No. 5 Texas men’s tennis will begin its Big 12 tournament campaign against BYU on Friday in the quarterfinals. The Longhorns, fresh off the program’s seventh regular-season Big 12 crown, are looking to take home their sixth and final Big 12 tournament title in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Texas has been on a hot streak recently, winning 10 matches in a row, including going 7–0 in conference play. Its third conference win came in a 4-0 sweep at BYU on March 28.
Conversely, BYU’s season is in a tailspin. It hasn’t won since a 5-2 victory against Air Force on March 8 and has lost all seven of its conference matches since then. Additionally, the Cougars feature no nationally ranked singles players or doubles pairings. However, BYU juniors Wally Thayne and Zach Fuchs upset the 53rd-ranked pairing of Texas seniors Eliot Spizzirri and Siem Woldeab when the teams played last.
If head coach Bruce Berque’s team prevails over the Cougars, they are set to face either No. 30 UCF or the tournament-hosting No. 36 Oklahoma State, who are the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds, respectively.
During their inaugural year in the Big 12, UCF went 18–4 overall and 4–3 in conference play. The Knights feature two ranked singles players, No. 108 Paul Colin and No. 123 Lleyton Cronje, but the latter was thoroughly beaten by Texas junior Pierre-Yves Bailly 6-2, 6-1 when the Longhorns swept the Knights 4-0 at the Texas Tennis Center.
This will be Texas’ second trip to Stillwater for the year, where the Longhorns only dropped the doubles point in a 6-1 victory over Oklahoma State on March 30. The Cowboys have compiled a 16–8 overall record and went 3–4 in conference play despite having three ranked singles players, No. 85 senior Isaac Becroft and graduate students Tyler Zink and Alejandro Garcia, ranked No. 23 and No. 96, respectively. Zink and Becroft are also the nation’s No. 15 doubles pairing and were instrumental in securing the doubles point against Texas.
A trip to the Big 12 finals would mark consecutive finals appearances for Texas and would likely mean a matchup with either No. 9 Oklahoma or No. 3 TCU. Texas has played well this season against the two, putting together a stellar 4-1 victory versus Oklahoma in Norman on April 7 and has split results with TCU, losing 4-3 in Fort Worth on March 2 before dominating the Horned Frogs 5-0 on March 24 at home. Last year, Texas played both teams in the tournament, beating Oklahoma 4-2 in the semifinals before losing 4-1 to TCU in the finals.
Texas will look to win its first tournament since its 2019 national championship victory. A Big 12 championship for Texas would increase its win streak to 13, which would mark its longest win streak since 2010 and would provide the Longhorns with momentum for the NCAA tournament beginning on May 3.
