Brighiu, Simon Open NCAA Doubles Play Thursday
5/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
May 19, 2009
NCAA Doubles Championships Bracket 
FORT WORTH--The TCU doubles team of junior Adrian Simon and sophomore Emanuel Brighiu will open its run at the 2009 NCAA Men's Individual Tennis Championships Thursday at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas. The NCAA announced Tuesday morning that the Horned Frog pairing will square off against USC's tandem of Robert Farah and Steve Johnson to begin competition in the Round of 32.
The NCAA Individual Championships will feature at least one Frog entry for the 30th time in the last 34 years. This is the second straight season a TCU doubles team will be among the national field, as Kriegler Brink and former Frog Cosmin Cotet fell in a three-set dual last season to Miami's (Fla.) Sundberg/Vallverdu in first-round action.
Brighiu and Simon, the lone TCU men still alive in competition this season, earned the Mountain West Conference's automatic selection for the NCAA doubles field after posting a 19-11 overall record in 2008-09, including a 3-3 mark against nationally ranked opponents. They were rated No. 31 in the most recent release of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's (ITA) national rankings.
The Frog pairing helped give TCU a decided advantage throughout the spring in doubles play, as TCU was able to take the doubles point in 14 of 22 opportunities this season. Overall, TCU had two of its doubles teams selected All-Mountain West Conference in Brighiu/Simon and senior Kriegler Brink/freshman Slah Mbarek.
Farah and Johnson, ranked No. 4 nationally by the ITA, enter the NCAA Doubles Championships among those duos seeded Nos. 5-8. The squad helped the Trojans reach the final match of the NCAA team championships Monday during the squad's semifinal-round victory over Texas. Its win over the Longhorns' top pairing of Ed Corrie/Kellen Damico moved its season record to 33-10, including 19-6 in dual-match play.
In addition to their positions in the national doubles field, both Trojans also will compete in the NCAA Singles Championships, which begin Wednesday. Farah is the No. 8 national seed in the bracket.
Fans looking to follow the action at the NCAA Championships will be able to find live results and video at Texas A&M's official athletics web site, AggieAthletics.com.
Players Mentioned
