeps over UNC-Wilmington on January 23 and South Florida on January 24 at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center. With the wins, the Longhorns advanced to the ITA National Indoor Championships for the eighth-straight year with this year’s tournament taking place from February 13-17 in Dallas and Waco, Texas. Against UNCW, Texas claimed the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 3, and followed with singles wins from Sebastian Gorzny<\/a> at No. 1, Lucas Brown<\/a> at No. 3, and Mariano Dedura-Palomero<\/a> at No. 5 for the clinch. Versus USF, the Longhorns earned the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and 2, followed by singles wins from Abel Forger<\/a> at No. 3, Gorzny at No. 1, and Kalin Ivanovski<\/a> at No. 2 for the clinch.<\/p>\n

-Back-to-Back Top-Five Contests

\nTexas hosted a pair of top-five contests in Austin and had paths to victory in both, but came up short against No. 5 Virginia on January 18, 4-1, and No. 1 Wake Forest on January 21, 4-2. Against the Demon Deacons, the Longhorns claimed doubles with wins at Nos. 3 and 1, while Sebastian Gorzny<\/a> provided a 2-0 lead by topping No. 12 DK Suresh at No. 1. However, Wake Forest rallied with singles wins at Nos. 2, 3, 5, and 4. Against Virginia, the Cavaliers won doubles at Nos. 2 and 1 and took a 2-0 lead with a singles win at No. 3. Although Abel Forger<\/a> made it 2-1 with a win at No. 2, Virginia closed with wins at Nos. 1 and 4.<\/p>\n

-Starting the season 2-0

\nThe Longhorns opened the season with a pair of home wins over ACU on January 10, 7-0, and UIW on January 14, 6-1. Texas did not drop a set against ACU in sweeping played out doubles and singles, while they did the same against UIW except for a 7-5, 7-5 loss at No. 1 singles.<\/p>\n

-Berque at the Helm

\nAn accomplished coaching veteran with three decades of experience with some of the nation’s top tennis programs, Bruce Berque<\/a> was named the fifth head coach of The University of Texas Men’s Tennis program on May 23, 2019. Berque is in his eighth season as head coach in Austin and has led the Longhorns to a 170-41 overall record (.806) that includes 19-6 this season, 28-5 last season (missed the NCAA first round match vs. Montana due to illness), 27-4 in 2024, 26-4 in 2023, 18-11 in 2022, 24-6 in 2021, 13-3 in a 2020 season that was shortened by the pandemic, and 15-2 in 2019 en route to the guiding Texas to its first team National Championship. The 2026 team under Berque has already made history by become the first in program history to be crowned ITA Indoors National Champions. In reaching the NCAA Final Four last year, Texas is the only program nationally to reach it five times in the last six full seasons. During Berque’s previous seven seasons at the helm, Texas is the only program in the nation to finish in the top four in six of those. It is also one of just four programs to reach the NCAA championship match twice (2019, 2024), along with Virginia, TCU and Wake Forest in that span. The Longhorns are one of three teams to have been ranked No. 1 at some point during the season in four of the last seven years along with Ohio State and TCU.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During his career, Berque has helped produce four national team champions, seven national individual champions and 14 conference team titles. He has coached 30 All-Americans who collectively have amassed 62 All-America honors. Additionally, he has guided eight singles players and three doubles teams to a No. 1 national ranking, including Timo Legout<\/a> last season. Legout went on to be the ITA National Player of the Year, giving Texas three-straight years earning that honor, along with Eliot Spizzirri<\/a> in 2023 and 2024. The 2025 SEC Coach of the Year, Berque guided the Horns to both the regular season and tournament championships in their debut season in the SEC. In 2024, Texas came within a point of its second national title before coming up just short by a 4-3 score to TCU to finish as NCAA runners-up and with a No. 2 final ranking. It had been the fourth time the teams had met during the season, resulting in a 2-2 split that also saw the Longhorns claim the Big 12 tournament championship. Meanwhile, UT also secured an outright Big 12 regular season title with a perfect 7-0 record. In six years under Berque where a conference slate was played, Texas has taken home at least a share of the regular season championship five times (2019, ’21, ’23, ’24, ’25), including four outright (2019, ’23, ’24, ’25). The 2020 season was halted due to the pandemic prior to conference play. The 29 wins last season were tied with the 2019 team for the most in program history in the era since 1975 when teams began playing shorter schedules. Berque has additionally guided Texas to the semifinals of the ITA National Indoor Championships in three of the last four years (2023, 2025), including the program’s first two finals appearances in 2023 and 2026 on the way to this year’s title.<\/p>\n

-Back from 2025

\nIn the eighth season under head coach Bruce Berque<\/a>, Texas will have a different look from 2025, but at the same time return a number of familiar faces. The roster will feature six returners, all of whom had match experience, including seniors Sebastian Gorzny<\/a> and Jonah Braswell<\/a>, junior Lucas Brown<\/a>, and sophomores Sebastian Eriksson<\/a>, Oliver Ojakaar<\/a>, and Evan Burnett<\/a>.<\/p>\n

-Five newcomers arrive for their first dual match season on the 40

\nThe Longhorns add five new faces for 2026, all who are expected to be impact players, starting with Mariano Dedura-Palomero<\/a> from Germany and Lucas Marionneau<\/a> from France who arrived in the summer and competed in fall tournament play. Three other players just arrived on the 40 Acres this month, including Jeremiah Braswell<\/a>, who is the brother of current Longhorn Jonah Braswell<\/a> and former All-American Micah Braswell<\/a>, along with Abel Forger<\/a> from The Netherlands and Kalin Ivanovski<\/a> from North Macedonia.<\/p>\n

-Summer\/Fall Wrap-up

\nA number of players on the roster spent the summer and fall nursing injuries, leading to some of them not qualifying for fall ITA rankings. However, around those injuries, Lucas Brown<\/a> started the summer off with the singles title at the ITA Summer Nationals. At the ITA All-Americans, Sebastian Gorzny<\/a> reached the singles round of 16, while Gorzny and Brown combined to advance to the doubles quarterfinals. Sebastian Eriksson<\/a> later made it to the ITA Texas Regionals final, however the title match was not played. Gorzny and Eriksson both closed fall play in the NCAA Singles Championship round of 32.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No. 2 Texas at No. 18 Auburn Team Records:\u00a0Texas (19-6, 10-2 SEC), Auburn (15-7, 5-6 SEC) When:\u00a0Saturday, April…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-584093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}