Men’s Tennis: TCU Advances To National Quarterfinals
The dual was much more tense than the final score indicated, but a win is a win. On Saturday afternoon, the No. 2 TCU Men’s Tennis team (25-2) advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals with a 4-1 win over the No. 15 Mississippi State Bulldogs (21-8) in the Fort Worth Super Regional.
Last weekend, TCU punched its eighth straight ticket to Super Regionals with a perfect weekend sweep of UT Arlington and No. 19 Texas A&M on May 5-6 in the Fort Worth Regional. The Bulldogs fended off Alabama State and Middle Tennessee in the Starkville Regional to set up Saturday's showdown.
This win over Mississippi State sends TCU to its fourth straight Quarterfinals and sixth in the last eight postseasons. No program nationwide has made more Elite Eight appearances since 2015 than TCU.
Saturday's dual marks the second Super Regional meeting between TCU and Mississippi State. The Horned Frogs defeated the Bulldogs 4-2 on May 11, 2019, in the inaugural Super Regional round of the NCAA D1 Men's Tennis Championship. Before 2019, the NCAA Tournament third-round matches were contested at a neutral site.
TCU and Mississippi State have played on a near-annual basis over the last four seasons. Saturday's match was the fifth time since 2019 that the Horned Frogs have squared off with the Bulldogs. TCU is 4-0 overall and 2-0 in postseason play in that span. The Horned Frogs downed Mississippi State 4-1 at the 2019 ITA Indoor National Championships and claimed consecutive indoor duals in 2021 and 2022.
NCAA Men's TennisFort Worth Super Regional
TCU 4 - Mississippi State 1
Due to pending weather in Fort Worth, the first serve was moved from the original 3 p.m. start to noon on Saturday. The earlier time was not a problem for the Frogs. They breezed through the doubles sets, winning that point. In singles, the Frogs won three first sets and lost three first sets. Three of the courts ended up going to decisive third sets. With three courts still playing, TCU needed to win just one, and MSST needed to win all three. Halfway through the third sets, TCU was up a break on one court, on serve on one, and down a break on the other.
Doubles Play – TCU Won
- Sebastian Gorzny and Pedro Vives, playing on court 2, won 6-3.
- The nation’s No. 22 doubles pair of Sander Jong and Lui Maxted, playing on court 3, won 6-4 to secure the doubles point.
- The nation’s No. 2 duo of Jake Fearnley and Luc Fomba, playing on court 1, were up 5-4 when the point was won.
Singles Play – TCU won 3-1
- TCU won three first sets (courts one, two, and six). Of those, two (courts one and six) were won in straight sets. MSST won three first sets (courts three, four, and five). Of those, only one (court three) was won in straight sets.
- No. 21 Fearnley breezed through his match on court one, winning 6-3, 6-3.
- Maxted put the Frogs up 3-0 with his straight-set win on court six, 6-2, 7-5.
- Jong played his last match on the purple courts and lost on court three in straight sets, 3-6, 5-7.
- Gorzny lost his first set 4-6, won the second set 6-3, and got an early third-set break to clinch the win for TCU with a 6-3 third-set win.
- Jack Pinnington, playing on court two, won his first set 6-3, lost his second set 4-6, and was down a break 2-3 in the third set when the dual was won.
- Vives, playing on court five, lost his first set 4-6, won his second set 6-3, and was on serve 2-3 in the third set when the dual was won.
NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships - May 18-20
TCU advances to the Elite Eight, which will be played in Orlando, Florida, on Thursday, May 18. TCU will face No. 7 Michigan.
The winner of this dual will advance to the national semifinals on Friday, May 19.
The National Championship will be played on Saturday, May 20. If both teams hold serve, pun intended, TCU could face No. 1 Texas for a fifth time this season. Three of the four meetings between the two programs have had titles on the line this year. TCU is 2-1 in those duals, winning the ITA Indoor National Championship in February and the Big 12 Tournament earlier this month. Texas won the regular season Big 12 championship after beating TCU in Austin in April. Texas also got a nonconference win in a dual played in Fort Worth in March, the only match this season that did not have a title on the line.
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