TCU Tennis Ranked #3 Heading Into Remainder of Season

Fast Facts:

Current National Ranking:  #3

Coach: David Roditi (6^th season)

Assistant Coach: Devin Bowen (2^nd Season)

Number of Men's Tennis Team Members:  11

Number of Freshman:  4

Number of Sophomores: 3

Number of Juniors: 4

Number of Seniors:  ZERO -- we have at least another year with this entire team.  Read below and you'll see why this is a good thing!

Overall season record: 13-2

Home record: 6-0

Away record: 4-0

Neutral location record: 3-2

Next match: March 22, 12:00 p.m. (CST) at TCU

Next opponent: #7 Northwestern

Big 12 Championship: April 29

NCAA Championship: May 13 and May 19

Basic Rules:

There are 7 points up for grabs when two teams go head to head (tournaments with multiple competitors from various schools can be slightly different).

Each team plays 3 doubles matches; win 2 or more and you get 1 point for your team

Each team plays 6 singles matches; each win earns 1 point for your team.  A singles match is 3 sets.  Win 2 games to earn the point for your team.

The team with the most points at the end wins.

If a team has won enough matches to be the clear victor, remaining matches may be stopped early.

**Note: I'm using ITA rules here, and I'm completely dumbing it down for y'all.  Not because I don't think you'd understand it, but because it's a TON of info to throw at you.  If you really want to read every single rule, go here and here!**

OK, I'm the first to admit that I am TERRIBLE at tennis.  Except on the Wii.  I can whip those little cartoon avatars like nobody's business.  But when it comes to hitting an actual tennis ball with a real tennis racquet on a real live court, I'm the worst.  Which just means that I'm seriously in awe of our tennis team.  Not only do they play a sport that requires major talent; they also have a competitive season that spans an entire school year.

Looking at the tennis team's stats this season is pretty impressive.  The season started in September with sophomore Cameron Norrie competing at the Oracle/ITA Masters in Malibu, CA, where he took the singles title by beating the No. 7 ranked player in the country, Nicolas Alvarez of Duke.  Yes, that's right.  Snooty, hoity-toity Duke.  Let's hear it for Mr. Norrie!  The same weekend, four TCU men's players competed in the Racquet Club Collegiate Invitational, and Trevor Johnson finished 2^nd in the Singles competition.  After the Cajun Tennis Classic in Lousiana and the Saint Francis Health System ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Cameron Norrie competed at the Futures of Mansfield tournament and came away with his first professional title and second win of the season.  The New Zealand native beat competitors from Great Britain, the United States, and Japan... and he's not even old enough for a celebratory post-tournament drink.

TCU did pretty well at the UTSA/ITA Texas Regional Champsionships and the National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in October and November, with at least one athlete making it into the quarterfinals and/or Round of 16 in each competition.  But the Spring semester brought the bulk of team tournament competition and head-to-head matches.

After the Christmas break, the Frogs returned to competition with the Three Oaks Shootout in Florida.  The first day, TCU faced the University of Southern Florida.  Alex Rybakov competed in his first collegiate match and had straight set victories before partnering with Reese Stalder for a doubles victory, as well.  Eduardo Nava also had a singles victory, followed by a doubles victory with Hudson Blake.  TCU won 8-4 over USF.  Day 2 was against Mississippi State, and the Frogs swept the doubles matches with the same duos as Day 1.  Cameron Norrie and Trevor Johnson also paired up and won a doubles match.  Alex Rybakoc, Reese Stalder, Cameron Norrie, and Jerry Lopez all had singles wins to give TCU an 8-4 overall victory.  On Day 3, Reese Stalder won all three of his singles matches, while Guillermo Nunez, Trey Daniel, and Hudson Blake each recorded wins against Illinois.  Nunez teamed up with Jerry Lopez, while Eduardo Nava paired with Cameron Norrie for the doubles competition, and each duo won a match.  The Frogs finished the tournament 6-6 against Illinois.

In late January, the Frogs competed at home against San Diego State and won 4-0, with the Freshmen leading the way.  Alex Rybakoc and Reese Stadler won the doubles match with a comeback and forced tiebreaker, which they won 7-1.  Reese Stalder continued to dominate as a singles player, with Eduardo Nava and Guillermo Nunez adding victories of their own.  Next up was Oklahoma State.  The teams were tied 3-3 when Jerry Lopez scored a victory that put the Frogs up 4-3 and earned them a berth to the Indoor Nationals.  Prior to the National competition, TCU headed to Austin to face Stanford and Cal February 6-7.  While the doubles victory came easy against Stanford, the singles competitors had their hands full.  Leave it to the freshmen again--Eduardo Nava and Alex Rybakov secured the 4-2 team victory.  After a hard-fought battle, the Frogs quickly turned to face Cal the following day.  Unfortunately, the team had its first loss of the season when Cal took the 4-2 win.  While the doubles point went to TCU again, Cal came from behind in the singles competition to grab 4 last-minute wins.

The following weekend, it was off to Virginia for the Indoor Nationals.  The Frogs laid the smackdown on Illinois with an opening victory of 4-0.  Cameron Norrie and Trevor Johnson won the doubles point.  Jerry Lopez, Trevor Johnson, and Alex Rybakov had wins in the singles competition to end the match and move on to the quarterfinals.  This was the first time TCU has been in the quarterfinals since 2001, and only the 4^th time in the team's history.  The following day, the Frogs faced USC.  The Frogs were down after losing the doubles point.  Jerry Lopez and Trevor Johnson also suffered losses in the singles competition.  But TCU clawed their way back to the top with 4 singles wins for the comeback.  Cameron Norrie, Alex Rybakov, Guillermo Nunez, and Eduardo Nava won their matches to put TCU up 4-3.  That qualified them for the Semifinals against Virginia the following day.  It's important to note that TCU went into the match ranked #2, with Virginia ranked #1.  The doubles matches were close, but TCU ultimately lost.  Virginia then had 2 singles wins to go up 3-0 overall.  While Cameron Norrie won his singles match, Virginia won their 3^rd singles match to get the 4-1 overall victory and send the Frogs home.

On February 20, the Frogs faced Cal Poly at home.  They shut out the Mustangs 7-0, with 6 straight wins in the singles competition, plus the doubles point with 3 straight wins.  The Frogs headed to Wisconsin and beat the Badgers 5-2 after another come-from-behind victory.  Next up for the Frogs were the Illini of Illinois (someone please tell me what the heck an Illini is).  TCU had a strong showing in the doubles and singles competitions, with only 2 losses in the singles competition going to Illinois.  TCU took the 5-2 victory and immediately headed to the University of Southern Florida.  For the third time in as many days, TCU won the match with an overall score of 5-2.  After losing the doubles point and giving up a singles match point, our Frogs battled it out for 3 straight singles wins by Alex Rybakov, Jerry Lopez, and Guillermo Nunez for the overall victory.  The Frogs then went straight to Orlando to face the University of Central Florida, where they just plain won everything for the 7-0 match win.

The Frogs hosted Tulsa on March 15 and battled for over 3 hours to a final 4-2 win to maintain their perfect home record.  After losing the doubles point, it was up to Jerry Lopez, Guillermo Nunez, Trey Daniel, and Alex Rybakov to win their singles matches.  While Lopez won the first 2 sets in his match, Nunez, Daniel, and Rybakov were all tied 1-1 going into their third sets.  They each managed to grab their final sets to send Tulsa home with the loss.  The Frogs remained home against Columbia on March 19 and continued their winning streak with a 4-0 blowout.  That was followed by a home match against Dartmouth on March 20, where they had another dominating 4-0 win.

And now, you're caught up on Men's Tennis.  We wish our Tennis Frogs the best in their upcoming home meet and the remainder of the season.  Keep your eye on these guys -- they're making a strong showing for TCU nationwide!