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TCU Season Comes to a Close - TCU Athletics
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. –No. 1 TCU men's tennis (26-5) was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament on Thursday afternoon after suffering a 4-3 defeat to Kentucky in the Elite
GoFrogs: TCU Season Comes to a Close
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. –No. 1 TCU men's tennis (26-5) was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament on Thursday afternoon after suffering a 4-3 defeat to Kentucky in the Elite 8. The Horned Frogs end the 2022 campaign with 26 victories, tied for the most in a single season since 1984.
"Disappointing loss" head coach David Roditi said. "Full credit to Kentucky, they played unbelievably well. At this level, in the NCAA Quarterfinals, you have to play so well. We weren't solid enough to get the win. We did a great job in doubles and 5 and 6 but it's such a fine line between winning and losing at this level. That's why winning a National Championship is so special. You have to do so many things right for so many matches in a row and we didn't do that today. We didn't play well enough to deserve it today. I'm super proud of our guys. I'm bummed for them. They did such a great job all season and really had just an incredible year. But we lost today, the season is over and that's depressing. I'm sure at some point we'll look back and be proud of what we accomplished. I want to thank TCU for giving us more than enough support for us to be here, the way we traveled, everything. I'm so grateful for TCU and our fans that support us so well, win or lose. I'm sorry we couldn't get it done for our fans, our administration and our school. Go Frogs!"
The Frogs won the doubles point with wins from the No. 2 and No. 3 pairings. The No. 2 duo of Sander Jong and Lui Maxted earned the first break of their match, winning all four points in the game to go in front, 5-3, with Jong holding serve at 40-0 to secure the first win of the day. Juan Carlos Aguilar and Pedro Vives broke at 4-2, holding serve by winning a deuce point off Vives' serve to take the match, 6-3, clinching the doubles point for TCU.
DOUBLES QUICK HITS
- Jong and Maxted recorded a 6-3 victory at No. 2 doubles, improving their record together to 18-5.
- They finish the NCAA Tournament 3-0, outscoring their opponents 18-9 in completed matches.
- Aguilar and Vives clinched the doubles point at No. 3 doubles, 6-3.
- They finish the year 11-3 as a doubles team and 5-0 in postseason tournaments (Big 12 and NCAA Tournament).
- This was the 19th time this season that TCU has won a doubles point without losing a match.
- TCU ends the year 56-16 (77.8%) in doubles matches.
- TCU finished the year winning 26 of 31 doubles points (83.9%).
1. #1 Luc Fomba/Jake Fearnley (TCU) vs. #55 Millen Hurrion/Francois Musitelli (UK) 3-5, unfinished
2. #10 Sander Jong/Lui Maxted (TCU) def. Gabriel Diallo/Joshua Lapadat (UK) 6-3
3. Juan Carlos Aguilar/Pedro Vives (TCU) def. Liam Draxl/Alexandre LeBlanc (UK) 6-3
Order of finish: 2, 3
TCU won three opening sets before ultimately only securing two wins, both in straight sets at No. 5 and No. 6 singles. Tomas Jirousek dominated his match from start to finish, winning all seven return games on his way to a 6-1, 6-1 victory at No. 6. His win put TCU back in front, 2-1, with four matches left on court. After UK tied up the dual at 2-2, Vives capped off a perfect 2-0 day with a 7-5, 6-3 victory on court five. After Vives' win, TCU was leading 3-2, with two matches in third sets. Unfortunately, Kentucky would go on to win both, resulting in a 3-4 final score.
SINGLES QUICK HITS
- Jirousek ended his NCAA Tournament with another outstanding performance in singles play.
- He ends the tournament with a 3-0 record and improves his career-record at the NCAA Tournament to 6-0.
- He won seven of eight completed sets this tournament, with six of those seven sets ending either 6-1 or 6-2.
- Jirousek outscored his opponents 46-18 over the last four matches.
- Vives took down No. 113 Lapadat in straight sets, after he had gone undefeated (11-0) in SEC play.
- It was Vives' fourth ranked win of the year, bringing his season record to 13-6 and 4-2 against ranked opponents.
- Sander Jong, although losing his match today, ends the dual season with a 21-5 record (80.8 win %). That is the 10th highest winning percentage by a Horned Frog with at least 20 wins in program history.
- The Horned Frogs end the year 103-47 in singles matches.
1. #4 Liam Draxl (UK) def. #12 Luc Fomba (TCU) 6-3, 6-4
2. #21 Gabriel Diallo (UK) def. #16 Juan Carlos Aguilar (TCU) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4
3. #83 Millen Hurrion (UK) def. #72 Sander Jong (TCU) 6-3, 6-4
4. Francois Musitelli (UK) def. #95 Jake Fearnley (TCU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
5. Pedro Vives (TCU) def. #113 Joshua Lapadat (UK) 7-5, 6-3
6. Tomas Jirousek (TCU) def. JJ Mercer (UK) 6-1, 6-1
Order of finish – 1, 6, 3, 4, 5, 2
Up Next
Three Horned Frogs will stay in Champaign to compete in the NCAA Individual National Championships. Luc Fomba and Juan Carlos Aguilar will compete in the singles event with Fomba and Jake Fearnley playing together as the No. 1 seeded pair in the doubles event. Those matches will begin Monday, May 23. The draw has yet to be announced.
For more information on TCU men's tennis, visit gofrogs.com and follow the team on social media: @TCUMensTennis on twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
