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Final Four! TCU Mops Michigan to Advance to NCAA Semifinals - TCU Athletics
ORLANDO, Fla. – The harder it became, the tougher No. 2 TCU played on Friday.
GoFrogs: Final Four! TCU Mops Michigan to Advance to NCAA Semifinals
ORLANDO, Fla. – The harder it became, the tougher No. 2 TCU played on Friday.
The Horned Frogs dropped the doubles point to No. 7 Michigan in an NCAA quarterfinal match but rallied to sweep courts two through five in singles to punctuate a 4-1 win and punch a ticket to the Final Four.
TCU (26-2) attained its fifth all-time NCAA semifinals appearance with the victory over the Wolverines (27-5). The Horned Frogs move on to face No. 3 Ohio State (33-2) at 11 a.m. on Saturday. The Buckeyes outlasted No. 6 Georgia 4-3 to set up the dual.
"Just an absolute war," head coach David Roditi said. "A battle of wills and guts. Both teams just left everything out there. There's no doubt that being from Texas, and with the last month, we're more used to the heat, so that did help us in these conditions. What I'm so proud about of our guys is that they lost the doubles point on an overrule, but they came back. They battled."
TCU firmly flipped momentum in the opening frame of singles. The Horned Frogs took the first set in the second through sixth flights and won tiebreakers on courts three, four and five.
"Winning all those first sets was critical," Roditi said. "Our guys just put everything aside and just fought for each other. As a coach, you can't ask for anything more. I want to thank all the fans who were out here. For us to beat a team coached by Adam Steinberg and Benjamin Becker, it means a lot. That's a hell of a program. Adam Steinberg won a championship at Pepperdine and Benjamin Becker has won titles on the ATP Tour. That's a hell of a team. It means a lot to be able to beat them. We have a lot of respect for their program and their team."
Five-time All-American Luc Fomba struck first. The ITA No. 17 singles player, Fomba defeated No. 44 Patrick Maloney 7-5, 6-3 out of the No. 2 post to knot the scoreboard.
Jack Pinnington, Sander Jong and Sebastian Gorzny occupied the middle courts and broke Michigan's back behind their tiebreaker triumphs.
Jong clinched almost simultaneously with Fomba on court four. He battled past Nino Ehrenschneider 7-4 in the set one tiebreaker, then rolled the Wolverine 6-1 in the second set to give TCU the lead for good.
Pinnington, No. 71 in the ITA singles rankings, earned the biggest win of his collegiate career soon thereafter. The freshman picked up a top-20 win at the expense of Andrew Fenty. Trailing 0-2 in the opening set, he rallied past the fifth year senior 7-4 in the tiebreaker, then matched Jong with a 6-1 walloping in the decisive second set.
The fellow freshman Gorzny did the honors with the match-clincher. Tied 6-6 with No. 63 Gavin Young int the set one tiebreaker, Gorzny took two straight points and won on receive to go on top a set. The Austin native made quick work of Young, 6-2, in set two to put a pause to courts one and six.
Jake Fearnley battled Big Ten Player of the Year Ondrej Styler in the top flight and was the unsung hero in the match. Fearnley, the nation's No. 21 singles player, fell to the eighth-ranked Styler 3-6 in the first set but punched back to send set two to a tiebreaker. The Scotsman scored five of the first six points and held on 7-5 to eradicate any semblance of hope for the Wolverines.
On court six, Lui Maxted was on his way to victory. Maxted, who sports an 11-0 singles record in duals in 2022-2023, led Jacob Bickersteth 6-4, 4-6, 2-1 at the time of the clinch.
Bickersteth and Styler downed Jong and Maxted 6-2 on court three in doubles to land the match's first blow. Jong and Maxted dropped a break point trailing 2-3 and were unable to recover. Styler and Bickersteth claimed the final four games in the frame. The Michigan tandem went up two breaks before winning a deuce point to claim the set.
Gorzny and Vives dopped a 5-7 tiebreaker to Ehrenschneider and Maloney on a serve that appeared faulty but was overruled by the umpire.
Fomba and Fearnley were tied 6-6 with Fenty and Young on the top court in a battle of two top-eight tandems.
Roditi earned the 250th victory in his decorated 13-year tenure as TCU's head coach.
A win over the Buckeyes would make Roditi the first head coach to take TCU to the NCAA D1 Men's Championship. TCU is 0-4 all-time in NCAA semifinal tilts.
The Horned Frogs defeated the Buckeyes 4-2 on Feb. 20, 2022, in the semifinals of the ITA Indoor National Championships in the programs' most recent meeting.
Doubles Results
- #2 Jake Fearnley / Luc Fomba (TCU) vs. #7 Andrew Fenty / Gavin Young (UM): 6-6
- Patrick Maloney / Nino Ehrenschneider (UM) def. Sebastian Gorzny / Pedro Vives (TCU): 6-7 [5-7]
- Ondrej Styler / Jacob Bickersteth (UM) def. #22 Sander Jong / Lui Maxted (TCU): 6-2
Singles Results
- #21 Jake Fearnley (TCU) vs. #8 Ondrej Styler (UM): 3-6, 7-6 [7-5]
- #17 Luc Fomba (TCU) def. #44 Patrick Maloney (UM): 7-5, 6-3
- #71 Jack Pinnington (TCU) def. #20 Andrew Fenty (UM): 7-6 [7-4], 6-1
- #62 Sander Jong (TCU) def. Nino Ehrenschneider (UM): 7-6 [7-4], 6-1
- #72 Sebastian Gorzny (TCU) def. #63 Gavin Young (UM): 7-6 [8-6], 6-2
- Lui Maxted (TCU) vs. Jacob Bickersteth (UM): 6-4, 4-6, 2-1
