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TCU
No. 10 TCU edges No. 20 Men's Tennis, 4-2
04.07.2018 | Men's Tennis
Longhorns garner singles wins from juniors Adrian Ortiz and Leonardo Telles in conference opener.
AUSTIN, Texas – No. 20 Texas registered singles wins from juniors Leonardo Telles and Adrian Ortiz, but No. 10 TCU (14-3, 1-0 Big 12) held off the 20th-ranked Longhorns (12-5, 0-1 Big 12) by a 4-2 count Saturday at Weller Tennis Center on the grounds of UT Golf Club.
The opening doubles session featured strong pairings at all three positions on both sides. At third doubles, UT sophomore Yuya Ito and junior Colin Markes held for 5-4 before Markes smacked a backhand winner on match point to close out a 6-4 win over TCU's Bertus Kruger and Reese Stalder.
TCU answered at first doubles as the eighth-ranked tandem of Guillermo Nunez and Alex Rybakov posted a 6-2 victory over UT's sixth-ranked duo of junior Rodrigo Banzer and Telles.
The deciding match of doubles came down to the second position. UT's Ortiz fought off a match point with a big first serve to send he and Christian Sigsgaard to a tiebreaker against TCU's Alastair Gray and Trevor Johnson. The tiebreaker knotted at three before the Horned Frogs took the final four points to close out a tiebreak win and claim the doubles point.
TCU extended its lead to 2-0 behind the 14th-ranked Rybakov's 6-4, 6-3 victory over UT's 58th-ranked Ito at first singles. The Horned Frogs took a 3-0 lead behind Stalder's 6-4, 6-4 win over UT's Banzer at fifth singles.
Texas fought its way into the match with its wins from Ortiz and Telles. Ortiz took the first set off of TCU's Kruger at sixth singles, 6-4. Kruger took a 4-1 lead in the second set, but Ortiz ran the table and closed out the second set 6-1 to pull Texas within 3-1.
UT's Telles dropped the first set to TCU's Gray at fourth singles, 6-3. Telles and Gray were knotted at three in the second set before Telles pulled away to claim the set, 6-4. Telles broke Gray's serve for 2-all in the third set and swept the ensuing four games to close out a three-set win and keep the Horns in the match.
At third singles, UT's Scott took the first set from TCU's Nunez in a tiebreaker, 7-4. Nunez swept the second set to prolong the match. Scott held serve for a 5-3 third-set lead, but Nunez held serve and broke Scott for 5-all. Both players held serve to push the set to another tiebreaker. Scott saved a pair of match points, but Nunez converted the third match point to close out the 4-2 victory for the Horned Frogs.
The match at second singles was suspended following Nunez's victory. Texas' Sigsgaard took the first set from TCU's 53rd-ranked Johnson, 6-2. Johnson stayed in the match by winning a second-set tiebreaker, 9-7. Sigsgaard trailed 5-3 in the final set before holding serve and breaking Johnson at 5-all, but the match was called off after Nunez's match clincher.
"This was a great college tennis match," said UT head coach Michael Center. "We had opportunities in the doubles and came up a little short. I thought we fought back in the singles. We put ourselves in a position to win, we really did. We served for two matches that we weren't able to finish. TCU's got a great team. I'm walking out of here feeling really proud of the guys and proud of their effort. If we can just keep building on what we did today, we're going to be just fine."
Texas remains in Austin next weekend to host Oklahoma State and Oklahoma. The Horns meet the Cowboys on Friday (April 13) at 4 p.m. with live coverage on Longhorn Network. Next Sunday's match against Oklahoma (April 15) will begin 30 minutes upon conclusion of the 1:30 p.m. Texas women's match. All four Texas men's and women's matches next week will air live on Longhorn Network. Tyler Denning (play-by-play) and former Longhorn Jon Wiegand (color analyst) will have the call.
No. 10 TCU 4, No. 20 Texas 2
Doubles – Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2
1 No. 8 Guillermo Nuñez/Alex Rybakov (TCU) def. No. 6 Rodrigo Banzer/Leonardo Telles (UT), 6-2
2 Alastair Gray/Trevor Johnson (TCU) def. Adrian Ortiz/Christian Sigsgaard (UT), 7-6 (3)
3 Yuya Ito/Colin Markes (UT) def. No. 47 Bertus Kruger/Reese Stalder (TCU), 6-4
Singles – Order of Finish: 1, 5, 6, 4, 3
1 No. 14 Alex Rybakov (TCU) def. No. 58 Yuya Ito (UT), 6-4, 6-3
2 Christian Sigsgaard (UT) vs. No. 53 Trevor Johnson (TCU), 6-2, 6-7 (7), 5-5, suspended
3 No. 74 Guillermo Nuñez (TCU) def. No. 80 Harrison Scott (UT), 6-7 (4), 6-0, 7-6 (4)
4 No. 106 Leonardo Telles (UT) def. No. 36 Alastair Gray (TCU), 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
5 Reese Stalder (TCU) def. No. 117 Rodrigo Banzer (UT), 6-4, 6-4
6 Adrian Ortiz (UT) def. Bertus Kruger (TCU), 6-4, 6-4
Players Mentioned
