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Frogs
fall to Aggies in close match At one point during the men’s tennis match Wednesday at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center against Texas A&M, a fan remarked, “Well, they may win this match, but they still have to go back to College Station.” At the end of the day, the No.10-ranked Aggies returned to College Station winners, although the outcome was closer than they expected.
The TCU netters came back from a 3-0 deficit to tie the match before the Aggies claimed victory in a dogfight, 4-3. The No. 24-ranked Frogs fell to 8-6 on the season, while the Aggies saw their record improve to 14-2. “A match like this is important for our younger players,” head coach Joey Rive said. “They haven’t witnessed a rivalry such as this one, so the more we play tough matches, the stronger the team will be.” The Frogs started the match in an unfortunately familiar way. They lost all three doubles matches and went into the singles matches down 1-0. “We’ve found ourselves in this situation all year,” Rive said. “Unfortunately, it seems like we’re used to it. But the guys stuck it out and played with desire throughout the match.” The Aggies then went on to claim victory at No. 3 and 4 singles. Sophomore Alex Menichini, ranked No. 99 in the nation, saw his seven-match winning streak come to an end as he fell to No. 104-ranked Lester Cook, 6-3, 6-3. However, the Frogs roared back to tie the match. Junior Toni Gordon, ranked No. 44, defeated No. 36-ranked Ryan Newport, 6-3, 6-4, and freshman Daniel Scholten defeated No. 88 Jarin Skube 6-4, 1-6, 6-2. Senior Daniel Wajnberg picked up a win over Kahlid El Dorry after El Dorry injured himself during the match. Although he tried to continue the match, El Dorry was unable to run on his injured leg and was forced to retire. The day’s final match was between freshman Fabrizio Sestini, ranked No. 70 in the nation, and A&M’s Keith From. Sestini, down one set to none, won the second set in a tiebreak. However, Sestini was unable to finish the comeback and fell to From 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3. “This was a big-time situation for Fabrizio,” Rive said. “He’s going to learn a lot from this match and will come back stronger.” On Saturday, the Frogs take on No. 39 Rice. The match takes place at 2:30 p.m. at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center. Rive admitted that his team has a few things to work on before Saturday. “We need to try to get better in doubles,” Rive said. “We play with heart and desire in every match, but we need to get stronger in doubles. Also, we're going to do some conditioning work to make sure that we can play our strongest in the end of the season. We just have to make the most out of every situation we face.” Quinten
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TCU Daily Skiff © 2002 |
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