No. 2 men’s tennis to play Sunday for national championship

By Steve Lansdale

ORLANDO, Fla. — For the second time in school history, the No. 2 University of Texas men’s tennis team is headed to the NCAA Championship final on the United States Tennis Association (USTA) National Campus.

The Longhorns advanced to the season’s final match by taking down No. 4 Florida, 4-2, Saturday in Orlando, and will play the winner of No. 3 (4 seed) Wake Forest and No. 10 (9 seed) North Carolina. The championship match will be [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]at 2 p.m. (Central time) Sunday and can be seen on the Tennis Channel.

Texas took the lead by claiming the doubles point. The No. 5 team of Christian Sigsgaard and Harrison Scott knocked off Florida’s Johannes Ingildsen and McClain Kessler, 6-3, and Chih Chi Huang and Yuya Ito edged Florida’s Duarte Vale and Andres Andrade, 7-6 (1) in the No. 3 doubles spot.

UT then won the match by three of five singles matches. In the top spot, Florida’s No. 9 Oliver Crawford topped No. 7 Sigsgaard, 6-4, 6-3, and No. 59 Andrade knocked off UT’s Colin Markes, 7-6 (4), 6-4, in the No. 5 match. But No. 12 Ito took down No. 54 Sam Riffice, 6-2, 6-2, in the No. 2 match, UT’s Rodrigo Banzer swept Florida’s Kessler, 6-2, 6-4, in the No. 6 spot, and No. 80 Telles clinched the match for the Longhorns with a 6-4, 7-5 win over No. 113 Ingildsen. No. 59 Andrade got Florida’s only singles victory at No. 5, with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over UT’s Colin Markes, and the No. 4 matchup between Scott and Florida’s Aldredo Perez was called during the third set when Telles sealed the victory for the Longhorns.

“I think there were a lot of difference makers today,” Texas interim head coach Bruce Berque said. “One was the doubles. I was really proud of the way the guys stepped up in doubles, especially at No. 3 doubles. It was an up and down see-saw match, but at the end they really stepped up and played aggressive tennis.

“Then, of course, the thing we finished with was Leo Telles. That’s like the third or fourth time he’s done that for us this year. How he stepped up, attacked and played big, in a big moment was pretty impressive. I couldn’t be happier for him and the seniors and the whole team.”

The victory improved the Longhorns’ record to 28-3, giving them their most victories in a season since the 1974 team won 31.

for the first time in 2008. It was also the Longhorns’ 28th win of the season, marking the most for Texas since 1974 (31).

Telles swept his match in consecutive sets, but the 6-4, 7-5 score indicates how hard-fought his match with Ingildsen was. Telles said that when the second set reached 5-5, he was able to reflect on the work he put in before and during the season to get past his opponent and lock up the victory for the Longhorns.

“It’s more of just trusting myself in those moments,” Telles said. “I saw it was going to come down to me and (Scott). I didn’t really know much about what was going on the other courts aside from that. It was more about trusting myself and knowing I’ve worked all year for this. I was going to be ready for that moment.”

In his singles victory, Ito was consistently dominant, jumping out to a 4-0 lead in each set before dropping a game to Riffice en route to the sweep. Ito acknowledged that at the No. 2 singles spot, every opponent is going to present a stiff challenge. But his victory over Riffice improved his season record to 38-6, including 27-3 in dual matches, and said he hopes he has one more victory left in him for Sunday’s final.

“At No. 2,in this point of the tournament, any team has a very good No. 2,” Ito said. “Every time I step on to the court, it’s tough. I just have to do what I can do; I can only control what I can do. I try to take care of my business. It turned out well today. Hopefully I can keep that going.”
[/s2If] [s2If !current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] [habeabk] [/s2If]