When Ohio State’s redshirt junior Preston Stearns’ return buried itself in the net, Texas claimed the crown. Freshman Kalin Ivanovski’s straight-set win over Stearns secured the program’s first ITA Indoor National Championship.
Not only did the Longhorns clinch the tournament victory, but they also avenged a loss to Ohio State from just two weeks earlier.
All three doubles matches against the Buckeyes opened with tiebreakers. Gorzny and Marionneau pulled an especially close win, taking out the nationally top-ranked men’s doubles team of redshirt sophomore Brandon Carpico and sophomore Nikita Filin 7-6, 7-5. In the singles, Texas battled back as senior Sebastian Gorzny earned a key win and freshman Lucas Marionneau claimed a three-set victory, taking a 3-2 lead before Ivanovski delivered the final win.
Texas’ top finish among the nation’s 16 best teams boosted the Longhorns’ ranking from No. 7 to No. 3. Since the tournament, Texas has fallen to No. 4 nationally.
After their streak-ending loss against Ohio State, the Longhorns regained their footing in the tournament, defeating No. 8 Texas A&M in the Sweet 16, No. 5 TCU in the quarterfinals and No. 19 Baylor before taking down Ohio State 4-2.
After facing Texas A&M three players short, Ivanovski and sophomore Oliver Ojakäär returned to the lineup after recovering from their respective injuries, expanding head coach Bruce Berque’s options for the singles.
Ojakäär returned to dual match singles play for the first time since last season, beating TCU sophomore Roger Pascual 6-3, 7-6. Against Baylor, Coach Berque rotated Marionneau, who clinched a singles win against Texas A&M at the beginning of the tournament, back into the lineup.
“The lineup decisions have been challenging this year for singles just because of our health status,” Berque said. “We’re trying to be pretty careful with the guys that are coming back from injury, and we felt it would be wisest, even though Oliver clinched the match against TCU a couple days ago, to hold him out and just have him play doubles. I was confident that Lucas (Marionneau) could get it done today, and that’s the second match he’s clinched in this tournament. He was real clutch against Texas A&M, and he was real clutch today against Baylor.”
Following the tournament, several Texas players earned top honors. Gorzny was named the ITA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player and earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team alongside Ivanovski, sophomore Sebastian Eriksson and Marionneau.
Winning the ITA National Championship has historically served as an early indicator of NCAA success. Last season, Wake Forest captured both the Indoor title and the 2025 NCAA Championship title. Since 2021, every ITA National Indoor winner has earned a top-four seed in the NCAA Championship in the same season.
Until the NCAA Championship begins May 1, Texas will fight to secure a top-four seed in the tournament. Texas will next take on South Carolina on Friday in Columbia.
