TCU Men’s Tennis Secures Nation’s Top Seed In Postseason Tournament
Monday night, the NCAA announced the 64 men’s tennis teams that will compete in the NCAA D1 Men’s Tennis Championship this month. The TCU Horned Frogs received one of the 34 available at-large bids, having lost the Big 12 Conference Championship last month. The Horned Frogs earned the overall number one seed in the tournament and will host the Fort Worth Regional this weekend.
TCU (23-4, 5-0) will face Drake (13-10) on Friday, May 6, on the purple courts at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center. The other regional dual will feature Utah (20-7) versus Ole Miss (16-12). The winners of the two duals will meet on Saturday, May 7, in the Regional Championship.
This will not be the first trip to Fort Worth for Ole Miss this season. In February, TCU escaped with a 4-3 victory over the Rebels.
“Getting the No. 1 seed, it’s really a reflection of all the hard work that these guys have put in this season,” head coach David Roditi said. “It shows that it’s been a great season. They did a great job in the indoor season, winning Indoor Nationals and then taking care of business in the Big 12. So many teams could have been No. 1, it just means that results-wise, we did a really good job, but that’s all it means. Once we start playing, the seeds are all out the window. But it’s nice to say we get to be a No. 1 seed and get to play at home, hopefully, three times. That should be a really special experience for all of us.”
TCU Men's Tennis team is the overall number one seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
This marks the seventh straight season (not counting 2020) that TCU has reached the postseason. It’s the second-longest streak in program history. The longest was a 16-year run from 1991-2006. TCU enters the postseason, having won the Indoor National Championship in February, having swept the Big 12 regular season to win their fifth Big 12 regular-season championship in the last completed six seasons, and having only four losses in the entire season. The 22 regular-season wins ties a program high set in 2016.
Postseason Dates
The Fort Worth Regional is one of 16 regionals that will be played this weekend. Winners of each regional will advance to a Super Regional either on May 13 or 14. As the No. 1 overall seed, TCU will host the Super Regional if it advances out of the Fort Worth Regional.
That Super Regional will feature the winner from the Raleigh Regional, which includes NC State (18-9), Liberty (13-10), UNCW (15-8), and Middle Tennessee State (27-4).
Winners of the eight Super Regionals will advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals in Champaign, Illinois, on May 19. The semifinals will be held in Champaign on May 21, with the NCAA Championship set for May 22.
Familiar Teams in the Bracket
In addition to Ole Miss, who TCU could face in the Fort Worth Regional, several other regular-season opponents made the postseason tournament, setting up potential rematches throughout the tournament. This includes four other schools from the Big 12. The only Big 12 team not to qualify was Oklahoma State. Here are the teams that TCU played this year that are in the tournament:
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.
- Oklahoma (14-10) – TCU is 2-0 this season over OU, including in the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament. A potential rematch with TCU would be in the semifinals.
- Texas (16-10) – The overall No. 12 seed. This season, TCU is 2-0 over Texas, including a crucial win in the Indoor Nationals quarterfinals. A potential rematch with Texas would be in the semifinals.
- Texas Tech (14-11) – TCU won the regular-season match 6-1 in April. A potential rematch with Tech would be in the quarterfinals.
Nonconference Teams
- Abilene Christian (12-11) – TCU won the match in Fort Worth in January. A potential rematch would come in the finals.
- 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.
- Ole Miss (16-12) – TCU beat the Rebels in February in Fort Worth and could face them again in the Fort Worth Regional Championship.
- SMU (22-6) – TCU won the match in Dallas in March. A 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.
- Tulsa (15-11) - TCU won the match in Fort Worth in January. A potential rematch would come 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.
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