Texas Halts Michigan’s 12-Match Win Streak in ITA Indoors Semifinals

Texas Halts Michigan’s 12-Match Win Streak in ITA Indoors Semifinals

Site: Chicago, Ill. (XS Tennis Village)

Event: ITA National Team Indoor Championship

Score: #4 Michigan 3, #7 Texas 4

Records: U-M (12-1), Texas (10-1)

Next U-M Event: Thursday, Feb. 23 — at Notre Dame (South Bend, Ind.), 6 p.m.

CHICAGO, Ill — No. 7 Texas brought to an end the 12-match win streak of the No. 4-ranked University of Michigan men’s tennis team in a 4-3 match victory in the semifinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship on Sunday (Feb. 19) at the XS Tennis Village.

It marks the first loss of the season for the Wolverines, who ended the Longhorns’ season last year in the NCAA Super Regional in the Varsity Tennis Center.

The match all came down to No. 1 singles, where No. 7 Andrew Fenty was battling No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri. When the match began, it appeared Fenty would run away with the match as he earned a 6-1 first-set victory. The two battled back-and-forth in the second set, and at 5-5 it was Spizzirri that won the last two games to take the set 7-5.

With the third set about to begin the team score was even at 3-3. Fenty took a 2-1 lead, but Spizzirri took over, winning the next two games to give himself a 3-2 advantage. Down 5-2, Fenty broke Spizzirri to stay alive and force another game, but Spizzirri took it for the 6-3 third-set decision.

Michigan had its chances to put Texas away, the first coming in doubles. The No. 6-ranked pair of Fenty and Gavin Young had two break points en route to a 6-2 win at No. 1. Ondrej Styler and Patrick Maloney, who won matches in the first round and quarterfinals, had trouble against Pierre-Yves Bailly and Siem Woldeab in a 6-3 decision. Will Cooksey and Nino Ehrenschneider, playing together for the second straight match, had a 5-4 lead at No. 3 doubles slip to 6-6 and ended with a 7-4 tiebreaker loss.

Needing to win four singles matches, Michigan started strong with leads on nearly all six courts. Styler gave Michigan its first point as he topped Micah Braswell 6-2, 6-1 at No 3. Cooksey pushed the Wolverines into the lead 2-1 with a 7-6 (3), 6-1 win over Nevin Arimilli at No. 6.

Maloney made it 3-1 Michigan as he stayed undefeated in dual play with 7-5, 6-3 decisions over…