No. 3 Texas men’s tennis seized a dominant victory 4-0 over No. 51 Tennessee 4-0. The swift win began in doubles, in which Texas secured the point in two-straight match wins.
On court 5, Longhorn freshman Kalin Ivanovski and sophomore Evan Burnett were first off in the doubles, earning a straightforward 6-2 victory over Volunteer redshirt freshman Woodson McMillin and sophomore Piotr Siekanowicz.
Texas senior Sebastian Gorzny and freshman Lucas Marionneau led a 6-2 win over Tennessee sophomore Jose Garcia and senior Ethan Muza in the doubles. Gorzny crouched low before the net, cutting off hard shots before they could reach Marionneau. Leading 4-2, Gorzny spun around, turning his back to the net for a moment to chase down a deep lob over Marionneau, keeping the point alive long enough for Marionneau to finish it upon the return. The pair closed out 6-2.
Injured junior Lucas Brown watched from court 1, his wrapped foot resting on a knee scooter as he followed Gorzny and Marionneau in the doubles. Brown has been sidelined due to injury since Texas’s 4-1 loss to Ohio State, when he played his last singles match.
Brown isn’t the only player to be sidelined this season. Injuries have forced last-minute lineup changes, adding pressure in already tight matches.
“When we’re playing, we’ve had no breaks in the season, but (the players) got to get themselves in their ideal mental performance state for every match,” head coach Bruce Berque said. “And if you normally take the care to prepare for that mentally, then it may not happen. And we’ve taken a few losses because of that, but they certainly look like they learned their lesson tonight.”
After flying through the doubles, Texas carried that momentum into the singles, finishing one more match than it left unfinished.
Despite wind gusts nearing 20 mph and the sun setting over the spurts, the Longhorns sealed three straight-set singles wins, starting with Marionneau, who defeated Siekanowicz 6-1, 6-2, followed by Texas sophomore Oliver Ojakäär, who beat sophomore Jan Kobierski, 6-2, 6-2, and Gorzny, who closed it out with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Garcia.
“I think overall, it was a great match,” Ojakäär said. “The conditions today were a little tougher than usual. The wind picked up a lot in doubles. So definitely a challenging day to play. But I think for me, performance-wise, it was the best match this year. I feel great and confident, so happy to get the job done.”
Although Texas sophomore Sebastian Eriksson did not finish his match against senior Alejandro Moreno, the opening set was tightly contested, ending in a 7-6 tiebreak win. The match was left unfinished, with Moreno leading 3-0.
“And the way we look at it, there’s two opportunities to win a championship in the SEC: once in the regular season, once (in) the tournament,” Berque said. “So right now, there’s no room for error. We look at every single match as a championship match, just because we’re in the tie for first place right now, so we have to play every match since we’re playing for championship.”
