Coming off of its first-ever runners-up finish at last weekend’s ITA Indoor Nationals tournament, No. 2 Texas took care of business against its in-state rival, No. 40 Texas A&M, in front of a packed crowd at the Texas Tennis Center on Sunday. 

Unlike previous home matches this season, the crowd was relatively split with a mix of Texas burnt orange and A&M maroon, creating the most raucous atmosphere yet this season.

Texas started out strong in doubles play with No. 6 pairing of junior Eliot Spizzirri and redshirt junior Cleeve Harper continuing their strong season with a dominant 6-2 victory over seniors Noah Schachter and Trey Hilderbrand. 

Similar to Harper and Spizzirri’s performance, junior Siem Woldeab and sophomore Pierre- Yves Bailly also won in lopsided fashion, beating sophomores Giulio Perego and JC Roddick 6–2. 

Texas started singles play well, with junior Micah Braswell continuing his recent strong play, putting Texas’ second point on the board. The 54th-ranked singles player outclassed Perego in straight sets 6–3, 6–3, with a strong forehand winner on match point. 

Top-ranked singles player Spizzirri put the Longhorns into a commanding 3–0 lead with a 6–3, 7–5 win over No. 63 Schachter. Schachter made last weekend’s ITA Indoor Nationals Most Outstanding Player work hard for the victory in a highly contested second set. Spizzirri could have put Schachter away 6–4, but the Florida native won a long rally to make it 5–5, sending A&M fans behind court 1 into a frenzy. However, Spizzirri finished strong in the final two games, which included a surgical forehand return down the left sideline that froze Schachter. 

Texas A&M No. 57 Raphael Perot played a solid match against No. 33 Bailly, beating the Belgian 6-2, 7-5 to put the Aggies on the board. While Bailly rebounded following a dominant first set from Perot, the Frenchman prevailed in the back-and-forth set with many long points. 

Junior Evin McDonald was tested by junior Matthis Ross of A&M in both sets, but ultimately prevailed 6–4, 7–6 (8–6). With the second set tiebreaker tied at six, McDonald held his own serve and then broke Ross’ serve to win the match for Texas. An animated McDonald did an emphatic fist bump looking up at the cheering crowd on his way to center court to shake hands with Ross. 

Senior Chih Chi Huang and Woldeab were in the only singles matches to go to a third set, with the former losing 5–7, 6–1, 6–3 to sophomore Luke Casper and the latter prevailing 6–4, 3–6, 6–3 over Italian senior Guido Marson. 

Texas will look to avenge their loss to top-ranked TCU, as it did with then No. 1 Ohio State last weekend, in a highly anticipated clash in Fort Worth on March 4.