TCU Tennis Loses To Pepperdine

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FORT WORTH – TCU’s men’s tennis team claimed the doubles point, but was unable to muster momentum early in singles and dropped a 5-2 decision to No. 12 Pepperdine on Tuesday the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.

The No. 51-ranked Horned Frogs slipped to 7-4 on the year, while Pepperdine improved to 7-2. The Waves were the fifth top-20 opponent on TCU’s schedule thus far this season. The Frogs are 1-4 against those foes.

“Obviously, the high point was the doubles,” TCU coach David Roditi said. “I was proud that on five of the six courts we were able to get back into the matches in the second set. Pepperdine was a Final Four team last year for a reason. I thought the level of tennis was very high.”

TCU got the match going in the right direction from the start, claiming the doubles point for a 1-0 lead. Sophomores Nick Chappell and Will Stein picked up their biggest win of the season, dropping 27th-ranked Francis Alcantara and Finn Tearney, 8-5.

Max Stevens and JT Sundling followed with an 8-4 win over Sebastian Fanselow and Alex Sarkissian at No. 2 doubles to clinch the point for the Frogs. Arnau Dachs and Orlando Superlano were leading at No. 3 doubles when their match was stopped.

As singles began, the 12th-ranked Waves grabbed the momentum from TCU, winning first sets on all six of the courts. The Frogs made things interesting on courts two through six, but were unable to get over the hump as Pepperdine got wins at Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 singles to clinch the match.

Sundling added TCU’s second point as he battled back from dropping the first set to knock off David Sofaer, 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 at No. 6 singles. The Thousand Oaks, Calif., native improved to 5-3 on the year.

TCU returns to action March 1 when it welcomes SMU to the Friedman Tennis Center. First serve is set for 5:30 p.m.