Austin – 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. 

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.

“I just told the team, it’s not easy (to reach the Elite Eight),” head coach Bruce Berque 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.”

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 at No. 4, and freshman Lucas Marionneau 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 at No. 3. Eriksson had missed the previous two matches in the tournament with an injury but returned to also be a factor in doubles.

“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.”

During doubles, freshmen Kalin Ivanovski and Abel Forger 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 led Stian Klaassen and Oliver Tarvet, 4-2, when play stopped.

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.

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.

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.

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.

#1 Texas 4, #17 San Diego 1

Singles – Order of Finish (4,6,1,3)

1. #19 Oliver Tarvet (USD) def. #3 Sebastian Gorzny (TEX) 6-4, 6-3

2. #41 Kalin Ivanovski (TEX) vs. #94 Manvydas Balciunas (USD) 7-6 (4), 2-6, 1-2, unf.

3. #35 Sebastian Eriksson (TEX) def. Stian Klaassen (USD) 7-6 (4), 6-4

4. #89 Oliver Ojakaar (TEX) def. Vincent Marysko (USD) 6-3, 6-3

5. #102 Abel Forger (TEX) vs. Adrien Berrut (USD) 7-6 (1), 6-6, unf.

6. Lucas Marionneau (TEX) def. Lambert Ruland (USD) 6-4, 6-2

Doubles – Order of Finish (1,3)

1. Kalin Ivanovski/Abel Forger (TEX) def. #34 Adrien Berrut/Lambert Ruland (USD) 6-0

2. #21 Sebastian Gorzny/Lucas Marionneau (TEX) vs. Stian Klaassen/Oliver Tarvet (USD) 4-2, unfinished

3. #46 Oliver Ojakaar/Sebastian Eriksson (TEX) def. Manvydas Balciunas/Vincent Marysko (USD) 6-2