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Preview: NCAA Tournament Fort Worth Regional - TCU Athletics
FORT WORTH -- No. 1 TCU men's tennis (23-4) will begin its National Championship run at the Fort Worth Regional this weekend at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.
GoFrogs: NCAA Men's Tennis Tournament Fort Worth Regional Preview
FORT WORTH -- No. 1 TCU men's tennis (23-4) will begin its National Championship run at the Fort Worth Regional this weekend at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center. The Horned Frogs earned the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and will be taking on Summit League Champions, Drake (13-10) in the opening round at 5 p.m. The winner of TCU vs. Drake will take on the winner of Utah (20-7) vs. Ole Miss (16-12) in the Regional final, Saturday at 4 p.m.
Tickets for the matches will be available for purchase at the gate for $5 (cash only).
FOLLOW ALONG
Live Stats
Live Stream via TennisONE App
NCAA Tournament Bracket
FROG FOCUS
The Horned Frogs are making their 32nd all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament. This is the seventh consecutive season TCU has made the tournament, hosting a regional in each of those seasons. The Frogs have won the regional in all six of their previous seasons.
The Horned Frogs will have three 2022 All-Americans on the courts this weekend after it was announced that Luc Fomba, Juan Carlos Aguilar and the doubles team of Fomba/Jake Fearnley were awarded national seeds in the NCAA Individual Championships. Fomba and Fearnley are the No. 1 overall seed in the doubles tournament. This is just the fifth time in program history that TCU will have three or more All-Americans in the same season (2022, 2017, 2001, 1996 and 1990). There is a chance for TCU to set a program record with five All-Americans, should Sander Jong and Lui Maxted reach the quarterfinals in the individual doubles tournament or stay in the ITA Top 10 by the end of the year, they are currently ranked No. 10.
Speaking of rankings, the latest ITA rankings were released on Tuesday with five singles players and three doubles pairs making the cut. Fomba and Fearnley were named the No. 1 doubles pair in the country for the first time in their careers. TCU has never had a doubles pair end the year at No. 1, with the best end-of-year ranking currently belonging to Paul Robinson and Dacvid Roditi, who finished 2nd in 1995.
Six Horned Frogs appeared in the latest rankings: Fomba (12th singles/1st doubles), Aguilar (16th singles), Sander Jong (72nd singles/10th doubles), Fearnley (95th singles/1st doubles), Lui Maxted (104 singles/10th doubles/11th doubles) and Pedro Vives (11th doubles). Six ranked Frogs would tie the program record for the most at the end of a season, last achieved in 2017.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Drake enters the tournament fresh off another Summit League Championship. The Bulldogs defeated Denver, 4-3, in the championship match to earn the automatic bid. This will be the third meeting between TCU and Drake and the first since Drake upset the Horned Frogs in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament back in 2013. TCU won the only regular season meeting back in 1993.
Ole Miss (16-12) enters the regional ranked No. 32 in the latest ITA poll. The Rebels fell to TCU earlier this season in Fort Worth by a final score of 4-3. TCU leads the all-time series 8-5. Should the two teams meet it will be the third time TCU will face Ole Miss in the NCAA Tournament, that series is split 1-1 with the Rebels taking the last meeting in the 1st Round of the 2010 tournament and TCU winning in an Elite 8 matchup back in 1996.
Utah (20-7) come into the weekend ranked No. 37 and are making its third NCAA Appearance in the last four seasons. The Utes finished fourth in the Pac-12, its highest-ever result. Should the two teams meet it will be the first-ever NCAA Tournament match between the two schools, TCU leads the regular season all-time series, 6-2, with the last match coming in 2011, when both teams were members of the Mountain West.
RANKED PLAYERS
Singles
No. 12 Luc Fomba (TCU)
No. 14 Nikola Slavic (Ole Miss)
No. 18 Juan Carlos Aguilar (TCU)
No. 72 Sander Jong (TCU)
No. 92 Jake Fearnley (TCU)
No. 104 Lui Maxted (TCU)
No. 107 Geronimo Busleiman (Utah)
Doubles
No. 1 Luc Fomba / Jake Fearnley (TCU)
No. 10 Lui Maxted / Sander Jong (TCU)
No. 11 Lui Maxted / Pedro Vives (TCU)
No. 19 Finn Reynolds / Lukas Engelhardt (Ole Miss)
No. 27 Franco Capalbo / Geronimo Busleiman (Utah)
