TCU men’s tennis extended its win streak to four games Sunday with a 6-1 victory over No. 40 South Florida.
The Horned Frogs dropped the doubles point but came back with wins on all singles courts to clinch the match.
“I’m proud of our guys for bouncing back after a tough doubles point,” head coach David Roditi said.
All three doubles matches were tied at 5-5 at one point, but USF won a tie break on one and secured the doubles point on court two with a 7-5 win.
The only doubles win came from Luc Fomba and Bertus Kruger at the No. 3 position after defeating their opponent 7-6(2). The pair now holds the team best doubles record of 8-1.
After losing the doubles point, the Horned Frogs swept all six singles matches. Two of the matches were decided outdoors before rain forced the remaining four matches to be played indoors.
“Our guys handled the delay well,” Roditi said. “Once we went indoors, we won all four matches.”
Jacob Fearnley improved his record to 4-2 with a win over USF’s Ivan Yatsuk 6-3, 6-3.
Playing the No. 5 position, Sander Jong defeated his opponent 6-4, 6-1, earning his fifth straight singles win of the season.
The remaining three matches occurred indoors.
No. 50 Gray was trailing 5-7, 3-2 before play was paused due to rain. Once play resumed, Gray won the second set 6-3 and fought hard in the third set to defeat his opponent 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.
The win is Gray’s fourth of the season at the No. 1 position.
The match was clinched by Kruger for the second time this weekend. After dropping the second set after moving inside, Kruger came back in the third and defeated his opponent 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-2.
Play continued after TCU clinched the match.
At the No. 2 position, Fomba took the first set in a tie break. After dropping the second set, he went to a third set. He came back in the third set and won 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-4.
Fomba improves to a 6-2 record on the year and 3-2 at the No. 2 position.
The final win came from Tadeas Paroulek at the No. 3 position. Prior to moving to the indoor courts, Paroulek was tied 1-1 in the second set after dropping the first. Paroulek used a late break to win the second set and powered through the third to win 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-1.
“We were ready to battle today, and I’m proud of our guys for responding,” Roditi said. “We’ll continue to get better. But I’m proud of the way we fought.”
The Horned Frogs will prepare this week for another weekend of tough tennis. TCU will play No. 20 Ole Miss at 5:30 p.m. on Friday and then take on No. 8 Stanford at 2 p.m on Sunday, March 1.
