Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Athletics
Texas
Wallin beats No. 1 player in the country; No. 4 Texas defeats Tech
March 30, 2024 | Men's Tennis
LUBBOCK, Texas – Senior Olle Wallin collected the highest ranked singles win of his career, but the Texas Tech Red Raiders fell to the No. 4 Texas Longhorns, 4-1, on Saturday afternoon at the McLeod Tennis Center.
The Longhorns (15-3, 3-0 Big 12) were able to win the doubles point for an early lead over Tech (8-11, 0-3 Big 12). First, the Texas duo of Lucas Brown and Cleeve Harper picked up the first doubles win of the day with a 6-3 win over Niksa Arsic and Olle Wallin at court three.
Clinching the point was Pierre-Yves Bailly and Eshan Talluri at court two with a 6-4 match over Reed Collier and Takeyasu Sekiguchi. At court one, No. 41 Sebastian Abboud and Piotr Pawlak overcame a 1-4 deficit to tie the match at 5-all against No. 53 Eliot Spizzirri and Siem Woldeab before it went unfinished.
Texas jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the Longhorns collected wins at courts five and six. At six, Sekiguchi was defeated by Brown by a 6-1, 6-1 score, then Abboud lost to Harper, 6-2, 6-1, at court five.
No. 56-ranked Wallin and No. 1-ranked Spizzirri were battling it out at the top court. Wallin took a 4-1 advantage in the first set before Spizzirri tied it at 4-all. Both players traded games until it went into a tiebreaker. In the breaker, Spizzirri led 6-5 until Wallin earned the next three points to win the set, 7-6 (6).
In set two, the players tied 1-1 before Wallin won three consecutive games. He would win two of the next three games to take the match in straight sets, 7-6 (6), 6-2. Coming into today's match, Texas' Spizzirri held a 22-3 overall singles record this year and has only lost five total sets all season in dual matches.
Texas ended up clinching the win when No. 67 Jonah Braswell defeated Pawlak at court four, 7-5, 6-2. When the match was finished, both Collier and Arsic were in third sets at courts two and three, respectively. Collier and Pierre-Yves Bailly were all tied up, 6-3, 3-6, 3-3, when it went unfinished, while Arisc and Woldeab were also even in their match, 6-4, 2-6, 2-2, when it was called.
Up next, Texas Tech heads to Orlando, Fla., to take on the UCF Knights on Thursday, April 4 at 6 p.m.
RESULTS
Texas Tech 1, #4 Texas 4
Singles
1. #56 Olle Wallin (TTU) def. #1 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 7-6 (8-6), 6-2
2. Reed Collier (TTU) vs. Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 6-3, 3-6, 3-3, unfinished
3. Niksa Arsic (TTU) vs. Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-4, 2-6, 2-2, unfinished
4. #67 Jonah Braswell (UT) def. Piotr Pawlak (TTU) 7-5, 6-2
5. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Sebastian Abboud (TTU) 6-2, 6-1
6. Lucas Brown (UT) def. Takeyasu Sekiguchi (TTU) 6-1, 6-1
Doubles
1. #41 Sebastian Abboud/Piotr Pawlak (TTU) vs. #53 Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) 5-5, unfinished
2. Pierre-Yves Bailly/Eshan Talluri (UT) def. Reed Collier/Takeyasu Sekiguchi (TTU) 6-4
3. Lucas Brown/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Niksa Arsic/Olle Wallin (TTU) 6-3
Order of finish
Doubles (3, 2); Singles (6, 5, 1, 4)
Players Mentioned
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
3,2
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
6,5,1,4