It was a tale of two very different days for junior Sebastian Gorzny and senior Pierre-Yves Bailly as they competed in the ITA Central Sectional Championships last Thursday and Friday.
Playing at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, the doubles pair got off to a strong start. In their doubles match, they beat TCU’s sophomores Duncan Chan and Kaj Quirijns 6-4 and 6-2. Bailly went on to win his opening round singles match, defeating the University of Michigan’s junior Bjorn Swenson 7-6 (3) and 6-4.
Thursday’s celebrations were short-lived, however. Nebraska and Ohio State went on to spoil the tournament for the two Texas players who were hoping to go further, especially considering their high initial seeding. Bailly entered the singles tournament as a 5-8 seed, and the pair was given the No. 2 seed before play began.
Sophomore Bryce Nakashima and junior Will Jansen of Ohio State University took down the Longhorn duo, who lost 6-3 and 6-4. With no time to rest, Bailly then played Calvin Mueller in singles. Mueller, a senior who plays for the University of Nebraska, took Bailly down by a score of 7-5 and 6-3.
Unfortunately for the Longhorns, there was no consolation in their opponents’ further performances. Both the Nebraska single and the Ohio State duo were defeated in Saturday’s competition.
Lamenting on his doubles loss will be of little use to Gorzny, who on Monday received the top singles seed in the 2024-25 NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships. The junior, an Austin native who transferred this past May from TCU, will look to continue his scorching-hot fall season in the championships starting Tuesday.
Though Bailly will not be joining his doubles partner in Waco, Gorzny will have three other teammates joining him as the Longhorns look to close out their fall 2024 schedule on a high note.
In addition to Gorzny, junior Jonah Braswell and freshman Timo Legout will both be participating in the singles draw as 9-16 seeds. Legout will play alongside sophomore Lucas Brown in the doubles draw.
The selection criteria that the NCAA uses for determining the 64 singles and 32 double teams is reliant on the results from the ITA Sectional Championships, ITA Regional Championships, ITA All-American Championships and the ITA Conference Masters. The four Longhorns selected played well in one or more of these tournaments to earn their spots.
Baylor University will host this year’s NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas. Play will begin on Tuesday, Nov. 19 and conclude on Sunday, Nov. 24.
