Men’s Tennis: TCU’s Season Ends In National Semifinal
For the second year in a row, the TCU Men’s Tennis team was eliminated in the NCAA tournament earlier than expected. On Saturday, the No. 2 Horned Frogs (26-3) got swept by No. 3 Ohio State. The Buckeyes will play No. 5 Virginia, who beat No. 1 Texas in Saturday's other semifinal match.
This was the fifth national semifinal appearance for TCU. The Frogs appeared in the 1989, 1996, 2001, and 2015 semis. They have never played for the NCAA National Championship.
NCAA Men's Tennis Semifinal - Ohio State 4 – TCU 0
The tournament got pushed back a day after storms in Orlando on Thursday. The semifinals were initially scheduled for Friday, but because of the delays were pushed to Saturday.
Doubles Play – Ohio State Won
It came down to a tiebreaker on Court Two to determine the winner of the coveted doubles point. In Friday’s quarterfinal match, TCU lost the doubles point but was able to bounce back in the singles. That was not the case in the semifinal.
- The nation’s No. 2 doubles duo of Luc Fomba and Jake Fearnley, playing on Court One, lost their set 3-6.
- Sander Jong and Jack Pinnington, playing on Court Three, won 6-4.
- It came down to Court Two, which went to a tiebreaker. Pedro Vives and Sebastian Gorzny were not able to pull off the win, losing 6-7 and giving Ohio State their first point of the dual.
Singles Play – Ohio State won 3-0
- Lui Maxted, on Court Six, was the first to lose the singles match, 2-6, 2-6.
- On Court One, Fearnley lost his match in straight sets, 3-6, 4-6.
- Another straight-set win occurred on Court Five, with Gorzny losing 4-6, 4-6.
- Fomba, on Court Two, and Pinnington, on Court Four, both won their first set 6-2 and were on serve in the second at 5-6 when the dual was won.
- Jong had to play a tiebreaker in his first set, winning 7-6. When the dual was won, he was down 2-3 in the second set.
Next up: One of the best seasons in program history ended with the loss to Ohio State. Fomba and Jong have now played their last matches as Frogs. However, several team members will remain in Orlando to participate in the NCAA Individual Singles and Doubles Championships, which will be played May 23-27. Fomba and Fearnley are the No. 2 seed in the 32-pair doubles bracket. Both also garnered at-large berths in the 64-player singles field. Song and Maxted were awarded an at-large berth in the doubles tournament. Jong and Pinnington were both named alternates in the singles tournament should there be withdrawals.
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