Frogs rally to claim 5-1 win
Slow start against California doesn’t deter men’s tennis

By Rusty Simmons
Editor in Chief

Down 5-3 in the second set Tuesday, senior Esteban Carril felt his opponent, California’s John Paul Fruttero, cheated by calling a serve long.

Carril questioned the call, and then, instigated by the alleged cheating, rallied to defeat Fruttero and lead the Frogs to a 5-1 victory against the Golden Bears.

Photo by David Dunai - Senior Photographer Sophomore Antonio Gordon makes a backhand return Tuesday in his straight-set victory against California’s Scott Kintz. TCU won the match 5-1 and moved to 12-2 on the season. The Frogs are currently ranked No. 2 in the nation, and they play seven of their last eight matches at home.

The need to be instigated into playing at the top of their games is something all the players from the nation’s No. 2-ranked Frogs have struggled with this season.

“When you’re No. 2 in the nation, every team is gunning for you,” senior Michael Leonard said. “Beating a team like California (No. 30) doesn’t help our ranking much, so it’s hard to get up to play against them.”

TCU’s slow start was most obvious in doubles play, where it lost all three matches before winning five singles matches from the Bears.

Head coach Joey Rive said the team has had a penchant to start slowly in all of its spring matches.

“I think we do have a tendency to play in a scenario as if we have everything to lose,” he said. “We’ve got to play like it’s our first time out here. We have to play for fun and to win.”

Rive said the team’s inclination to come from behind to win doesn’t bother him.

“Against Tulane and today, we were able to come from behind and win,” he said. “Once these players get a taste of the competition during doubles play, they can usually turn it on and come back.”

Rive said sometimes the team will huddle between the doubles and singles portions of a match to motivate each other to play harder.

But senior Scott Eddins said the players don’t need much of a reminder to play hard.

“Since our freshman year, we’ve wanted to be in a situation to compete for the national championship,” he said. “We have a lot of guys who have been here for four years, so we could say, ‘Let’s get this over with and go home.’ But the whole reason we put ourselves through all this is to win a national championship.”

Carril said he doesn’t think the TCU players are consciously trying not to put themselves in situations to have to come from behind in matches. He said the high level of the Frogs’ opponents makes all the matches difficult.

“I would beat my opponent in 10 minutes if I could, but these guys are good,” he said.

Rusty Simmons
j.r.simmons@student.tcu.edu