After completing a historic run to the NCAA championship, which saw the Longhorns defeat Wake Forest to capture their school’s first title, the Texas men’s tennis team will look to continue its momentum from the previous season as invitational play begins.

The team will have plenty of new faces this year as seniors Harrison Scott, Leonardo Telles, Colin Markes, Rodrigo Banzer and Johnny Goodwin have moved on from the team. However, the Longhorns will still have two of the top players in the country returning to the team this year, as seniors Christian Sigsgaard and Yuya Ito look to cement their legacies as Longhorn legends.

According to ITA preseason rankings, the two men are currently ranked in the top 5, with Sigsgaard and Ito ranked number two and four, respectively. Sophomore Chih Chi Huang joined Ito and Sigsgaard in the rankings as well, finding  himself at number 122.

In addition to these veterans, head coach Bruce Berque, in his first year as head coach of the Longhorns, secured the top recruiting class in the country, bringing in highly rated freshmen Jacob Bullard, Evin McDonald, Eshan Talluri and Siem Woldeab. Cleeve Harper will also join the freshman class after a redshirt year for the Longhorns.

The Longhorns competed in their first invitational last weekend at the Gamecock Invitational in Columbia, South Carolina. At the match, the men’s tennis team captured one singles title and two doubles titles, as true freshman Siem Woldeab defeated teammate Yuya Ito 6-2 and 6-4 to finish undefeated on the weekend and capture his first championship win as a Longhorn.

The two Longhorns also competed as double partners, taking  home the title in a draw, while Huang and Harper also secured a doubles title in their draw.

The Longhorns will return to action next week at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships in Athens, Georgia from Sept. 27-29.