TCU Daily Skiff Thursday, April 15, 2004
Frog Fountain
Skiff page design
High hopes of NCAA bid for No. 1-seeded Frogs

By Mary Hollis
Skiff Staff


The regular season is over and the TCU men’s tennis team will enter the Conference USA tournament as the No. 1 seed.

The 12th-ranked squad finished their season at 14-5 and hopes to win the conference this weekend and come home with a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Frogs have been looking forward to the tournament all year, said assistant coach Cory Hubbard. He said this was a good season for the team and that they have worked hard and deserve the No.1 seed.

“It’s the post season and this is why we get up early and do conditioning and these guys are really looking forward to this,” Hubbard said. “We are going there basically just to lay it on the line.”

Hubbard said the recent win over Virginia, a top 12 team, gave confidence to the Frogs to go on the road and play well. Hubbard said the team will be facing other very good teams this weekend and they will need a strong and quick start to stay ahead.

“This is what is great about being a team sport; we can try to accomplish these goals together,” said Hubbard. “If we focus on the little things, just being ready to play and competing hard and going after it and playing with confidence, I think that the results and the outcome will take care of itself.”

Senior Alex Menichini said because this is his last season he wants to keep it going by winning C-USA and advancing to the NCAA Tournament. Menichini said it is very important for the players to get off to a good start in the matches because they only play to four games.

“We have to trust everybody and that everybody is going to bring their game. I know the rest of the guys on the team are really good players and can play a great game,” Menichini said.

Junior Fabrizio Sestini said the team knows what their strengths are and they do not really need to focus on rankings.

“The only thing that matters is just whenever we go down in the court is just to give our best, knowing what we are capable of, and I think we probably are going to have success,” Sestini said.

Sestini said the team cannot rely on their seed and must go in ready to play with a lot of intensity and hunger to win. He said this season has been one of consistency and teamwork, which will work to their advantage for the tournament.

“One of our very big strengths in this team is we are really, really united and we always help each other; we lose and we win as a team,” Sestini said.

The University of Memphis will be hosting the C-USA Championship. The Frogs play the winner of Charlotte-Southern Miss. in the quarterfinals at 9 a.m. Friday.
 
 
credits
TCU Daily Skiff ©2004
news campus opinion sports features search awards skiff home advertising jobs back issues skiffTV image magazine converging news contact

Accessibility