TCU to Begin Individual Championships
5/22/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
FORT WORTH, Texas – Postseason action for three members of the TCU men's tennis team will begin on Wednesday, May 23 as Alex Rybakov and Trevor Johnson will compete in the NCAA Division I Men's Singles Championship while Rybakov and Guillermo Nuñez will take part in the NCAA Division I Men's Doubles Championship at the Wake Forrest Tennis Complex in Winston-Salem, N.C.
No. 65 Johnson will begin action for the Horned Frogs against No. 31 Daniel Valent of Vanderbilt on Wednesday at 11:30 p.m., CT, while No. 21 Rybakov will take on No. 40 Gabriel Friedrich of South Carolina at 2 p.m., CT. The No. 6 pair of Rybakov and Nuñez won't begin action until Thursday, May 24 as the duo will face the No. 36 ranked pair of McClain Kessler and Duarte Vale of Florida.
The captain for the 2018 season, Rybakov has been the top performer in singles and doubles for TCU to help lead the team to its third straight Big 12 regular season title. The junior has posted an 18-5 overall mark this season in singles while also defeating 11 ranked opponents. Johnson, who currently sits at No. 65 in the Oracle/ITA singles poll, entered the Oracle/ITA rankings in singles for the first time in his career the first week of February and has not left and reached a career-high ranking of No. 47. The Las Vegas, Nev., native is currently has 16 wins on the season and seven over ranked foes.
In doubles, Rybakov and Nuñez earned a top 8 seed in the tournament and automatic All-America honors. The duo are 14-3 on the season with an 8-1 mark against ranked opponents. The pair have competed solely at the top two positions with an 11-2 record at the top position and a 3-1 mark at the No. 2 spot. Rybakov and Nuñez have won 13 of the last 14 matches played and earned a spot on the All-Big 12 Doubles First Team after going 4-0.
TCU finished out the team portion of the 2017-18 season on Friday as the Frogs advanced to the Sweet 16 for the fourth straight season and 17th time in program history.
