The Horned Frogs opened the weekend in Austin with a 4-2 win.
FORT WORTH, Texas (February 6, 2016) – Two freshmen earned their first victories over ranked foes as the No. 2 TCU men’s tennis team battled to a 4-2 victory over No. 18 Stanford on Saturday afternoon in the first match at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center in Austin, Texas.
The Horned Frogs (3-0) were able to grab the early lead over the Cardinal (5-2) by securing the doubles point, before having to battle it out in singles action with five of the six matches going to three sets. Freshmen Eduardo Nava and Alex Rybakov scored the final two points needed for the overall match victory by recording their first wins over ranked foes. Nava got a 7-6, 7-6 win over No. 61 Michael Genender, while Rybakov was able to bounce back from a first set loss to down No. 57 David Wilczynski, 6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-0.
Quotes of the Match
Head Coach David Roditi
Opening Statement
“That is one of the closest dual matches on every single court that I have seen since I have been a coach in six years where basically every match could go either way. That is how I felt with every single match including the doubles. I thought Stanford was very well coached. I know both coaches very well and you are not going to find two better coaches from any team. Our guys were ready for a battle and I feel like it helped our guys get through that because that is exactly what we were expecting and we were prepared for it to go the distance.
“Overall, I am just really proud of the fight that we showed today. We were ready for a battle and our guys brought it. We fought every single match and we came back in two matches down a set to win. That is great to see. I remember a few seasons ago, we would talk about how we weren’t winning matches when we were down a set and if we continue to do that, we are sending a message that no matter how far down we are, we are going to keep battling back. I am proud of our team for doing that.â€
On the doubles matches
“That doubles point is beautiful when you can get it and I was very pleased to win with two teams that have never played together in a dual match. Today seemed like the right combination to put up there and I felt like that is where we could make the biggest improvement from the last dual matches. Moving forward, we needed to play better doubles. Today, we found a way to play better doubles and get that doubles point.â€
On the crowd
“It was nice to see tennis alumni and tennis fans come to watch us play. Members of our team that are not in our travel party along with some members of the women’s tennis team made it down and it was nice to be on the road and have that kind of support.â€
On playing Cal tomorrow
“We just had a very physical match, but we are going to have to get ready for an extremely tough team in Cal tomorrow. Cal can be a top-5 team and you can put whatever ranking you want next to their name, but I know and everybody knows that they are a lot closer to No. 1 than No. 24. We will be ready for that. The last couple of times we have played Cal, it has come down to the wire and we have been on the losing end of that. Tomorrow, we are going to change that and we are going to come out and fight.â€
Match Results
Stanford vs TCU
Feb 06, 2016 at Austin, Texas
(Weller Indoor Tennis Center)
#2 TCU 4, #18 Stanford 2
Singles competitionÂ
1. #9 Tom Fawcett (STAN) def. #4 Cameron Norrie (TCU) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
2. Alex Rybakov (TCU) def. #57 David Wilczynski (STAN) 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 6-0
3. #24 Guillermo NuÃ’ez (TCU) def. Nolan Paige (STAN) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
4. #109 Jerry Lopez (TCU) vs. Sameer Kumar (STAN) 6-7 (8-10), 6-3, 3-4, unfinished
5. Eduardo Nava (TCU) def. #61 Michael Genender (STAN) 7-6, 7-6
6. #89 Maciek Romanowicz (STAN) def. Trey Daniel (TCU) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
Doubles competitionÂ
1. #42 Nolan Paige/Maciek Romanowicz (STAN) def. Trevor Johnson/Cameron Norrie (TCU) 6-4
2. Hudson Blake/Reese Stalder (TCU) def. Tom Fawcett/Sameer Kumar (STAN) 7-5
3. Alex Rybakov/Guillermo NuÃ’ez (TCU) def. Yale Goldberg/David Wilczynski (STAN) 6-4
Match Notes:
Stanford 5-2; National ranking #18
TCU 3-0; National ranking #2
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (3,5,1,6,2)
Up Next
TCU will continue action in Austin by facing off with No. 24 Cal at 10 a.m., on Sunday at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center.