Men’s tennis splits ITA Kick-Off Weekend

By Ben Auten

Published Jan 30, 2018

ITA Kick off Championship matches at the TCU tennis center in Fort Worth, Texas on January 28, 2018. Courtesy of gofrogs.com

TCU split a pair of matches over the weekend in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center in Fort Worth, Texas.

The No. 10 Horned Frogs opened the weekend with a loss to the San Diego Toreros, 4-3.

TCU began with a hot start as No. 31 Alex Rybakov and Trevor Johnson both picked up wins in their singles matches, and the Frogs jumped out to a 3-1 lead. But the Toreros won each of the final three singles matches to knock off No. 10 TCU.

TCU vs San Diego men’s tennis at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center in Fort Worth, Texas on Jan. 27, 2018. Courtesy of gofrogs.com

The Frogs forced those three matches to a decisive third set, but could not finish.

Head Coach David Roditi expressed his frustration with the way the Frogs closed the match but credited San Diego for their resilience and ability to come back in the match.

“[San Diego] played very well down the stretch and handled the situation better than we did,” Roditi said.

San Diego advanced to the championship game and took on No. 24 Duke while TCU played Louisville in the consolation match.

The Frogs bounced back from the San Diego loss with a commanding 4-0 win over Louisville on Sunday.

Reese Stalder and Bertus Kruger improved to a perfect 4-0 in doubles matches this season with a 6-4 win and got the Frogs off to a great start against the Cardinals.

Stalder and Kruger also won their singles matches in straight sets. Senior Guillermo Nuñez secured the victory with his second individual win of the weekend to propel TCU (3-1) to a win over Louisville (3-2) in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend consolation match.

Coach Roditi praised his team’s response to a frustrating loss against the Toreros and credited a few guys in particular who gave the Frogs a much-needed boost on Sunday.

“I was very proud to see the guys who had struggled the day before in singles to bounce back and get two points for the Frogs today,” Roditi said. “We had two players step up with Max Kurzban in doubles and Eduardo Roldan in singles and they both did really well. Now we get to regroup, get a little healthier and then we have a week to get ready to go to a very tough match at North Carolina.”

Up Next:

The No. 10 Horned Frogs will take on the No. 3 Tar Heels at 5 p.m. Feb. 6 at the University of North Carolina.