Cowboy Tennis Falls in Quarterfinals of Big 12 Championship

Friday, April 22

Fort Worth, Texas

3 p.m.

Oklahoma State University

Texas

Cowboy Tennis Falls in Quarterfinals of Big 12 Championship

April 22, 2022 | Cowboy Tennis

FORT WORTH, Texas - Oklahoma State's men's tennis team saw its Big 12 Championship run come to an end on Friday afternoon with a 4-0 setback against No. 12 Texas in the quarterfinal round of the event.

With the loss, the Cowboys dipped to 12-12 on the year.

OSU put on an impressive showcase in doubles play going point for point across the board. Court two was first to finish, where No. 85 Alex Garcia and Max Verboven battled No. 17 Eliot Spizzirri and Siem Woldeab, but fell short, 6-4.

The Cowboys' No. 85 duo of Tyler Zink and Seb Nothhaft highlighted doubles play. The tandem faced adversity early but were quick to rebound in their matchup against No. 3 Richard Ciamarra and Cleeve Harper. The OSU tandem prevailed over the Longhorn duo, 7-5, to tally their fourth top-50 takedown of the year.

The early advantage came down to court three, where Leighton Allen and Fran Pini squared off with Chih Chi Huang and Eshan Talluri. A back-and-forth battle fell the way of Texas, 7-5, to give the Longhorns the early lead.

Texas kept the momentum rolling into singles action and immediately added another singles point. Verboven put up a consistent fight, but fell to No. 95 Richard Ciamarra in straight-sets, 6-0, 6-1, to extend UT's lead to 2-0.

On court two, Alex Garcia took on No. 41 Pierre-Yves Bailly, who came out on top, 6-1, 6-3, to extend the margin.

Leighton Allen put on a gritty performance and kept pace with No. 113 Chih Chi Huang. Huang rattled off a 6-4, 6-3 victory to send Texas into the next round.

Courts one, four and six were left unfinished when the match was decided. On court one, No. 112 Tyler Zink took on No. 60 Eliot Spizzirri. The pairing went back-and-forth through the first set, Spizzirri came out on top, 7-6(6). Zink hand the upper hand in the second set when play was called, 3-2.

Despite dropping the opening set, 7-5, freshman Fran Pini bounced back to lead the second set against UT's Seim Woldeab, 3-2. Joseph Chen kept play tight on court six against Cleeve Harper, 3-6, 4-4, when his match was halted.

Singles Competition:

1. #60 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) vs. #112 Tyler Zink (OSU) 7-6 (8-6), 2-3, unfinished 2. #41 Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) def. Alex Garcia (OSU) 6-1, 6-3

3. #95 Richard Ciamarra (UT) def. Maxim Verboven (OSU) 6-0, 6-1

4. Siem Woldeab (UT) vs. Francisco Pini (OSU) 7-5, 2-3, unfinished

5. #113 Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Leighton Allen (OSU) 6-4, 6-3

6. Cleeve Harper (UT) vs. Joseph Chen (OSU) 6-3, 4-4, unfinished

Doubles Competition

1. #45 Sebastian Nothhaft/Tyler Zink (OSU) def. #3 Richard Ciamarra/Cleeve Harper (UT) 7-5
2. #17 Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) def. #85 Alex Garcia/Maxim Verboven (OSU) 6-4
3. Chih Chi Huang/Eshan Talluri (UT) def. Leighton Allen/Francisco Pini (OSU) 7-5

Match Notes:

Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (3,2,5)

Big 12 Championships, Quarterfinals