Texas men’s tennis steps into the final round of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Indoor Championship for the first time since the 2023 season and the second time under head coach Bruce Berque.

Following victories over No. 8 Texas A&M (4-2) and No. 5 TCU (4-3), Texas secured its advancement to the final round with a dominant 4-0 sweep of No. 19 Baylor. 

Entering the tournament three starters short, Texas’ performance in the 2026 IT National Indoor Championship has relied on Coach Berque’s strategic acumen and lineup adjustments. 

Despite the player shortage and subsequent losses in the doubles, with the Aggies claiming wins on court three and one, Texas found its footing, responding with four straight singles victories. 

“I thought they collectively showed an amazing amount of toughness and resiliency in their singles matches yesterday after being down the doubles point and without three starters with Lucas Brown, Oliver (Ojakäär) and Kalin (Ivanovski) being out,” head coach Bruce Berque told Texas Athletics. “And still finding a way to fight and claw their way to four singles wins against Texas A&M.” 

Leading the singles wins with incredible performance was Texas senior Sebastian Gorzny, who overcame Texas A&M sophomore Theo Papamalamis 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 with key deuce-point holds in a second-set comeback and dominating the third despite a brief break by Papamalamis. 

Texas freshman Abel Forger defeated Texas A&M sophomore Alex Frusina 6-3, 7-6 in another come-from-behind victory. Forger ran off 12 of 13 points to open the second, survived a five-game swing by Frusina, saved two set points at 5-4, and closed the tiebreaker with three consecutive points. 

Going into the quarterfinals for their seventh appearance in the last eight years, Texas pulled away a 4-3 win against TCU, sweeping in doubles play and relying on four strong singles victories to clinch the win.

The match also marked the return of Texas freshman Kalin Ivanovski and sophomore Oliver Ojakäär. After a delay caused by a leak on court six, Berque made a last-second lineup adjustment, trading Longhorn freshman Lucas Marionneau, who clinched the previous day’s victory against Texas A&M, for Ojakäär, whose injuries have kept him from dual match singles play since March 2, 2025.

“I mean, he was super clutch and super composed and super resilient and really modeled the kind of competitiveness and behavior that we’d like our program to be about,” Berque said.

Ivanovski, who was injured for Texas A&M, also stepped up to defeat TCU senior Cosme Rolland De Ravel 6-7, 6-1, 6-2 in the singles. 

“After dropping the first set, he really raised his level and showed the kind of level that we were hoping to see in him, so it was overall terrific effort,” Berque said.

The Longhorns asserted control early over Baylor after Sunday’s hiatus, sweeping the doubles point and dominating in the singles. 

In the doubles, Forger and Ivanovski set the tone with a 6-3 win over Baylor junior Connor Van Schalkwyk and senior Luc Koenig, while Gorzny and Marionneau secured the point with a close 7-5 victory against Baylor graduate Alexandru Chirita and senior Zsombor Velcz.

Following a similar script, Texas took over the singles with two standout matches by Longhorns sophomore Sebastian Eriksson, who took Chirita 6-4, 7-5, followed by Marionneau, who defeated Bears junior Louis Bowden with the same score.

Texas will face off against No. 2 Ohio State in the finals at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex in Dallas, Texas.