Austin \u2013 No. 1 Texas Men’s Tennis advanced to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight with a 4-1 win over 15 seed No. 17 San Diego on Friday at the Texas Tennis Center. It marks the fourth-straight year the Longhorns have reached at least the quarterfinals and the sixth time in the last seven.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Texas will now transition to the championship site in Athens, Ga., where they will face 10 seed No. 11 Baylor on Thursday, May 14, at a time to be determined later by the NCAA.<\/p>\n
“I just told the team, it’s not easy (to reach the Elite Eight),” head coach Bruce Berque<\/a> said. “Getting to the Elite Eight, getting to the round of 16, it used to be a thing everyone strives for, making it to the final site, and then they made it even tougher to do because only eight get there instead of 16. So, getting there is something that I’ll never take lightly, and these guys should be really proud of the kind of season they’ve had so far, to not only win three championships, but also earn their ticket to Athens.”<\/p>\n Texas produced one of its best doubles points of the year with decisive wins at Nos. 1 and 2 and then followed with singles victories by sophomore No. 89 Oliver Ojakaar<\/a> at No. 4, and freshman Lucas Marionneau<\/a> at No. 6. San Diego picked up its lone point at No. 1, but the clinch for the Longhorns came from sophomore No. 35 Sebastian Eriksson<\/a> at No. 3. Eriksson had missed the previous two matches in the tournament with an injury\u00a0but returned to also be a factor in doubles.<\/p>\n “I’d say that the two keys to the match, to me, the first was doubles,” Berque said. “Our level was probably the best we’ve played all year, and we have really improved our doubles, but tonight, we were just another level. So that was terrific, and I think San Diego has had a very strong doubles point this year. So that was a massive key. Then, winning the three first-set tiebreakers really set us up pretty well. If you lose two of those, it’s a dog fight. And those can always go either way. But our guys were pretty clutch and stepped up, and they seemed to be feeding off the crowd, and they seemed to be really enjoying themselves, and that’s what we like to see. They put a lot of work in this year, and it’s nice to see them not only get the win and execute and play well, but enjoy it, because they sure put a lot of work into it.”<\/p>\n During doubles, freshmen Kalin Ivanovski<\/a> and Abel Forger<\/a> had one of their better matches of the season by completing a 6-0 sweep of the No. 34 pair Adrien Berrut and Lambert Ruland at No. 1. A short time later, the No. 46 duo of Eriksson and Ojakaar clinched the doubles point with a 6-2 victory over Manvydas Balciunas and Vincent Marysko at No. 3. In the remaining match at No. 2, the No. 21 tandem of Marionneau and senior Sebastian Gorzny<\/a> led Stian Klaassen and Oliver Tarvet, 4-2, when play stopped.<\/p>\n In a battle to be first off the singles court, No. 89 Ojakaar got home first with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Marysko at No. 4. Seconds later, Marionneau completed his 6-4, 6-2 win over Ruland at No. 6 to provide Texas a 3-0 overall lead.<\/p>\n After San Diego made it 3-1 when No. 3 Gorzny fell to No. 19 Tarvet, 6-4, 6-3, at No. 1, two more matches where extremely close to finishing at the same time with both first sets of those matches having been won by the Longhorns in tiebreakers. The Super Regional clinch ended up coming from Eriksson, who completed a 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over Klaassen at No. 3 to send his teammates streaming onto his court.<\/p>\n The other match close to finishing had been at No. 5 by No. 102 Forger, who had a match point at deuce at the same time as Eriksson, while up a set and leading, 6-5, in his second set against Berrut. However, Berrut managed to hold serve, leaving it unfinished with Forger leading, 7-6 (1), 6-6.<\/p>\n The last match at No. 2 had also had a first-set tiebreaker that was won a Longhorn in No. 41 Ivanovski against No. 94 Balciunas, but the Torero rallied for the second set and had a slight lead, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 2-1, when play halted.<\/p>\n #1 Texas 4, #17 San Diego 1<\/p>\n Singles \u2013 Order of Finish (4,6,1,3) Doubles \u2013 Order of Finish (1,3) Individual Match Key Moments Doubles No. 1: Ivanovski\/Forger (TEX) def. Berrut\/Ruland (USD) 6-0 Doubles No. 3: Ojakaar\/Eriksson (TEX) def. Balciunas\/Marysko (USD) 6-2 Doubles No. 2: Gorzny\/Marionneau (TEX) vs. Klaassen\/Tarvet (USD) 4-2, unf. Singles No. 4: Ojakaar (TEX) def. Marysko (USD) 6-3, 6-3 Singles No. 6: Marionneau (TEX) def. Ruland (USD) 6-4, 6-2 Singles No. 1: Tarvet (USD) def. Gorzny (TEX) 6-4, 6-3 Singles No. 3: Eriksson (TEX) def. Klaassen (USD) 7-6 (4), 6-4 Singles No. 2: Ivanovski (TEX) vs. Balciunas (USD) 7-6 (4), 2-6, 1-2, unf. Singles No. 5: Forger (TEX) vs. Berrut (USD) 7-6 (1), 6-6, unf.
\n1. #19 Oliver Tarvet (USD) def. #3 Sebastian Gorzny<\/a> (TEX) 6-4, 6-3
\n2. #41 Kalin Ivanovski<\/a> (TEX) vs. #94 Manvydas Balciunas (USD) 7-6 (4), 2-6, 1-2, unf.
\n3. #35 Sebastian Eriksson<\/a> (TEX) def. Stian Klaassen (USD) 7-6 (4), 6-4
\n4. #89 Oliver Ojakaar<\/a> (TEX) def. Vincent Marysko (USD) 6-3, 6-3
\n5. #102 Abel Forger<\/a> (TEX) vs. Adrien Berrut (USD) 7-6 (1), 6-6, unf.
\n6. Lucas Marionneau<\/a> (TEX) def. Lambert Ruland (USD) 6-4, 6-2<\/p>\n
\n1. Kalin Ivanovski<\/a>\/Abel Forger<\/a> (TEX) def. #34 Adrien Berrut\/Lambert Ruland (USD) 6-0
\n2. #21 Sebastian Gorzny<\/a>\/Lucas Marionneau<\/a> (TEX) vs. Stian Klaassen\/Oliver Tarvet (USD) 4-2, unfinished
\n3. #46 Oliver Ojakaar<\/a>\/Sebastian Eriksson<\/a> (TEX) def. Manvydas Balciunas\/Vincent Marysko (USD) 6-2<\/p>\n
\n(by order of finish)<\/p>\n
\nMatch:\u00a0Texas swept the match with deuce-point breaks for 3-0 and 5-0.<\/p>\n
\nMatch:\u00a0Texas broke at deuce for a 2-1 lead and broke again for 5-2.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nMatch:\u00a0Texas broke for a 3-2 lead and consolidated before play stopped.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nSet One:\u00a0Ojakaar earned the only break for 4-2 before winning 6-3.
\nSet Two:\u00a0Ojakaar collected the only breaks for a 3-2 lead and 6-3 on a deuce point.<\/p>\n
\nSet One:\u00a0After Ruland held at deuce to start, Marionneau went on a 4-0 run. Ruland got one break back and held for 4-3, but the rest of the set was held for 6-4 for Marionneau.\u00a0
\nSet Two:\u00a0Marionneau closed on a 5-0 run after trailing but being on serve 2-1.<\/p>\n
\nSet One:\u00a0Tarvet opened with consecutive deuce points to break and hold for 2-0, but Gorzny held and got the break back at deuce. Tarvet claimed the only other break for a 3-2 lead.\u00a0
\nSet Two:\u00a0Tarvet broke for a 3-2 lead and later won the final two games at deuce for a hold and a break.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nSet One:\u00a0The players exchanged breaks and holds to start before Klaassen broke at deuce for a 3-2 lead. Eriksson then went on a 3-0 run capped by consecutive deuce points. Klaassen go the break back at deuce for 5-5 and the set was on serve to a tiebreaker.
\nSet One Tiebreaker:\u00a0Eriksson took a 2-0 lead that he expanded to 4-1 on the way to 7-4.
\nSet Two:\u00a0After Klaassen held at deuce to start, Eriksson went on a 4-0 run, capped by consecutive deuce points for 3-1 and 4-1. Klaassen broke and held at deuce to get within 4-3, but Erkisson held for 5-3 and the last two games were also held at deuce.<\/p>\n
\nSet One:\u00a0Balciunas broke at deuce for a 3-1 lead and held for 4-1. He also held at deuce for 5-2, but Ivanovski went on a 3-0 run to tie it, and the last two games were held, including the second one at deuce, for a tiebreaker.
\nSet One Tiebreaker:\u00a0Ivanovski took a 2-0 lead, and Balciunas evened it, Ivanovski regained the lead, 4-2. He maintained the lead for 6-3 and 7-4.
\nSet Two:\u00a0Ivanovski held the first game, but Balciunas went on a 5-0 run, including two deuce-point holds for 3-1 and 5-1. He later also held at deuce for the set.
\nSet Three:\u00a0Balciunas broke in the first set before play stopped with him leading, 2-1.<\/p>\n
\nSet One:\u00a0Forger broke to start and after the players exchanged deuce-point holds, Berrut got the break back at deuce. Forger held at deuce for 3-3 and then broke for 4-3, but Berrut broke back and held at deuce for a 5-4 lead and the set was on serve to a tiebreaker.
\nSet One Tiebreaker:\u00a0Forger closed the tiebreaker on a 6-0 run.
\nSet Two:\u00a0Despite four deuce points, the set was on serve all the way to another tiebreaker, but no points were played before play halted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Austin \u2013 No. 1 Texas Men’s Tennis advanced to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight with a 4-1 win…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":658177,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-658176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}