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GoFrogs: Horned Frogs End Season in Sweet 16
Final Stats | Photo Gallery
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – After harsh conditions forced the match indoors, the No. 8 TCU men’s tennis team went to battle with No. 9 Illinois but came up just short as they fell 4-0 in the 2018 NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Championship Sweet 16 on Friday night at the Cone-Kenfield Indoor Tennis Center in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Storms throughout the day on Friday forced the Horned Frogs (20-5) and the Illini (24-7) to travel from the host site in Winston-Salem to Chapel Hill for a match that started with a fight for the doubles point. After splitting the bottom two courts, TCU found itself down a break on court one but battled back to even it up and eventually force a tiebreaker. The teams continued to keep it even in the tiebreak, but a late mini-break by Illinois proved to be the difference as they took it 9-7 and the early 1-0 lead in the match.
The Illini took that momentum into singles as they captured the first set on all six courts, but TCU did not back down and staged a comeback on all the courts. Reese Stalder and Alex Rybakov started the momentum shift by each grabbing a 6-2 win in the second set on their respective courts. Trevor Johnson also revenged a loss in the opening set by dominating the tiebreak in the second set to force a decisive third set on court two. The first set losses eventually proved to be too much as Illinois was able to take the momentum back after straight-set victories on courts six and three to go up 3-0 before Aleks Kovacevic finished off the match by claiming a three-set win on court four.
Quotes from the Match
Head Coach David Roditi
“I am proud of what our team was able to accomplish this year, considering everything we went through since the start of the season. I think we got better as a team and came together as a team. Today, we didn’t quite play at the level that we needed to play at certain spots. There were some key matches for us and we didn’t win them. Credit to Illinois for beating us at No. 1 doubles. We didn’t do a good job of getting our guys back after losing that point. That doubles point, we had match points, and we let it affect us way too long in singles. We gave them too big of a lead. We didn’t start playing until we had lost six first sets. That is my disappointment as a coach, that we didn’t do a good job of getting them ready for singles. Illinois is a great team and I wish them all the best.
“We will miss our seniors. I have been very vocal about how much this senior class has meant to our program and our tennis community. We will miss Trevor (Johnson), Guillermo (Nuñez) and we certainly missed Cameron Norrie today for sure. We wish them the best and they will be a part of our TCU tennis family forever. I want to thank everybody that came to support us all the way here and dealt with all the logistical nightmares that everyone has been dealing with because of the weather. We are very appreciative of that and I am a proud coach.”
Match Results
TCU vs Illinois
May 18, 2018 at Chapel Hill, N.C.
(Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center)
#9 Illinois 4, #8 TCU 0
Singles competition
1. #13 Aleks Vukic (ILL) vs. #21 Alex Rybakov (TCU) 6-3, 2-6, 3-3, unfinished
2. #87 Alex Brown (ILL) vs. #65 Trevor Johnson (TCU) 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 1-1, unfinished
3. Aron Hiltzik (ILL) def. #114 Guillermo Nuñez (TCU) 6-2, 7-5
4. Aleks Kovacevic (ILL) def. Reese Stalder (TCU) 6-3, 2-6, 6-2
5. Zeke Clark (ILL) vs. Eduardo Roldan (TCU) 6-3, 5-5, unfinished
6. Caleb Chakravarthi (ILL) def. Max Kurzban (TCU) 6-0, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. Alex Brown/Caleb Chakravarthi (ILL) def. #6 Guillermo Nuñez/Alex Rybakov (TCU) 7-6 (9-7)
2. Trevor Johnson/Reese Stalder (TCU) def. Aron Hiltzik/Aleks Kovacevic (ILL) 6-3
3. Aleks Vukic/Vuk Budic (ILL) def. Max Kurzban/Eduardo Roldan (TCU) 6-4
Match Notes:
TCU 20-5; National ranking #8
Illinois 24-7; National ranking #9
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (6,3,4)
Up Next
With the loss to Illinois, that concludes the team portion of the 2017-18 season for TCU. Alex Rybakov will compete in the NCAA Singles Championship and will pair up with Guillermo Nuñez in the NCAA Doubles Championship that are set to begin on May 23 and May 24, respectively.
GoFrogs: Horned Frogs End Season in Sweet 16
Final Stats | Photo Gallery
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – After harsh conditions forced the match indoors, the No. 8 TCU men’s tennis team went to battle with No. 9 Illinois but came up just short as they fell 4-0 in the 2018 NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Championship Sweet 16 on Friday night at the Cone-Kenfield Indoor Tennis Center in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Storms throughout the day on Friday forced the Horned Frogs (20-5) and the Illini (24-7) to travel from the host site in Winston-Salem to Chapel Hill for a match that started with a fight for the doubles point. After splitting the bottom two courts, TCU found itself down a break on court one but battled back to even it up and eventually force a tiebreaker. The teams continued to keep it even in the tiebreak, but a late mini-break by Illinois proved to be the difference as they took it 9-7 and the early 1-0 lead in the match.
The Illini took that momentum into singles as they captured the first set on all six courts, but TCU did not back down and staged a comeback on all the courts. Reese Stalder and Alex Rybakov started the momentum shift by each grabbing a 6-2 win in the second set on their respective courts. Trevor Johnson also revenged a loss in the opening set by dominating the tiebreak in the second set to force a decisive third set on court two. The first set losses eventually proved to be too much as Illinois was able to take the momentum back after straight-set victories on courts six and three to go up 3-0 before Aleks Kovacevic finished off the match by claiming a three-set win on court four.
Quotes from the Match
Head Coach David Roditi
“I am proud of what our team was able to accomplish this year, considering everything we went through since the start of the season. I think we got better as a team and came together as a team. Today, we didn’t quite play at the level that we needed to play at certain spots. There were some key matches for us and we didn’t win them. Credit to Illinois for beating us at No. 1 doubles. We didn’t do a good job of getting our guys back after losing that point. That doubles point, we had match points, and we let it affect us way too long in singles. We gave them too big of a lead. We didn’t start playing until we had lost six first sets. That is my disappointment as a coach, that we didn’t do a good job of getting them ready for singles. Illinois is a great team and I wish them all the best.
“We will miss our seniors. I have been very vocal about how much this senior class has meant to our program and our tennis community. We will miss Trevor (Johnson), Guillermo (Nuñez) and we certainly missed Cameron Norrie today for sure. We wish them the best and they will be a part of our TCU tennis family forever. I want to thank everybody that came to support us all the way here and dealt with all the logistical nightmares that everyone has been dealing with because of the weather. We are very appreciative of that and I am a proud coach.”
Match Results
TCU vs Illinois
May 18, 2018 at Chapel Hill, N.C.
(Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center)
#9 Illinois 4, #8 TCU 0
Singles competition
1. #13 Aleks Vukic (ILL) vs. #21 Alex Rybakov (TCU) 6-3, 2-6, 3-3, unfinished
2. #87 Alex Brown (ILL) vs. #65 Trevor Johnson (TCU) 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 1-1, unfinished
3. Aron Hiltzik (ILL) def. #114 Guillermo Nuñez (TCU) 6-2, 7-5
4. Aleks Kovacevic (ILL) def. Reese Stalder (TCU) 6-3, 2-6, 6-2
5. Zeke Clark (ILL) vs. Eduardo Roldan (TCU) 6-3, 5-5, unfinished
6. Caleb Chakravarthi (ILL) def. Max Kurzban (TCU) 6-0, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. Alex Brown/Caleb Chakravarthi (ILL) def. #6 Guillermo Nuñez/Alex Rybakov (TCU) 7-6 (9-7)
2. Trevor Johnson/Reese Stalder (TCU) def. Aron Hiltzik/Aleks Kovacevic (ILL) 6-3
3. Aleks Vukic/Vuk Budic (ILL) def. Max Kurzban/Eduardo Roldan (TCU) 6-4
Match Notes:
TCU 20-5; National ranking #8
Illinois 24-7; National ranking #9
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (6,3,4)
Up Next
With the loss to Illinois, that concludes the team portion of the 2017-18 season for TCU. Alex Rybakov will compete in the NCAA Singles Championship and will pair up with Guillermo Nuñez in the NCAA Doubles Championship that are set to begin on May 23 and May 24, respectively.
