Austin – No. 3 Texas Men’s Tennis posted singles wins at Nos. 1, 2 and 4 against No. 1 Florida, but were edged, 4-3, by the defending champion Gators on Sunday at the Texas Tennis Center.
The singles victories included sophomores Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1 and No. 20 Micah Braswell at No. 2, along with senior Richard Ciamarra at No. 4 after Florida had won the doubles point in a tiebreaker of the deciding third match.
Braswell was first off the court of the Longhorns, downing Duarte Vale in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3. Braswell opened on a 4-0 run that included deuce point wins in the first three games and breaks in the first and third. The rest of the first set stayed on serve with Braswell closing it on another deuce point before opening the second with a break and hold. Braswell would maintain that break all the way to the final game when he secured another with a deuce point for the match to even the overall score at 1-1.
The Gators moved back in front with a win at No. 5 where No. 61 Mattias Siimar downed sophomore No. 73 Cleeve Harper, 6-4, 6-4. Siimar opened with two breaks in the first three games and won a deuce point on serve for a 3-0 lead, however Harper responded with a 3-0 run of his own that included two deuce points. Siimar regained the lead on a break and then held for 5-3 with each player holding on the next two games to finish the set. In the second, Siimar once again picked up a break and then held for 2-0, which he maintained until Harper broke to even it at 4-4. However, Siimar got the break back in the next game and served out the match.
Florida was able to briefly extend its lead as junior Chih Chi Huang fell to No. 111 Josh Goodger, 6-2, 7-6 (7), at No. 6. After Goodger was able to win three deuce points in the first set, including the final two games, Huang used a deuce point break to take a 4-2 lead in the second. Goodger answered the break in the next game and the rest of the set stayed on serve to the tiebreaker, which…