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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. Â
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)
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
Players Mentioned
