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No. 2 TCU Falls Short vs. UCF in Big 12 Championship Semifinals - TCU Athletics
WACO, Texas – On a day a quarter of the ITA top-20 fell, No. 2 TCU was bit by the upset bug.
No. 2 TCU Falls Short vs. UCF in Big 12 Championship Semifinals
WACO, Texas – On a day a quarter of the ITA top-20 fell, No. 2 TCU was bit by the upset bug.The Horned Frogs saw a 3-0 lead over No. 18 UCF transformed into a 4-3 defeat in the semifinals of the Big 12 Championship on Saturday at the Hurd Tennis Center.
TCU (22-3, 8-0 Big 12) entered the match hamstrung by injuries and illness and was ultimately unable to offset the loss of multiple key contributors. The Frogs played without a pair of nationally ranked players in No. 8 Pedro Vives and No. 96 Cooper Woestendick while Albert Pedrico was forced to medically retire on court three in singles play.
Leading 3-2, the match came down to a pair of third sets on courts four and six. Both TCU players were up a break midway through the frame. Roger Pascual led Santiago Giamichelle 3-1 in the fourth position while Filip Apltauer worked his way to a 4-2 advantage vs. Nicolas Oliveira. Neither underclassman was able to convert, though, as Pascual fell by a score of 2-6, 6-0, 3-6 and Apltauer came up short 2-6, 6-4, 4-6.
"Credit to UCF," said head coach David Roditi. "They handled it coming down to the end really well. They handled the conditions and the pressure very well at the end, so credit to them. The coaches did a great job of keeping those guys calm and collected and we did not. That was the difference. It sucks as a coach when you feel like you didn't help your guys out there. It's a tough feeling, but we'll go back to the drawing board. We get two weeks now to prepare for the NCAA Tournament. Proud of the way our guys fought regardless of anything going on. They left it on the court. We've just got to learn from it and move on."
TCU saw its 13-match winning streak snapped with the result and lost for the first time on the outdoor courts this season.
The Horned Frogs now break for two weeks in advance of the NCAA Tournament selection show, which airs on Monday, April 28. TCU is a lock to earn a national seed hosting rights through Super Regional weekend for the fifth consecutive season.
Doubles Rundown
With Vives and Woestendick unable to go, TCU was forced to alter both its parings and court assignments.
In a testament to the team's resiliency, the Horned Frogs still found a way to obtain the doubles point.
Jack Pinnington, Woestendick's usual partner, moved down to court three, where Julian Alonso played only his second dual doubles match of the year and first since the Frogs' season opener on Jan. 11. Playing together for the first time, Pinnington and Alonso rolled over Oliveira and Paul Colin via a 6-3 margin.
The doubles point ultimately came down to a pair of tiebreakers on the top courts. Duncan Chan and Pedrico moved up to court one while Apltauer and Lui Maxted slotted in at the second position.
Chan and Pedrico, who typically play on court two or three, came up short to Yassine Dlimi and Emilio Sanchez 9-7.
Apltauer and Maxted rallied out of a 0-3 hole opposite Giamichelle and Mehdi Benchakroun to take their tiebreaker and the doubles point, 8-6.
TCU improved its season doubles record to 21-4 but lost a match for the first time all season when possessing a 1-0 lead. The Horned Frogs will enter the postseason riding an eight-match doubles point winning streak.
Apltauer and Maxted are now 4-1 as a pair. They first played together on April 3.
Doubles Results
- Yassine Dlimi / Emilio Sanchez (UCF) def. Duncan Chan / Albert Pedrico (TCU): 7-6 (7)
- Filip Apltauer / Albert Lui Maxted (TCU) def. Mehdi Benchakroun / Santiago Giamichelle (UCF): 7-6 (6)
- Jack Pinnington / Julian Alonso (TCU) def. Paul Colin / Nicolas Oliveira (UCF): 6-3
Singles Rundown
The injuries forced two-thirds of TCU's lineup to play two courts higher than normal.
The Frogs again put themselves in position to win the match, though.
Maxted, Pedrico and Chan put a trio of opening sets on the board on courts two, three and five.
Both Maxted, the ITA No. 32 singles player, and Chan raced out to 4-0 head starts. Maxted faced No. 80 Benchakroun on two while Chan squared off with Sanchez in the five spot.
Chan was the first Frog off the court and stretched the lead to 2-0, downing Sanchez 6-2, 6-1.
Maxted matched Chan's first set score and snared a break level at three games all in set three en route to a 6-2, 6-3 decision.
Pedrico breezed by Colin, 6-3, in set one. Compromised by an ankle injury he sustained shortly thereafter, the freshman fell 0-6 in the second set and retired trailing 2-3 in the final frame.
UCF first got on the board with a victory on court one. Dlimi, ranked 82nd nationally, downed a hampered Pinnington 6-1, 7-6 (3). The seventh-ranked Pinnington played through an ankle ailment of his own. Trailing 0-2 in set two, Pinnington won three straight games to make a match of his head-to-head.
Maxted is now enjoying a six-match singles winning streak. He continues to lead TCU in overall victories (26) and dual wins (15).
Chan notched his fourth consecutive win spanning TCU's last six matches. His 21 combined wins trail only Maxted for the team lead.
Both Maxted and Chan produced 4-0 combined overall records across TCU's participation in the Big 12 Championship.
Singles Results
- #82 Yassine Dlimi (UCF) def. #7 Jack Pinnington (TCU): 6-1, 7-6 (3)
- #32 Lui Maxted (TCU) def. #80 Mehdi Benchakroun (UCF): 6-2, 6-3
- Paul Colin (UCF) def. Albert Pedrico (TCU): 3-6, 6-0, 3-2 RET [Inj.]
- Santiago Giamichelle (UCF) def. Roger Pascual (TCU): 6-2, 0-6, 6-3
- Duncan Chan (TCU) def. Emilio Sanchez (UCF): 6-2, 6-1
- Nicolas Oliveira (UCF) def. Filip Apltauer (TCU): 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
