Cowboy Tennis Drops Hard-Fought Match To No. 12 Texas

Saturday, April 16

Stillwater, Okla.

12 P.M.

Oklahoma State University

Texas

April 16, 2022 | Cowboy Tennis

Stillwater, Okla. - Oklahoma State's men's tennis team came up short in a 5-2 battle against No. 12 Texas this afternoon at the Greenwood Tennis Center.

With the loss, the Cowboys dipped to 11-11 on the year and 0-5 in Big 12 play.

Double play proved the matchup was going to be tightly contested throughout. On court three, Leighton Allen and Fran Pini went back and forth with UT's Eshan Talluri and Chih Chi Huang, but fell short, 6-3.

Max Verboven and Alex Garcia put on a show on court two, notching a ranked takedown over No. 15 Siem Woldeab and Eliot Spizzirri, 6-4, to even the match at one apiece.

No. 45 Seb Nothhaft and Tyler Zink provided a good test to No. 3 Richard Ciamaara and Cleeve Harper before eventually falling, 7-5, to give the Longhorns the early 1-0 advantage going to singles action.

Texas started fast in singles play, quickly claiming court two. No. 35 Pierre-Yves Bailly downed OSU's Alex Garcia in straight-sets, 6-1, 6-2. Joseph Chen put up a consistent fight on court six to Chih Chi Huang, but came out on the short end, 7-6(5), 6-4.

On court one, No. 108 Tyler Zink went point for point with No. 22 Micah Braswell. The Longhorn would snag the opening set, 6-3. Although Zink was able to collect three consecutive deuce points to take a 5-4 lead in the second set, Braswell was able to rebound to claim the court, 7-6(5), and clinch the overall outcome.

Although the match was decided the remaining courts played out.

Despite dropping the opening set, 6-3, Leighton Allen remained relentless on court five against Cleeve Harper. Allen quickly found his footing to rally and claim the second set, 6-4, before dropping the third set, 6-2.

Fran Pini wasted no time in claiming his first set on court four against No. 92 Richard Ciamarra, 6-3. The duo went back-and-forth through the second before the Longhorn snuck by, 7-6 (8). Pini was quick to regain momentum to secure the third set, 10-8, to get OSU on the board for the first time of the day.

Max Verboven put on a strong performance, which propelled him to a first-set victory, 6-4, against No. 61 Eliot Spizzirri. The Longhorn was fast to answer in the second set, 6-2. The pairing went point for point in the third set where Verboven came out on top, 7-6(6).

The Cowboys will close out their regular season against Charlotte on Monday at 5 p.m. in Stillwater.