By Steve Lansdale
AUSTIN, Texas — The No. 2 University of Texas men’s tennis team made quick work of Tennessee Tech Friday, sweeping the Golden Eagles, 4-0, in the first round of the NCAA Championship at the Texas Tennis Center. The Longhorns advance to the second round, where they will face the winner of Alabama and South Florida at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Friday’s match started an hour earlier than originally scheduled, because of the threat of inclement weather. Thanks to the quick match, the teams were able to escape the courts before the rain hit.
“I was pleased with how our guys performed with the change in the schedule today,” interim head coach Bruce Berque said. “I think they did a good job. We only had one small change [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]in our doubles lineup, and senior Johnny Goodwin not only got to play, but clinched the doubles point for us. Then in singles, all the guys really stepped up and played well and any one of them could have clinched the match for us, so I was really proud of they way they all responded.”
Texas swept all three doubles matches to earn the doubles point for the Longhorns. The No. 5 team of Christian Sigsgaard and Harrison Scott rolled Tennessee Tech’s Carlos Vicente and Elias Grubert, and Johnny Goodwin and Yuya Ito knocked off Rafael Tosetto and Lucca Silva. The Longhorns won each match, 6-2.
In singles play, No. 7 Sigsgaard rolled Tosetto, 6-2, 6-0. Ito dropped Vicente, 6-2, 6-3, and Markes rolled over Tech’s Wenceslau Albin, 6-0, 6-2.
For Sigsgaard, the match was only the fifth this season in dual match play when he has faced an unranked opponent; the win bumped his season record to 15-7. Markes’ victory was his sixth in his last seven matches, and improved his season record in dual match singles play this season to 17-3.
UT is now 58-36 all-time in NCAA Championship matches; beating the Alabama-South Florida winner would put Texas in the round of 16 for the sixth consecutive season.
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