TCU Men’s Tennis: Frogs Defeat Two Top 15 Teams Including Epic Comeback
It was an instant classic. An epic comeback. A match to remember. A dual that perhaps marks the first step to more extraordinary accomplishments this season. On Sunday, the No. 5 TCU men’s tennis team (5-0) found themselves in a position they were not familiar with, especially on the confines of the purple courts in Fort Worth.
Down 1-3 and having lost the doubles point to No. 6 Tennessee, TCU found a way to fight back and capture the dual 4-3 to remain undefeated on the early season. It marked their second victory over a top-15 team in the last three days. On Friday, TCU defeated No. 15 Stanford 5-2.
TCU 5 – Stanford 2 – February 2
TCU had no problem with the first ranked opponent of the weekend when the Stanford Cardinal came to town. No. 15 Stanford was 2-1 coming into the dual, having defeated No. 22 Memphis and lost to No. 14 Michigan.
The Frogs won the doubles point and quickly won three singles matches to clinch the victory at 4-0. Both coaches had agreed to play out the remaining courts. The Frogs would finish 5-2.
"The guys got it done against Stanford," said head coach David Roditi. "The level out here is incredible. If you did not come out to watch this match, it is too bad for you, because the level on every court, the top-four singles courts, I was looking around thinking, 'Is this really college tennis?' It was unbelievable.”
Doubles Play – TCU Won
- On Court One, the No. 7 ranked pair Sebastian Grozny and Pedro Vives quickly won their set 6-3.
- The Double point was clenched on Court Two with the No. 15 ranked pair of Lui Maxted and Duncan Chan winning their set 6-4.
- Almost simultaneously, on Court Three, Jack Pinnington and Jake Fearnley won their set 6-3.
- The win for Fearnley marked his 150th career win at TCU.
Singles Play – TCU won 4-2
- No. 3 Pinnington, on Court Two, gave the Frogs their second point of the dual with a 6-1, 7-5 victory.
- No. 30 Gorzny also won in straight sets 6-4, 7-5 on Court Four
- TCU clinched the dual victory on Court Three with No. 14 Vives winning 7-5, 6-3.
- Even having clinched the victory, the teams played out the remaining courts. Stanford got their first point on Court One with Nishesh Basavareddy defeating Fearnley 7-6 (8-6), 6-2.
- No. 64 Maxted, on Court Five, won in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.
- On Court Six, No. 53 Neel Rajesh defeated Tomas Jirousek 7-5, 3-6, (10-5).
TCU 4 – Tennessee 3 – February 4
It was an epic match on Sunday when Rocky Top rolled into town. It was the fourth time the two teams met in the last 24 months. Each time TCU and Tennessee have met in that time span, both teams have been ranked. Last year, when the teams met in Knoxville, TCU won 4-1.
On Sunday, TCU was down 1-3 and down to their last point. It took Maxted, Fearnley, and then Jiroursek to win the last three singles matches and keep the Frogs' undefeated for the season.
"Unbelievable win here at home over Tennessee," Roditi said. "It must be Día de los Muertos because we came back from the dead. Lui goes on the court down 3-1 knowing he has to win for us to win the match. He was on the same court two years ago, up a set and two breaks against Tennessee, and it slipped away, and we lost 4-3.
Doubles Play – Tennessee Won
- The Volunteers became the first team to take the doubles point from TCU this season. The Horned Frogs are 54-10 in doubles since 2022.
- Chan and Maxted, on Court Three, struck first with a 6-1 win.
- The Volunteers then secured double breaks on Courts One and Two.
- Gorzny and Vives lost 3-6 on Court One.
- Tennessee secured the Doubles point on Court Two with a 6-3 win over Fearnley and Pinnington.
Singles Play – TCU won 4-2
- Tennessee took the opening set on three of the first four courts.
- Tennessee won the first singles match on Court Two, with Pinnington losing 4-6, 2-6. This gave Tennessee a 2-0 lead in the dual.
- Gorzny put the Frogs on the board with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win on Court Four.
- Vives would lose on Court Three 6-7 (5-7), 4-6, putting Tennessee up 3-1.
- Maxted came out on Court Five knowing he had to pull off the win or the match was over. He got the win at 6-3, 6-2.
- The pressure then was on Fearnley on Court One. Fearnley lost the first set 5-7 then won the second set 6-3. After playing to a 6-6 tie in the third set, Fearnley forced a tiebreaker, which he would win 7-3 to tie the dual at 3-3.
- Jiroursek, then, on Court Six, would prove to be the hero with a 6-3, 6-2 win to give the Frogs the crucial fourth point to win the dual. Jiroursek also had the match clincher set in the 2023 dual with Tennessee.
Next up: The Horned Frogs travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan to take on the No. 13 Michigan Wolverines on February 13. The two teams last met in the quarterfinals of the 2023 NCAA Championships quarterfinal. TCU won that dual 4-1 before losing to No. 3 Ohio State in the semifinal match.
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