AUSTIN, Texas – In uncharted territory yet unsatisfied with an appetite for making more history, No. 15 seed San Diego men's tennis is set to take on No. 2 Texas in the NCAA Championships Sweet 16 on Friday afternoon.
The Super Regional heavyweight bout is set for a 6 p.m. PT first serve from Texas Tennis Center in Austin. Six days after winning the San Diego Regional with a sweep of No. 20 UCLA to advance to the program's first Sweet 16 in program history, the Toreros will look to punch a ticket to their first ever Elite Eight.
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Toreros Punch Ticket to First NCAA Sweet 16 in Program History
Led by 11th-year head coach and five-time WCC Coach of the Year
Ryan Keckley, USD is one of the nation's hottest teams at 22-5 overall, winners of 14 of its last 15. The 22-5 record includes a 10-match win streak that lasted over a month with five straight shutouts to start conference play en route to a fifth straight WCC Regular Season title and third straight WCC Tournament crown.
San Diego is guided on main court by three-time WCC Player of the Year and 2025 Wimbledon breakout
Oliver Tarvet who has won 14 straight matches and is 20-2 on the season, ranked No. 19 nationally. WCC Freshman of the Year
Manvydas Balciunas is 14-5 in his debut season and ranked 94th nationally. The doubles lineup is fronted by the national No. 34 duo of
Lambert Ruland and
Adrien Berrut while ITA All-American National Champion tandem
Stian Klaassen and Tarvet are expected to combine on court two.
THE LONGHORNS AT A GLANCE
Texas, No. 1 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) team rankings but the second seed in the NCAA Tournament, will be attempting reach the NCAA Elite Eight for the fourth-straight year and the sixth time in the last seven tournaments. In all, the Longhorns have advanced to the quarterfinals 21 times since the tournament moved to its current format in 1977.
The Longhorns carry seven individual rankings: five in singles and two in doubles (No. 21 and No. 46). Fronting the singles lineup is former National Champion Sebastian Gorzny at No. 3. Following him is No. 35 Sebastian Eriksson, No. 41 Kalin Ivanovski, No. 89 Oliver Ojakaar and No. 102 Abel Forger.
Friday will be the third all-time between the two sides, the series record sitting knotted at 1-1. Texas took a narrow 4-3 contest in the last meeting over 10 years ago, on March 13, 2016 in San Diego. USD claimed the first ever meeting, 4-1 on March 9, 2012 in Houston's Downtown Club at The Met.
For information regarding USD pre-match and alumni activities, CLICK HERE
