The No. 11 TCU men’s tennis team lost its third-straight match Sunday, falling 6-0 to No. 1 North Carolina.
The No. 34 ranked pairing of Alastair Gray and Jacob Fearnley clinched their third victory of the season in doubles, defeating William Blumberg and Brian Cernoch, 6-4. The duo is now 3-1 on the season heading into the ITA Indoor National Championships next weekend.
The duo of Luc Fomba and Burtus Kruger fell to the Tar Heels 6-3 against Rinky Hijikata and Benjamin Sigouin at the No. 3 position.
After splitting the first two games, attention was directed to court three, where No. 2 Sander Jong and Tadeas Paroulek were engaged in a competitive match against the No. 3 nationally ranked pairing of Mac Kiger and Simon Soendergaard.
After falling behind 1-4, Jong and Paroulek won five of the next six games to take the lead. North Carolina held their serve to force a tie break, where they beat the Frogs 7-6(3), giving UNC the doubles point.
TCU got off to a strong start in singles play, but UNC slowly came back to secure the victory.
No. 55 nationally-ranked Gray fell in straight sets to UNC’s William Blumberg, losing 6-1, 7-5. Kruger also fell in straight sets at the No. 4 position, losing 6-4, 6-4.
At the No. 2 position, Fomba took on the No. 60 ranked Benjamin Sigouin and put up a strong fight taking his first set to a tiebreak but ultimately ended up losing the tie break and fell in straight sets, 7-6, 6-3.
Freshman Tomas Jirousek took on the No. 80 nationally ranked singles player and claimed a set against him before falling in three, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. No. 122 nationally-ranked Paroulek took his opponent to a third set but retired only three games in, losing 4-6, 6-2, 2-1.
Sander Jong began his match at the No. 6 position and was tied 5-5 before match play was suspended.
UNC clinched the win at 4-0 after Kruger lost at the No. 4 position, but play continued until 4:30 p.m., giving UNC the 6-0 victory.
Head coach David Roditi declined to comment following the match.
Up next, the Horned Frogs head to Madison, Wisconsin, for the ITA Indoor National Championships, which take place Feb. 14-17.
