Texas All-Sports - M&W Tennis SEC Tournament Primer

4.16.26 - If you're a Texas Longhorn fan who likes to follow several or even all of the Longhorn sports, The Texas All-Sports Podcast might be a good spot for you. At Texas All-Sports we’re about All the Longhorn Sports.  But in this episode we’re going to focus on #1 Men’s & #8 Women’s Tennis and give you a quick primer for the SEC Tournament. 

00:00 Intro 

01:20 Men's Tennis 

01:45 Men's Tournament Field 

02:37 Men's Tournament Bracket 

04:45 Women's Tennis 

05:07 Women's Tournament Field 

06:16 Women's Tournament Bracket 

08:27 How to Watch? 

09:08 Days Since Last OU Touchdown 

09:17 Outro 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Hello, all you beautiful people. This is Matt Marin, Austin, Texas, welcoming you to this edition of the Texas All Sports Podcast, where we keep you posted on all the Texas Longhorn sports. I hope you are well, and as you know, at Texas All Sports, we're about all the Longhorn sports. But in this episode, we're going to focus on number one men's and number eight women's tennis and give you a quick primer for the SEC tournament. The men's and women's tournaments are separate and started on Wednesday. The women will open play today, Thursday, and the men will have their first match on Friday. We'll start with the men who are playing in College Station. They're the 2026 indoor national champions, and they've been ranked number one in the country the last two weeks. Their record is 21-6 overall, 12-2 in the SEC, and they're on a seven-match win streak. They're the SEC regular season conference champions, and they're the number one seed in the conference tournament. Let's take a look at the strength of the field because the SEC is the toughest conference in the country for college tennis. On the men's side, there's number one Texas, number five LSU, number six, Mississippi State, number eight, Oklahoma, number ten, Texas AM, number twelve, Georgia, and number 13, South Carolina. Seven of the top 13 in the country are in the SEC. On the individual side, there's number three ranked Sebastian Gorsny, the senior from Texas. Number seven ranked Benito Sanchez Martinez from Mississippi State. Number nine, Peter Jovanovich, also of Mississippi State. And number 10, Theo Papamolamis from Texas AM. So four of the top ten players are in the SEC. And now we'll move to the bracket where the Texas side of the bracket includes number four seed Oklahoma and number five seed Texas AM. The other side of the bracket includes number two seed Mississippi State and number three seed LSU. Now, as the number one seed, the Horns have a bye through the first and the second rounds. They'll play the winner of number eight seed Auburn and number nine seed Florida, who play each other in the first round on Thursday. The Horns actually played Auburn and Florida in the final two matches of the regular season. They beat Auburn 4-0 on April 4th and beat Florida 4-1 on April 10th. And at the risk of tempting Karma, we'll look forward at how the Horns did against potential opponents in the semifinals and finals. If they make the semis, the most likely opponents were number 4 seed Oklahoma or number 5 seed Texas AM. Against Oklahoma, they lost 4-1 on March 15th at the Texas Tennis Center. So beware the ends of March. They beat AM 4-2 in the first round of the indoor nationals on February 13th and beat them 4-2 again on March 13th outdoors at the Texas Tennis Center. If they make the finals, they'd most likely be looking at number two seed Mississippi State or number three seed LSU. Against Mississippi State, they won 4-3 in Starkville on February 23rd, and against LSU, they lost 4-3 March 6th at the Texas Tennis Center. Now in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings of the top 125 individual players, the Horns have senior Sebastian Gorsny at number 3, freshman Colin Ivanowski at number 34, sophomore Sebastian Erickson at number 46, and freshman Alba Forger at number 93. Also, look for likely contributors, senior Jonah Braswell, freshman Lucas Marino, and sophomore Oliver Ojikar. And on to the women's side, where instead of being in college stationed, they're in Norman. After being up at number six, the horns have been ranked number eight in the country the last two weeks. They're 16 and 6 overall, 11 and 4 in the SEC. They finished fifth in the SEC standings. They're the number five seed in the conference tournament. And now we'll look at the strength of the field, and it's pretty ridiculous. The SEC is by far the best conference in women's tennis. The field includes number one, Georgia, number two, Texas AM, number three, Auburn, number four, Oklahoma, number eight, Texas, number twelve, Florida, number fourteen, Vanderbilt, number 15, LSU, and number 16, Tennessee. So the top four teams in the country and nine of the top 16. Quite a gamut for the Horns to run. On the individual side, the SEC has number one ranked Luciana Perez of Texas AM. Number three ranked Carmen Jarea, the sophomore from Texas. Number six ranked Anastasia Abignado, the freshman from Texas. Number seven ranked Eviolina Laskovich of Oklahoma. Number eight, Isigol Mert of Georgia. Number nine, Bridget Stammel of Vanderbilt, and number ten, Katrina Scott of Tennessee. So seven of the top ten ranked players in the nation. Moving on to the bracket, Texas's side includes number one seed Oklahoma and number four seed Georgia. The other side of the bracket includes number two seed Texas AM and number three seed Auburn. Now, as the number five seed, the Horns had a buy through the first round. Thursday, they'll play number 12 seed Alabama, who beat number 13 seed Mississippi State in the first round on Wednesday. They played Alabama here in Austin on March 5th and won 4-0. If the Horns make it past Alabama, they'll play number 4 seed Georgia in the quarterfinals. The Bulldogs are the number one team in the country, but Texas beat them in Austin in their only matchup of the season 4-1. Also, another indicator of how strong the conference is as the number one team in the country is the number four seed in the conference tournament. Against the other top seeds, during the regular season, the Horns lost to the number one seed Oklahoma Sooners in their last match of the regular season, lost a close, tough matchup against number two seed Texas AM, and lost 4-0 to number three seed Auburn. In the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings of the top 125 individual players, the Horns have number three sophomore Carmen Jarea. Jarea missed the last two matches of the season as she was in Portugal playing for her home country of Romania in the Billie Jean Cup qualifying rounds. Those matches were played on clay courts, actually, so hopefully she'll have her hardcourt legs back. Also, there's number six ranked freshman Anastasia Avignado, who jumped in the standings from number 12 after her win last week against Oklahoma's Evelina Laskevich, who was at number 10. In addition, there's number 50 ranked sophomore Esther Mary. Also integral to the Horns are sophomore Salmogdova, freshman Kostasha McNeil, freshman Elizabeth Ionescu, freshman Matilda Najo Carr, and freshman Kate Mansfield. The tournament field is stacked on both sides, especially for the women. Hopefully this weekend will be a chance for the teams to bring home tournament championships and get primed for the NCAA tournaments that open May 1st. For both the men and the women, it appears Thursday and Friday's action will not be available to watch. I was hoping it might be on a YouTube channel like Crack Rackets or maybe on the host school's athletic websites, but I didn't find anything. I'm going to double check at match time though. If the Horns make it to the semifinals on Saturday, you can definitely watch them on the SEC Plus Network. And if they make it to the finals on Sunday, you can watch them on the SEC network. So, just a reminder that it's now been 922 days since the Oklahoma Sooners last scored a touchdown against the Texas Longhorns. Thanks for joining us and good luck to both the tennis teams this weekend. Y'all be good to each other out there and hook them horns.