The Texas men’s tennis team traveled to Waco this weekend for the ITA Texas Regional Championship. The Longhorns won eight doubles matches and 12 singles matches over various brackets, including a Texas vs. Texas final competition.

Though the weather shortened Friday’s doubles competition to only two rounds and Sunday brought many incomplete brackets, the Longhorns started strong in the event. Texas performed in the red, white and blue draws.

In the Red Draw, senior Payton Holden and sophomore Siem Woldeab opened up play with an 8-6 win over TCU, but lost to Baylor immediately after to move to the North Bracket final. The duo ultimately defeated Louisiana 8-5 and won the North Bracket of the Red Draw.

Texas had two doubles appearances in the Blue Draw. Freshman Micah Braswell paired with sophomore Jacob Bullard in 1 seed, and freshman Leighton Allen and junior Nevin Arimilli in the 2 seed. Braswell and Bullard beat Texas Tech and UT-Arlington 8-3 and 8-4, respectively, and Allen and Arimilli doubled 8-4 victories against Louisiana and Texas Tech. With clean sweeps of their opponents, the Longhorns faced off in the Blue Draw East Final where Braswell and Bullard won the bracket.

In the White Draw, junior Chih Chi Huang and sophomore Eshan Talluri fell 8-4 against UT-Arlington, moving them to the West Bracket. The duo went on to beat Lamar 8-5. The two were set to take on Rice in the West Bracket Final, although it was incomplete on Sunday.

Saturday opened the singles competition, which proved troublesome for Texas. 

In Flight One, Braswell defeated Baylor and earned a walkover in his match against Texas Tech. The freshman advanced to Sunday’s East Semifinal matchup against TCU, which he lost.

Woldeab defeated Texas A&M Corpus Christi and Louisiana, and advanced to the East Quarterfinals on Sunday, but fell short to Baylor. Allen competed in the East Round of 32 and fell to Texas Tech and to Baylor in the West Round of 16. On Sunday, he competed in the South Quarterfinals, losing to UT-Arlington.

Huang retired against Baylor in the East Round of 32 on Sunday and did not compete in singles for the remaining tournament. Bullard retired in the East Round of 16 and was set to take on Louisiana in the North Quarterfinals before play concluded. 

Arimilli defeated Texas Tech and advanced to the East Round of 16, but fell to TCU.

In Flight Two, Talluri defeated UT-Arlington before falling to top-seeded Texas Tech, earning a spot in Sunday’s North Quarterfinals where he lost to Louisiana.

Luck seemed to find its way to Holden, as he advanced to Round 16 with a bye and defeated Baylor on Saturday. Holden defeated UT-Arlington in the East Quarterfinals and Louisiana in the East Semifinals on Sunday. Play concluded before Holden could face top-seeded Texas Tech.

Texas will close out fall play in Fort Worth on Nov. 6 for the Big 6 Fall Invitational.