Men’s Tennis Clinches Share of Big 12 Title

For the second-straight season, the TCU men’s tennis team (16-4 overall, 4-0 Big 12) has clinched at least a share of the Big 12 regular season title.

The Frogs, ranked #9 nationally, won their 11th-straight match overall by taking down #4 Baylor 4-1 in Waco tonight. The Big 12 title gives TCU their 7th regular season or tournament title since joining the conference, 3 of which have been won by the men’s tennis program, tying baseball.

The match started with doubles and TCU took the first matchup 6-2 on Court 3 as Trevor Johnson and Cam Norrie downed their counterparts. The Frogs then secured the doubles point on an ace from Reese Stalder on Court 2 to win the set 6-4.

With TCU leading 1-0 in the match, the teams then headed to singles action. The Frogs struck first in singles to extend their lead to 2-0 as #27 Alex Rybakov took down #53 Johannes Schretter 6-2, 6-0 on Court 2. Soon after, Trevor Johnson continued his stellar day by defeating Constantin Frantzen 6-3, 7-6 on Court 6 to give TCU the 3-0 advantage.

The Bears, who entered the match as the highest-ranked team in the Big 12, would not go silently though as #43 Max Tchoutakian took down #83 Guillermo Nuñez of TCU 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 on Court 3 to cut the Frogs’ lead to 3-1. However, Cam Norrie, ranked #2 in the nation, sealed the match at 4-1 for the Frogs by beating #13 Juan Benitez 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 on Court 1.

During this 11-game winning streak, TCU has taken down 9 teams that were ranked in the top 50. Of those 11 wins, 7 have come away from Fort Worth and 4 have been 4-0 shutouts of their opponents. Their last defeat was a narrow 4-3 home loss to Wake Forest, who is currently ranked #1 in the nation.

With a share of the Big 12 regular season title already clinched, TCU will host #7 Texas (19-6 overall, 2-2 Big 12) on Saturday at 1 PM. I strongly encourage anyone planning on going to the TCU baseball game against Baylor at 3 PM to arrive early and check this team out. The atmosphere at their games is exciting, the tennis talent is exceptional, and admission is free.

After facing the Longhorns, the Frogs will head to Norman for the Big 12 Tennis Championships, which will be played April 27-29 for the men. TCU will then likely return home to serve as a host for the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

The run this team has been on has been amazing and they could be in for a special run in the NCAA Tournament, even better than when they advanced to the Final Four in 2015.