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Frogs
try to overcome losses The members of the TCU men’s tennis team hoped to gain some momentum going into their revenge-match against Southern Methodist by performing well on their weekend road trip. Although the team succeeded in their performance, they could not add to their win total. Over the weekend, the Frogs dropped consecutive matches for the second time this season and saw their record fall to 9-8.
With the two losses over the weekend, the Frog netters have dropped six out of seven matches against teams ranked in the top 25 in the Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings poll. The Frogs’ only victory against a top-25 team came on Feb. 2 against Alabama. However, head coach Joey Rive saw performances that encouraged him for the season’s stretch run. “Both teams we went up against played well this weekend,” Rive said. “We’ve made some great strides and the matches were closer than the score indicated.” On Saturday, the No. 25-ranked Frogs fell to No. 13-ranked Duke, 4-0. The Blue Devils’ record improved to 10-9 with the win. The Frogs could only pick up one victory on the day, as the team of Toni Gordon and Jacob Martin defeated the Blue Devils’ Jason Zimmerman and Alex Bose, 8-6. Gordon, ranked 42nd in the nation, fell to Duke’s Michael Yani, ranked No. 58 in the nation, 6-3, 6-4. The Frogs’ other ranked player, freshman Fabrizio Sestini was defeated by No. 11-ranked Phillip King in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1. On Sunday, the Frogs traveled to Richmond, Va. to take on No. 16-ranked Virginia Commonwealth. However, the Rams sent the Frogs home with a 5-0 loss to improve their record to 17-3. “Virginia Commonwealth played exceptionally well,” Rive said. “It’s hard to play them at their place and come out with a victory.” The Rams captured all three doubles matches to jump out to a 1-0 lead. The No. 9-ranked team of Florian Marquardt and Pedro Nieto defeated Sestini and freshman Daniel Scholten, 8-6. From there, the Rams went on to win four consecutive matches before the match was suspended. At the time the match was called off, sophomore Alex Menichini was the only Horned Frog to have won a set against the Rams. Due to their return time from the East Coast, the Frogs have only one day to prepare for their match against No. 41 SMU on Wednesday. The Mustangs defeated the Frogs 4-3 in the Frogs’ season opener on Jan. 30. The Mustangs fell in their last match against No. 8 Notre Dame, 6-0, dropping their record to 13-12 on the spring season. However, Rive knows that the records don’t matter in this rivalry. “We just need to go out there and be ready,” Rive said. “We’ll have to focus and play good tennis.” Quinten
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TCU Daily Skiff © 2002 |
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