Tennis '22-'23 Season

Discussion in 'Tennis' started by 10SNE1?, Aug 3, 2022.

  1. 10SNE1?

    10SNE1? 500+ Posts

    Hi UT Tennis Fan,
    Our team concluded its run at the NCAA Team Championship with a semifinal loss to eventual champion Virginia (we beat South Carolina in the quarterfinals the previous day). As they have done all season, our players gave it their best Texas Fight until the end. If interested, please click on the South Carolina quarterfinal win recap, and the Virginia semifinal loss recap. And if you'd like to see the interviews that Cleeve Harper and I did after our quarterfinal win please click on this link.

    Our team finished the season with a record of 26-4, playing what was likely the toughest schedule in the country. We won the Big 12 Championship by going undefeated in conference play; went undefeated at home; reached the final of the National Team Indoors for the first time in program history; reached the Big 12 tournament final; and reached the NCAA Final Four for the 3rd time in the last 4 tournaments. Our wins this year include Florida, Georgia, Pepperdine (twice), Arizona (twice), USC, Stanford, TCU (twice), Texas A&M, Michigan, Ohio State, North Carolina, Oklahoma (twice), Baylor, and South Carolina. Most importantly, our players represented Texas with character, fight, and excellence. I want to thank Chih Chi Huang and Nevin Arimilli for being great Longhorns, and I now welcome them to the Texas Tennis family of alumni. The rest of our players (Eliot, Pierre, Micah, Siem, Cleeve, Evin, Eshan, and Lucas) will return next year, and no doubt be joined by some strong recruits (stay tuned throughout the coming months for recruiting news) to form another strong team.

    Before we close the book on 2022-2023, Eliot, Pierre, Micah, Siem, and Cleeve will compete in the NCAA Individuals. Singles starts today, and doubles starts tomorrow. We will be back in touch at the conclusion of the tournament with an update. Until then, have a great week, and thanks so much for all of your terrific support this year. Hook'em!

    Sincerely,
    Bruce Berque
     
    • Like Like x 2
  2. mchammer

    mchammer 10,000+ Posts

    Not surprised UVA won it all.
     
  3. WorsterMan

    WorsterMan SEC here we come!!

    Thanks Bruce for the terrific updates on a great season for the Horns! :hookem:
     
    • Like Like x 2
  4. dadave

    dadave 25+ Posts

    The fact that spizziri hasn’t had a full off season and season to play with his two hander, PYB missed fall and braswell finally looked healthy and confident right at tourney, and there’s a chance they can get an impact recruit that slides Harper down a very tough 6, next season is gonna be just as fun!
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  5. 10SNE1?

    10SNE1? 500+ Posts

    Rumors that the women's Nicole Khirin is transferring.
     
    • Dislike Dislike x 1
  6. dadave

    dadave 25+ Posts

    oh man, that would be rough. Do u know why?
     
  7. Moooooo

    Moooooo 5,000+ Posts

    That's unfortunate. You have to be really good to come to a program like Texas and play #1 singles as a true freshman. I hope she ends up staying, but with the incoming freshman from Australia and now the elite grad-transfer from Old Dominion, I would imagine a player or two would be moving on.

    So, what was the injury to Vivian Ovrootsky?

    And, Coach Joffe mentioned during a recent video conference that he was down to 6 healthy scholarship players for the last part of the season. Did grad-transfer Marlee Zein quit the team? She didn't make the impact I was expecting, but perhaps that was due to the freshmen and transfer from Pepperdine just being better.
     
  8. dadave

    dadave 25+ Posts

    They really need a #1 player. The old dominion transfer should be a solid top 3 though. Khirin hasn’t committed anywhere so let’s see what happens. Hope she comes back. She got hot towards the end of the season, what I expected from her. I think Charlotte got better towards end of the season too. She was hitting out of position all sophomore season, but she moved way better especially against Fiona Crawley. Charlotte should have taken it to the 3rd set but I think it bodes well for her as she seems to have gotten her rhythm back.


    On other note. I can wait to see Peyton Stearns play ostepenko. Stearns struggled against Emma navarro who is also a heavy hitter early in her career. Will be fun to see how she’s adjusted to the pace! Wouldn’t be surprised if Stearns is in top 50 by us open!
     
  9. Moooooo

    Moooooo 5,000+ Posts

    Women's Tennis is allowed 8 full scholarships, right? I guess some of the (foreign) players could be on an NLI deal equivalent to a full scholarship; but, these are the 8 I'd assume will be on 'ship next season (pending any departures/additions).

    Tatsiana Sasnouskaya (grad-transfer; COVID season)
    Charlotte Chavatipon (senior-to-be, plus COVID season)
    Sabina Zeynalova (junior-to-be, plus COVID season)
    Vivian Ovrootsky (junior-to-be, plus COVID season)
    Taisiya Pachkaleva (senior-to-be, plus COVID season)
    Nicole Rivkin (sophomore)
    Malaika Rapolu (senior-to-be, plus COVID season)
     
  10. Moooooo

    Moooooo 5,000+ Posts

    I have yet to see anything out on social media indicating she is in the transfer portal

    But, today (May 31), TexasWTN twitter account tweeted out several of our players' final rankings (#101 Chavatipon, #67 Sabina, and their doubles ranking of #33). No tweet about Nicole Khirin's rankin; so, I'm gonna assume that speaks volumes about her not returning to Texas next season.
     
  11. 10SNE1?

    10SNE1? 500+ Posts

    Same. Nothing that I can find but the rumor is from my brother who read it in the Texags forum. It may be true seeing she wasn't acknowledged with a final ranking by Texas and she was ranked 74 on 5/4 and she doesn't list Texas but rather an Athlete as her headline in Instagram. I believe she did acknowledge Texas previously. Only time will tell and I do question the number of scholarships available for this upcoming season.
     
  12. Moooooo

    Moooooo 5,000+ Posts

    Iowa State's women's head coach has moved on to Clemson.
     
  13. 10SNE1?

    10SNE1? 500+ Posts

    I wonder if any of the players will follow. I read that a Senior this year is transferring to Rice.
     
  14. 10SNE1?

    10SNE1? 500+ Posts

  15. 10SNE1?

    10SNE1? 500+ Posts

     
    • poop poop x 1
  16. Moooooo

    Moooooo 5,000+ Posts

    I guess none of us know her reasons for leaving, and what she'd be looking for at her next stop. Could be as simple as the city of Austin was too big and too different from what she was used to (in Israel). Or, it could have nothing to do with that and simply be for tennis reasons.

    Regardless, she did great for us this past season as a true freshman (although she is 21 years old) so far away from home. She'll be missed.
     
  17. dadave

    dadave 25+ Posts

    There are plenty of big name programs that need a player like khirin next season and are proven programs that have developed players with chance to succeed in the tour. Texas is probably the more generous school allowing kids to play ita during the season. This transfer doesn’t pass the vibe test. Anyways best of luck to her.

    Texas really needs to recruit a top 2 so Charlotte can anchor the 3 spot.
     
  18. 10SNE1?

    10SNE1? 500+ Posts

    Anybody know how good the Australian recruit, Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz, is?
     
  19. Moooooo

    Moooooo 5,000+ Posts

    Her UTR was 10.53 back in March.

    Khirin's UTR is 10.90.

    New grad-transfer from Old Dominion has a UTR of 10.67.

     
  20. 10SNE1?

    10SNE1? 500+ Posts

    Mind explaining what that means?
     
  21. Moooooo

    Moooooo 5,000+ Posts

    Universal Tennis: Transforming Sports Globally

    The UTR Rating is the world’s most accurate tennis rating. All players regardless of age, gender, geography or skill level, are rated on the same scale from 1.00 and 16.50 based on daily match results.
     
  22. 10SNE1?

    10SNE1? 500+ Posts

    The higher the rating, the better the player?
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  23. Moooooo

    Moooooo 5,000+ Posts

  24. dadave

    dadave 25+ Posts

    Sabina is crafty but has been trying to add more power and depth to her game. She would be better suited in 3/4 lineup
     
  25. Moooooo

    Moooooo 5,000+ Posts

    Men's team loses assistant coach who leaves to become Clemson head coach.

     
  26. Moooooo

    Moooooo 5,000+ Posts

    Maybe. But, don't the players want to move up the singles order as teammates depart (graduation, professionals, transfers)? That's the only way to play tougher competition.
     
  27. Moooooo

    Moooooo 5,000+ Posts

    Forgot to include the freshman from Australia (who committed in March, but there has been no official release from Texas on her signing):

    Tatsiana Sasnouskaya (grad-transfer; COVID season)
    Charlotte Chavatipon (senior-to-be, plus COVID season)
    Sabina Zeynalova (junior-to-be, plus COVID season)
    Vivian Ovrootsky (junior-to-be, plus COVID season)
    Taisiya Pachkaleva (senior-to-be, plus COVID season)
    Malaika Rapolu (senior-to-be, plus COVID season)
    Nicole Rivkin (sophomore)
    Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz (true freshman)

    Definitely curious who would play at which singles spot if this was the final roster for next season.
     
  28. dadave

    dadave 25+ Posts

    UTR is a good rating system but not always the best indicator. Nicole rivkin came in as 10.90, but she struggled a lot with consistency and was on and off at the 5/6 line, sometimes not even playing in top 6 when Zein was on the team. U can get higher utr if u have easy access to a lot of itf tournies and funds to travel. If Texas wants to be competitive for a championship, they really need to one more top player. Womens tennis is just too stacked nowadays at the top.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  29. Moooooo

    Moooooo 5,000+ Posts

    That makes sense. But, someone on the current roster would have to leave (to open up a 'ship).
     
  30. 10SNE1?

    10SNE1? 500+ Posts

    Hi UT Tennis Fan,
    I hope your summer is off to a great start! I am writing with some updates on all things Texas Men's Tennis.

    Associate Head Coach Brandon Wagner, who has done a tremendous job for the last four years, has accepted the Head Coaching position at Clemson University (press release). While we are sad to see him go, we are very thankful for everything he has done for the program, and we wish him success at Clemson!

    Also in recent news, several Longhorns were honored for their accomplishments this past season. Eliot Spizzirri was named to the USTA Collegiate Summer Team, and he was joined by Nevin Arimilli and Brandon Wagner in picking up post season Regional Awards. Eliot, Cleeve Harper, and Micah Braswell were all officially named All Americans last week, and Eliot and Cleeve were named Academic All Americans. We were also well represented in the final ITA National Rankings: our team finished #3, Eliot was #1, Pierre-Yves Bailly was #36, Micah Braswell was #37, Siem Woldeab was #55, and the doubles team of Eliot Spizzirri/Cleeve Harper finished #2, on the heels of reaching the NCAA doubles final.

    I will be back in touch with more news when I have it. Thanks for all your support, and Hook'em!

    Sincerely,
    Bruce Berque
     

Share This Page