In their first year in the Southeastern Conference, the Texas Longhorns are conference champions.
This marks the Longhorns’ fifth conference championship in the last six opportunities, as no conference championship awarded in 2020 due to the pandemic. Texas won the 2019, 2023, 2024 and this year’s titles outright, while sharing 2021 with Baylor and TCU.
Texas men’s tennis joins women’s basketball, women’s soccer, men’s swimming and diving and women’s swimming and diving as SEC Championships in the 2024-2025 season. Texas’ five SEC Championships are the most championships in the conference, extending the lead over South Carolina at two.
No. 5 Texas secured the championship in the Cotton Holdings Lone Star Showdown against famed rival No. 13 Texas A&M.
The Longhorns got off to a hot start with senior Pierre-Yves Bailly and freshman Sebastian Eriksson delivering a 6–4 win over redshirt freshman Ritesh Patil and sophomore Lathan Skrobarcek on court three. The Aggies snapped back in a must-win match to avoid a sweep for the doubles point. In a dramatic 7–6 (5) tiebreaker to even the doubles matches to 1–1, Aggies duo No. 21 junior Togan Tokac and freshman Theo Papamalamis defeated No. 6 redshirt freshman Timo Legout and sophomore Lucas Brown on court one.
All eyes shifted to court two as the match would decide the doubles point. With the tiebreaker tied 7–7, Texas juniors Sebastian Gorzny and Jonah Braswell broke Texas A&M en route to their 7–6 (7) victory, giving the Longhorns a 1–0 lead.
In the singles competition, Brown made quick work of Aggies graduate Matthis Ross on court six. Brown took a 4–0 lead to start the match, then to close out the match, he ended with another 4–0 run to defeat Ross 6–2, 6–1, extending the Texas lead to 2–0.
On court one, No. 2 Legout got his revenge from doubles on Aggies’ No. 33 Papamalamis. Legout broke Papamalamis on his first serve to take a 1–0 lead. Papamalamis broke Legout back to even the score 2–2. Legout closed out the first set on a 4–0 to take the set 6–2. Up 5–3, Legout broke Papamalamis to secure a 6–2, 6–3 win, improving the lead to 3–0.
The Aggies avoided the sweep with a win on court four. Aggie senior Luke Casper defeated No. 58 Braswell 6–4, 6–1. Casper jumped out to a 4–0 lead in the first set and a 5–0 lead in the second. Shortly after, Longhorns’ Gorzny buried the Aggies’ hopes with a 7–6 (1), 6–4 victory over senior Alan Magadan, locking in a 12–0 conference record and an outright conference championship. This improves the Longhorns’ record against the Aggies’ to 2–0 this year and marks the Longhorns’ fifteenth ranked win this season.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our team or happier for our players,” head coach Bruce Berque said. “They have been consistent all season long in the way they’ve competed for each other, and with the pride they have in playing for Texas. Starting the SEC season 12–0 is no small accomplishment, and this championship is something they’ll be able to cherish forever. There is still a lot more tennis to be played, but we are in a good place and excited about the remainder of the season.”
No. 5 Texas will face No. 26 Georgia at the historic Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Georgia on Friday.
