A first for Texas men and 21st for Stanford women

Take out the biggest guns, take the throne.

It’s an approach that worked even better than anticipated for Texas, which capped a tumultuous season with its first NCAA men’s tennis title Sunday in large part to wins over Wake Forest’s reigning NCAA individual champion and runner-up.

Christian Sigsgaard started the Longhorns’ roll at Orlando’s USTA National Campus with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Borna Gojo, last year’s NCAA runner-up. Nearly an hour later, Yuya Ito closed out the 4-1 triumph by outlasting titleholder Petros Chrysochos in three sets.

“I don’t know how to describe it,” Ito said amid the revelry that followed his 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 triumph. “A national championship was our biggest goal this year. We’ve had some ups and downs this year, but the guys really came through.”

Colin Markes and Rodrigo Banzer also won from the back of the lineup as the Longhorns (29-3) blitzed the singles after a rare loss for the doubles point. In addition, Harrison Scott led 5-0 in a third set over Wake’s Rrezart Cungu when Ito’s match was clinched.

The Demon Deacons (34-4) were seeking a second consecutive national title after winning on home soil last year.

“Hats off to Texas. They played a great match,” Deacons coach Tony Bresky said. “We got off to some good starts, up a couple of breaks and just couldn’t finish it off. As the match got physical, [Texas shined. They were tough.”

Bresky said it was the first time this season that both Gojo and Chrysochos had lost in the same dual match. Factor in No. 3 Bar Botzer, and the Deacons’ top trio won 87 percent of their matches in 2019.

On Sunday, none of the three recorded a point. Botzer’s match against Leonardo Telles was in a third set when Ito clinched.

Texas interim coach Bruce Berque said he told Sigsgaard and Ito before the final that if one of them could prevail, “We’re winning this match.”

“I don’t know that I was counting on winning both of them,” said Berque, who assumed head coaching duties in March. “I knew we were strong at the bottom of the lineup, but if we could get something at [Nos.] 1, 2 or 3, that would be huge for us.”

Berque was elevated to the top job after Texas abruptly fired Michael Center, who was indicted as part of the sweeping college admissions bribery scandal that also implicated actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman.

The Longhorns, 15-1 when the dismissal hit, went out the next day and beat No.1 Ohio State. They were 14-2 under Berque’s watch.

“A big part of that was leaving that stuff off the court,” said Scott, one of five seniors on the roster. “We knew we couldn’t let those things affect us. I think teams thought we would not be there mentally, but we proved a lot of people wrong. I’m really proud of this team for sticking together.”

Said Berque: “It’s a real special team. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Women’s Final: Another year, another NCAA women’s title for Stanford. It obviously never gets old.

The Cardinal captured its third crown in the past four years — and 21st in program history — with relative ease by dispatching top-seeded Georgia 4-0 that avenged its only loss of the season.

Janice Shin played a clinching role for the second straight day when she finished off a 6-2, 6-4 triumph over Elena Christofi at No. 5 singles.

“If I didn’t win it, I knew someone else was going to,” said Shin, who also shared clinching duties in Stanford’s semifinal win over North Carolina when her match and teammate Michaela Gordon’s finished within moments of each other.

Melissa Lord and Caroline Lampl also posted straight-sets wins for the Cardinal (28-1). Stanford also took the doubles point when Gordon and Emily Arbuthnott pulled out the deciding set after the other two matchups were split.

“It’s a little surreal right now,” said Stanford coach Lele Forood, who won her 10th NCAA title since ascending to the helm 19 years ago. “They really show up so well in big matches.”

The Cardinal also triumphed last year and in 2016, sandwiched around a loss to Florida in the 2017 final. Stanford has 20 NCAA titles in all, plus one when the national championship was conducted by the old AIAW.

Just two four-year classes at Stanford have not captured at least one national title while on campus.

“What they’ve done is amazing,” said Georgia coach Jeff Wallace, who has won two NCAA titles in his 34 years in Athens. “I thought we had moments in several of our matches when it looked like we were surging and had an opportunity, but we couldn’t sustain it. Give credit to Stanford.”

The Bulldogs (28-2) handed Stanford its only loss of the season back in February, a 4-3 result at the ITA National Team Indoors in Seattle. The Cardinal reeled off 23 wins in a row after that.

“We worked so hard to get ready for this final. I’m so glad we were able to pull through,” Shin said.