No. 3 men’s tennis’ four-match Southeastern Conference winning streak came to an end this past weekend with a loss to No. 6 LSU, followed by a non-conference loss to No. 5 TCU.
The Longhorns fell to the Tigers on Friday in a close 4-3 match. On Saturday, TCU defeated Texas 4-1, avenging an earlier loss that had prematurely ended the Horned Frogs’ run in the ITA National Indoor Championship bracket and allowed Texas to advance past the quarterfinals.
Texas was just beginning to restore the health of its roster, with sophomore Oliver Ojakäär returning to single play at the ITA Indoor National Championship. However, as the Longhorns captured the program’s first indoor championship title and built momentum in SEC play, injuries once again stalled their progress, scrambling Texas’ recipe for a program championship title and back-to-back victories in SEC play.
Injuries kept freshman Kalin Ivanovski and Ojakäär out of both matches, forcing Texas to adjust its doubles lineup against LSU. The Longhorns debuted two unfamiliar doubles pairs that had not previously played together: freshman Abel Forger with freshman Mariano Dedura-Palomero and sophomore Sebastian Eriksson with senior Jonah Braswell. Both pairs fell in their matches, putting Texas behind early in doubles play and contributing to the narrow 4-3 loss.
The doubles lineup looked slightly different against TCU. Forger and Eriksson lost to sophomores Cooper Woestendick and Albert Pedrico, while Braswell and sophomore Evan Burnett were unable to finish their match against freshmen Oliver Bonding and Maximus Dussault as TCU claimed the doubles.
Braswell defeated Pedrico in the singles, but TCU eventually beat Texas overall in singles with wins on courts 6, 5 and 2, resulting in two unfinished matches headed in the direction of two Texas wins.
Texas will face Texas A&M again for the first time since defeating the Aggies in the ITA National Indoor Championship, with the rematch on March 13 at 6 p.m. at the Texas Tennis Center.