The Texas men’s tennis team wrapped up its fall tournament play this weekend at the Big 6 Fall Invitational in North Richland Hills, Texas. 

The Longhorns finished the tournament with 15 singles wins and nine doubles wins, previewing what’s to come for spring matchups against conference opponents.

“Everything we did served the purpose of giving us an opportunity to learn where we are currently and what we have to focus on for the season if we really want to be a great team,” head coach Bruce Berque said. “That was our number one priority, to be ready for the dual match season. All of the Big 12 teams were in this tournament, and it’s obviously a super strong conference.”

The weekend was fruitful for Eliot Spizzirri. The sophomore went undefeated in doubles with sophomore opponent Siem Woldeab and earned the doubles title of the tournament. His performance also earned him co-champion honors with freshman Micah Braswell. 

“Eliot went undefeated in singles and doubles to win both titles, and Micah capped off an amazing fall,” Berque said. “The loss that (Micah) took in singles was against Luc Fomba, who he ended up beating today, so that’s a pretty impressive fall semester for Micah.”

Sophomore Evin McDonald also had a successful weekend, returning to the court post-injury. The duo of McDonald and sophomore Jacob Bullard won their bracket with a final win over Texas Tech, earning Texas sweeps in the top doubles flights.

The Longhorns once more showed doubles to be their strong suit, winning four of five matches on Friday, three of five on Saturday and two of five on Sunday.

Texas earned sweeps of the top flights in singles, though the victories did not come easy.

Texas started off singles strong on Friday earning seven wins in 11 matches, but struggled on Saturday by only winning three of nine matches. One of the wins came from Spizzirri, who was scheduled to compete against sophomore Cleeve Harper, but advanced by means of a walkover.

The Longhorns made up for it on Sunday, when they earned five singles victories in eight matches. Berque said he’s hopeful for what the team will achieve in the upcoming dual-match play season. 

“My overall thoughts are, just like our previous three tournaments, that it was extremely productive,” Berque said. “We had some really impressive wins and performances and some disappointments. That’s pretty typical when you’re playing in these big tournaments.”

The Longhorns will return to the court on Jan. 8 at the Crimson Tide Invitational to kickoff the spring season.