GoFrogs: Men’s Tennis Battles Into Semifinals With Win Over No. 6 USC

FORT WORTH, Texas – A tiebreaking three-set victory by freshman Alex Rybakov sealed the No. 2 TCU men’s tennis team’s comeback 4-3 victory over No. 6 USC on Saturday night to advance the team to the semifinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships at the Boar’s Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Va.

Tied 3-3 in the match, all attention turned to court two as Rybakov was looked upon to clinch the match for the Horned Frogs (5-1) for the second straight day. The freshman delivered as he dominated the tiebreaker from the beginning and defeated Max de Vroome, 6-7, 7-5, 7-6, and handed the Trojans (6-1) their first loss of the season.

After dropping the doubles point, TCU had to climb its way back into the match and its first point came from No. 6 Cameron Norrie who posted a quick 6-1, 6-2 win over No. 33 Nick Crystal. Eduardo Nava picked up his second win over a ranked foe with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over No. 43 Logan Smith. USC notched wins at the No. 5 and No. 6 positions, before Guillermo Nuñez and Rybakov each stormed back to take their matches in three sets to win the match for the Frogs.

With the win, TCU advances to the semifinals of the championship for the first time since 2001.

Quotes of the Match
Head Coach David Roditi
“Huge win for our squad to comeback after a disappointing doubles and win four matches against a team like USC who has been in the finals of this tournament four years in a row and has the most recent national championships. Alex (Rybakov), freshman baseliner, comes back from a set down against a serve and volley senior indoors to clinch shows his character and his fight. Max de Vroome has been in that situation many times and clinched a NCAA title against Oklahoma two years ago in that same situation.

“Eduardo (Nava) played great tennis, Cameron (Norrie) gave us a needed quick point and Guillermo (Nuñez) came back from a set down as well. I am so proud of all these guys. It took a huge team effort, including our non-participating players, since USC was super loud and energetic and we needed some help from the sidelines. At times it felt as if USC had 100 people out there. These types of matches will help us build character and become a stronger team.

“Now we have a huge challenge playing the top ranked team, home team and rested team on a short time. We will find out what type of character we have at this point tomorrow afternoon.”

Match Results
TCU vs USC
Feb 13, 2016 at ITA Indoor Team Championship
(Boar’s Head Sports Club, Charlottesville)
#2 TCU 4, #6 USC 3

Singles competition
1. #6 Cameron Norrie (TCU) def. #33 Nick Crystal (USC) 6-1, 6-2
2. #122 Alex Rybakov (TCU) def. Max de Vroome (USC) 6-7, 7-5, 7-6
3. #38 Guillermo Nuñez (TCU) def. #104 Jake DeVine (USC) 6-7, 6-4, 6-3
4. Eduardo Nava (TCU) def. #43 Logan Smith (USC) 6-3, 6-0
5. Thibault Forget (USC) def. Jerry Lopez (TCU) 6-4, 6-0
6. Jack Jaede (USC) def. Trevor Johnson (TCU) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4

Doubles competition
1. Cameron Norrie/Trevor Johnson (TCU) def. Nick Crystal/Laurens Verboven (USC) 6-3
2. Max de Vroome/Jack Jaede (USC) def. Hudson Blake/Reese Stalder (TCU) 6-4
3. Rob Bellamy/Jake DeVine (USC) def. Guillermo Nuñez/Alex Rybakov (TCU) 6-3

Match Notes:
TCU 5-1; National ranking #2
USC 6-1; National ranking #6
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (1,4,5,6,3)
ITA Indoor Team Championship Quarterfinals

Up Next
TCU advances to the semifinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship and will face No. 1 seed and host Virginia on Sunday, Feb. 14 at 2:30 pm, CT.