Baylor Puts TCU Tennis Out Of Big 12 Tournament
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NORMAN, Okla.—TCU saw its run at the 2013 Big 12 Men’s Tennis Championship come to an end in the semifinals Saturday following a 4-1 setback to top-seeded Baylor at OU’s Headington Family Tennis Center.
The loss dropped the Horned Frogs’ season record to 18-9 overall. Baylor, which improved to 20-4, advanced to Sunday’s 1 p.m. tournament final against No. 2 seed Oklahoma.
TCU, the bracket’s No. 4 seed, reached the semifinals with a 4-2 first-round victory Friday over fifth-seeded Texas Tech. BU, which had a first-round bye, proved to be ready for the Frogs, claiming the doubles point before winning three of the four completed singles matches to advance.
TCU’s top doubles tandem of sophomores Nick Chappell and Will Stein, the nation’s 52nd-ranked duo, continued its strong recent play with its fourth consecutive win, an 8-5 decision against BU’s Mate Zsiga/Diego Galeano. The win marked the second this spring for the Frog pairing over Baylor’s 76th-rated pairing.
Despite the strong effort by Chappell and Stein, the Bears responded by claiming the doubles point with 8-5 wins in the other two matches, one from Patrick Pradella/Roberto Maytin at
No. 2 over J.T. Sundling/Max Stevens and the other at No. 3 by Marko Krickovic/Julian Lenz over Arnau Dachs/Orlando Superlano.
Sundling provided TCU’s lone team point of the afternoon with a win in straight sets at No. 6 singles over Roberto Maytin (6-4, 6-3). Sundling’s performance snapped a personal four-match skid in singles.
Baylor’s three singles victories came at the Nos. 1, 3 and 5 positions. No. 30 Pradella downed the 104th-rated Chappell at the No. 1 spot (6-2, 6-4), and Galeano topped junior Rodolfo Bustamante (7-5, 6-2) at No. 5 before No. 51 Julian Lenz closed out the match at No. 3 with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Dachs.
Two singles matches went unfinished after Baylor had clinched the team victory. TCU sophomore Facundo Lugones was all-even at the time with No. 90 Tony Lupieri at No. 4 (4-6, 6-4, 1-1), while Superlano trailed in the second set at the No. 2 position to the 77th-rated Zsiga (7-5, 3-1).
TCU now awaits word of a possible at-large bid to the NCAA Championship First and Second Rounds, which will be held May 10 through 12 at selected campus sites. The Frogs find out if they will make their first tournament appearance since 2010 during the NCAA Men’s Tennis Selection Show, which will be broadcast live online at NCAA.com on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
