TCU Exits in Big 12 Semifinals

Sunday, April 25

Waco, Texas

4 PM

TCU

Baylor

TCU Exits in Big 12 Semifinals

4/25/2021 9:12:00 PM | Men's Tennis

A valiant effort yields the wrong result as TCU falls to Baylor, 4-3

WACO, Texas – No. 7 TCU men's tennis (16-7, 4-1) found themselves on the wrong side of a 4-3 result against No. 3 Baylor in the Big 12 semifinals at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco. TCU won the doubles point and battled through nearly three hours of singles competition before ultimately falling short in a marathon match.

The Horned Frogs became just the fifth team this season to win the doubles point against Baylor, with wins from No. 1 (Alastair Gray and Luc Fomba) and No. 3 (Jake Fearnley and Bertus Kruger).

In singles, Luc Fomba recorded the greatest victory of his career, taking down No. 8 Matias Soto in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5, and Sander Jong came through with another clinical performance in three-sets on three. Tadeas Paroulek was the last match on court, showing his determination and skill by coming back from a 2-5 deficit in the third, only to suffer from cramps and fall in three sets: 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

"Obviously, it's disappointing when you lose, 7-5, in the last match on court, on the road, to a Top 3 team in the country," head coach David Roditi said "Our guys fought. They competed and almost got another huge win at Baylor this year. I thought we played some of our better doubles matches of the year which is good sign. They did a good job getting a quick point to make it one all. We had some courts where we weren't able to get into the match. We'll look at that and see how that happened and how we can get better. But I have no complaints about our competitiveness. We left it all on the court. We just have to get a little bit better. We knew if it came down to one of those matches where they have one of their 5^th year seniors against one of our freshmen, it would be difficult. So, credit to them. Thank you to our fans for coming out and supporting us. It was a great college match. Good luck to Texas and Baylor competing for the title tomorrow. Now we are going to get ready for nationals. Go Frogs!"

The Frogs will return to Fort Worth and await their fate in the NCAA Tournament selection show. The show is scheduled for May 3.

QUICK HITS

The Horned Frogs won the doubles point for the 15^th time this season, using wins from No. 1 and No. 3.
Fearnley and Kruger secured their fourth win together as a doubles team, getting an early break to go in front, 3-1. Then polishing off the set with their second break to win going away, 6-2.
They improve to 4-3 as a pairing and 2-1 at the No. 3 slot.
Fearnley is now 10-5 in doubles play and Kruger improves to 6-6 this season.
Gray and Fomba clinched the doubles point, using an early break to go in front 3-1 and hold on for a 6-4 victory.
They improve to 13-6 together this season, including wins in five of their last six completed matches.
TCU is now 35-21 in doubles matches this season after winning four of five this weekend.
Fomba delivered his first Top-10 victory as a Horned Frog with a straight set victory on court two over No. 8 Soto.
He improves to 12-6 in singles play this season and 7-3 at the No. 2 spot.
He is 5-5 against ranked opponents, the most ranked wins in a single season in his career.
Jong posted what would become the final win of the day at No. 3, winning a three-set battle: 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
It was his 10th dual victory of the season. Jong has now recorded double-digit dual wins in all three of his seasons in Fort Worth.
This was his sixth three-set victory of the season. He is now 6-5 in three-setters this season.
TCU is now 65-45 in singles matches this dual season.

Doubles Results
1. #7 Luc Fomba/Alastair Gray (TCU) def. #12 Constantin Frantzen/Sven Lah (BU) 6-4
2. #67 Matias Soto/Nick Stachowiak (BU) vs. Sander Jong/Tomas Jirousek (TCU) 4-5, unfinished
3. Jake Fearnley/Bertus Kruger (TCU) def. Charlie Broom/Finn Bass (BU) 6-2
Order of Finish: 3, 1

Singles Results
1. #41 Adrian Boitan (BU) def. #12 Alastair Gray (TCU) 6-4, 6-4
2. #19 Luc Fomba (TCU) def. #8 Matias Soto (BU) 6-4, 7-5
3. #75 Sander Jong (TCU) def. Nick Stachowiak (BU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
4. Sven Lah (BU) def. #105 Jake Fearnley (TCU) 6-1, 6-2
5. Charlie Broom (BU) def. #100 Tomas Jirousek (TCU) 6-3, 6-3
6. Spencer Furman (BU) def. Tadeas Paroulek (TCU) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
Order of Finish: 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 5

For more information on TCU men's tennis, visit gofrogs.com and follow the team on social media: @TCUMensTennis on twitter, Facebook and the all new men's tennis Instagram.