Men’s Tennis: The Sweet Sixteen Continue Quest For The Natty
For the seventh straight season, the TCU men’s tennis team is playing in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament. It will also be the 15th time in program history that the team has made it this far.
TCU entered the postseason as the nation’s number one overall seed. The Frogs are 25-4 on the season, which already includes one national championship (Indoor Nationals) and a Big 12 regular-season championship.
To get to the Sweet Sixteen, TCU took care of business last weekend with a sweep of Drake on Friday night and another sweep of Utah on Saturday. TCU will host NC State on Saturday, May 14 at 3 p.m. at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center in Fort Worth.
The Sweet Sixteen Super Regionals take place in eight locations across the country. If the Frogs take care of business on Saturday, they advance to the national quarterfinals, which will be on May 19 in Champaign, Illinois.
Here is a look at all the Sweet Sixteen Super Regionals:
The Teams*:
(1) TCU (25-4)
(2) Florida (25-2) - ADVANCED
(3) Baylor (28-3)- ADVANCED
(4) Ohio State (26-3)- ADVANCED
(5) Michigan (24-3)- ADVANCED
(6) Tennessee (24-7)- ADVANCED
(7) Virginia (24-5)- ADVANCED
(8) Kentucky (23-7)- ADVANCED(9) Wake Forest (33-6)- ELIMINATED(10) South Carolina (23-6)- ELIMINATED(12) Texas (18-10)- ELIMINATED(13) USC (23-5)- ELIMINATED(15) North Carolina (18-8) - ELIMINATEDFlorida State (18-10)- ELIMINATEDNC State (20-9)- ELIMINATEDStanford (19-5)- ELIMINATED
* Numbers in parenthesis before a team name indicate their national seed in the tournament.
Familiar Teams in the Bracket
If TCU makes it to the semifinals and finals, they could face a familiar opponent. This season, TCU has faced seven of the Sweet Sixteen teams and holds an 8-4 record over those teams. However, all four of TCU’s losses came from one team still in the tournament this season.
Big 12
Baylor (26-3) – The overall No. 3 seed and recipient of the Big 12’s automatic berth with their tournament championship. TCU and Baylor played each three times this season, with Baylor winning two of them. If the two teams meet again, it will be in the National Championship match. Frogs fans will recall that Baylor eliminated TCU last year in the National Quarterfinals.
Texas (16-10) – The overall No. 12 seed. TCU is 2-0 over Texas this season, including a crucial win in the Indoor Nationals quarterfinals. A potential rematch with Texas would be in the semifinals.
Nonconference Teams
Florida (23-2) – The overall No. 2 seed. TCU defeated the Gators in the second match of the season in January, 4-3, in Fort Worth. A potential rematch with Florida would be in the finals.
Michigan (22-3) – The overall No. 5 seed holds one of the four victories over TCU this year. A potential rematch would come in the semifinals.
Ohio State (24-3) – The overall No. 4 seed. TCU beat Ohio State in the semifinals of the Indoor Nationals. A potential rematch would come in the semifinals.
Tennessee (22-7) – The overall No. 6 seed. TCU lost a match in Fort Worth in January but beat the Volunteers in the finals of the Indoor Nationals. A potential rematch would be in the finals.
Virginia (22-5) – The overall No. 7 seed. TCU beat Virginia twice in back-to-back matches in February, one in Fort Worth and the next in the first round of the Indoor Nationals. A potential rematch would come in the finals.
The Sweet Sixteen Matchups
(All times are Central Time)
Friday, May 13
2 p.m. – No. 7 Virginia vs. No. 10 South Carolina – Charlottesville, Virginia
- Virginia won 4-0
4 p.m. – No. 2 Florida vs. No. 15 North Carolina – Gainesville, Florida
- Florida won 4-0
6 p.m. - No. 3 Baylor vs. Stanford – Waco, Texas
- Baylor won 4-3
Saturday, May 14
11 a.m. – No. 4 Ohio State vs. No. 13 USC – Columbus, Ohio
- Ohio State won 4-2
12 p.m. – No. 5 Michigan vs. No. 12 Texas – Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Michigan won 4-2
1 p.m. – No. 8 Kentucky vs. No. 9 Wake Forest – Lexington, Kentucky
- Kentucky won 4-2
3 p.m. – No. 1 TCU vs. NC State – Fort Worth, Texas
- TCU won 4-0
3 p.m. – No. 6 Tennessee vs. Florida State – Knoxville, Tennessee
- Tennessee won 4-0
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