Just when we thought the weekend couldn’t get any crazier #23 Texas Tech pulled off a 4-3 stunning upset over seemingly unstoppable #1 Oklahoma.
Texas Tech was just 7-9 in doubles coming in but they managed to take the point over Oklahoma by winning 6-3 at #3 doubles and 7-6(6) at #1. Oklahoma was 12-10 in doubles coming in but time and time again they overcame the early deficit to come back and win – not today. (TT’s live scoring & recap showed Nick Papac with Spencer Papa at #3 dubs but it was Florin Bragusi who partnered with Papa).
Oklahoma would take the opening set at 1, 2, 4, and 6 singles while Texas Tech took the opening set at 3 and 5. Texas Tech’s Alex Sendegeya would run his dual match record to 17-6 with a 6-2, 6-3 upset over #30 Dane Webb which extended the Tech lead to 2-0.
Oklahoma would then make a run by winning the next 3 completed matches as Axel Alvarez, Andrew Harris, and Florin Bragusi each won in straight sets at 1, 2, and 6 singles. Oklahoma would now lead 3-2 but they were trailing in each of the other 2 matches.
Texas Tech’s Jolan Cailleau would then tie it at 3-3 as he won the only match that went 3 sets when he defeated Alex Ghilea 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 at #4 singles.
It all came down to #5 singles where Texas Tech’s Francisco Zambon had a set lead on OU’s Spencer Papa. Zambon served to stay in the 2nd set at 4-5 and 5-6 and held both times to push the set to a tiebreak. Zambon would get the mini break to go up 6-5 then the senior from Campinas, Brazil would close it out and Texas Tech had its 1st ever win over a #1 program. The video clip below is courtesy of Texas Tech and it shows Zambon putting away match point at the net.
“What makes this so special is that it was Fran, our senior captain who closed out the match,” said Red Raider head coach Tim Siegel. “Doubles, Alex, Jolan, Fran … what can I say. I am really in shock that we beat the No. 1 team in the nation. The fact that it came down to Francisco Zambon was absolutely perfect.”
“This was amazing,” said Red Raider senior Francisco Zambon. “We have been preparing for this the entire year. We played like we have been playing. We didn’t do anything different.
“I have had some very good memories and some very bad memories over the last four years, but today is something special for myself, the entire team, coach (Siegel) and (assistant coach) James (Wilson). It something I will always remember.”
“I do not know if there is any other place in college tennis where the crowd is like that. I am just so excited to play Baylor next week,” added Zambon.
Records: #1 Oklahoma (21-2, 3-1 Big 12); #23 Texas Tech (18-6, 2-2 Big 12).
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (3,2,6,1,4,5)
Note: This is Texas Tech’s first-ever win over a team ranked No. 1.
T-2:35 A-719
FYI, the number beside the player’s school is the player’s Universal Tennis Rating as of April 11th. For more details about UTR check out their website.
Wake Forest opened it up by taking the doubles point with an 8-6 win at #3 and an 8-7(5) win at 2. The Demon Deacons followed that up that by taking the opening set on all 6 courts and it looked like the rout was on after the Deacs picked up straight set wins from Maksim Kan and Romain Bogaerts at 2 and 6.
North Carolina however would fight back by taking the 2nd set on each of the 4 remaining courts. The amazing thing about taking all those 2nd sets was the fact that UNC was down a break in 3 of them. UNC’s Robert Kelly put the Tar Heels on the board by defeating Christian Seraphim at #5 singles and while both Brett Clark and Jack Murray had pushed their matches into a 3rd set it wasn’t looking as promising at #1. UNC’s Brayden Schnur was able to force a 3rd set against Noah Rubin but Rubin would quickly race out to a 4-0 lead and would end up cruising to the finish line for the 7-6, 2-6, 6-2 win.
After the match had been decided both Clark and Murray completed their comebacks by each winning in 3. Clark actually came back from 5-2 down to win his final set 7-5.
Baylor got off to a slow start in doubles but still managed to pick up the point by taking both 1 and 3 in tiebreakers. The singles portion took a while, due to a few rain delays, but Baylor pulled through with wins from Max Tchoutakian, Diego Galeano, and Felipe Rios at 3, 4, and 6. Oklahoma State was very competitive on some of the other courts as well. Big time match for Baylor coming up on Wednesday in Austin against Texas.
“Well we started slow. We didn’t come out the way that we would like to come out in the doubles. We are obviously a little lucky to win two tie-breakers in matches that we easily could have lost. It’s a credit to the guys – when the chips were down they found a way to win and that’s a great sign of a great competitor.” – head coach Matt Knoll on the doubles
TOP QUOTE #2
“We were able to scratch out some tough games today. It was a good finish for us. We kind of got our minds right and started to roll.” – Knoll on the win
TOP QUOTE #3
“We’ve got to figure out how to be at our best when our best is needed. It’s needed when you are playing big matches. It’s a process for us. I’m happy to get through it. We’re going to have to be a heck of a lot better when we go down to Austin on Wednesday.” – Knoll on what his team needs to do to improve
TOP QUOTE #4
“Well you need guys doing that. Anytime you get a quick point, it makes a heck of a difference. You kind of back your opponent into a corner. Once we kind of got rolling, we started backing them into a corner. There was a point there when they won the second set on two and a lot of the first sets were close and this thing could have gone either way. Then we won all those other close sets and we just started to roll.” – Knoll on Rios’ quick singles win
#4 Virginia ran its ACC winning streak to 134 consecutive matches with a routine 6-1 win over #29 Louisville. Virginia won 5 of 6 singles matches in straight sets as Mitchell Frank, Ryan Shane, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, J.C. Aragone, and Henrik Wiersholm were all victorious. Louisville picked up its lone point from Seb Stiefelmeyer at #1 singles as he defeated Virginia’s Collin Altamirano in a 10 point tiebreak that was played in lieu of a 3rd set.
“I thought the team played well today,” said head coach Brian Boland. “There were great conditions to play and I was happy we could have a result like this to close out our regular season home schedule. We once again had a great crowd out here and hopefully we will get to play two more matches in this atmosphere in the NCAAs.”
“Outside of the success our players have had long after they have left here, there is nothing I am more proud of than the consistency we have had as a program,” said Boland. “We have tremendous respect for the ACC and to win 12 straight regular season titles is an incredible accomplishment.”
That's interesting that Papac got to play. The OU recap and the ITA's results page said Bragusi so that's why I went with it.
It was Papac and Papa playing number 3 doubles for OU. Florin only played singles.