TCU Tennis Tops Texas Tech
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FORT WORTH — No. 37 TCU sent its seniors out the right way Friday, evening its conference record with a 4-3 victory over No. 46 Texas Tech in front of 965 fans on Senior Night at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.
The victory squared up the Horned Frogs’ Big 12 record at 2-2 while moving their overall mark to 17-7. Tech dropped to 15-9 overall and 1-3 in league play. TCU snapped a four-match skid against the Red Raiders dating back to the team’s last victory in 2008.
TCU staged a monumental comeback in doubles Friday, earning what would end up counting as the deciding point against the Red Raiders. Nick Chappell and Will Stein, the Frogs’ 63rd-ranked tandem, trailed by a 7-2 count at the No. 1 position against Jeff Bryan and Felipe Soares, while Orlando Superlano and Arnau Dachs were down 7-3 at No. 3 against Vitor Manzini and Francisco Zambon before both squads rallied. Chappell and Stein persevered for a 9-7 win before Superlano and Dachs staged a comeback of their own to clinch the doubles point with a 9-8 (4) win.
The Red Raiders’ duo of Hugo Dojas and Raphael Pfister posted a 9-7 decision against Max Stevens and J.T. Sundling at No. 2 doubles prior to TCU’s momentum-grabbing win at No. 3 doubles.
TCU and Tech split the three singles matches. Chappell, the nation’s 94th-ranked singles player, clinched the win for the Frogs at the top position with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Manzini. TCU received earlier singles victories from Superlano at No. 3 over Pfister (6-2, 6-1) and Facundo Lugones at No. 4 over Dojas (6-1, 7-6 [5]).
“Any win in the conference is big for us, and it’s been a while since we’ve beaten Texas Tech,” head coach David Roditi said. “I thought it was an amazing comeback in doubles for us. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that. We have to get off to a better start. We were very fortunate to be able to get that point, which turned out to be a match-changer for us.
“It was great to see Orlando have such a great performance in his last match. All season our seniors have been leading this team, and they did it again for us tonight.”
Friday’s match marked the final home appearance for TCU seniors Max Stevens, J.T. Sundling and Orlando Superlano. The three-man group was honored prior to the start of the match.
TCU concludes regular-season play Sunday at Baylor with a 6 p.m. match at the Baylor Tennis Center in Waco, Texas.
