Slow Singles Start Hurts TCU Against Santa Clara Sunday
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FORT WORTH, Texas – The TCU men’s tennis team could not recover after dropping the first set in all six singles matches against Santa Clara Sunday, dropping a 4-3 decision after nearly six hours of action. Five of the six singles matches were pushed into a third set.
“First of all, I want to say a big thank you to all of the fans that came out to support our guys this weekend,” TCU head coach David Roditi said. “It was a long weekend and it was nice to have the energy for our team. I’m proud of the way our guys fought, but we still aren’t seeing the production out of some key players. When you have a young team like we do, you have to have be able to get solid play throughout the lineup everyday. We need to have a strong week of practice this week, because the attention to detail is what cost us this weekend, because the margin of victory and defeat was slim.”
TCU (2-5) got off to a great start in doubles, picking up a pair of wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions and clinch the doubles point. For the second straight day, senior Daniel Sanchez and sophomore Max Stevens got it started with an 8-6 victory at the bottom court over the Broncos’ team of Eugene Muchynski and Tom Pham. The Frogs’ top tandem of seniors Paul Chappell and JT Sundling clinched the early 1-0 advantage with an 8-6 win over John Lamble and Ilya Osintev.
The Frogs had to persevere after stumbling out of the gates to begin singles play, pushing all four matches in action to a third set after dropping the first frame. Sundling kept the ball rolling for TCU, climbing back into his match to earn a 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 win over Lamble at the No. 2 position.
SCU battled back to even the team tally at 2-2 with wins at No. 3 and No. 4, but freshman Nick Chappell regained the lead with a 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 win at the top position against Kyle Dandan. The newcomer from Indianapolis garnered three of the final four points in the tiebreaker set.
Once the courts opened up for the fifth and sixth singles matches to begin, TCU fell in the first set in both. Paul Chappell dropped his opening frame and couldn’t recover, falling at the No. 5 court to Osintev, 6-4, 6-1.
All eyes then focused on the final court at the sixth position, it was down to TCU freshman Will Stein and SCU’s Muchynski. After dropping the opening set, the newcomer from Argyle, Texas bounced back quickly to push the match into a third and final frame. In the end, Stein couldn’t hold his serve and lost the match, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
The Frogs will resume the homestand next weekend, hosting Wichita State (Feb. 18) at the Friedman Tennis Center. First serve is set for 1 p.m.
