TCU
C-USA Championships
Frogs Finish Fourth at C-USA Men's Tennis Championship
4/21/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 21, 2002
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- In a marathon match that lasted four hours and 45 minutes, the No. 1-seeded TCU Horned Frogs (11-11) were dropped 4-2 by the fifth-seeded championship host Louisville Cardinals (12-16) at the Conference USA Men's Tennis Championship at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center. With the loss, the Frogs finished fourth in the conference.
TCU lost the doubles point to begin the match, falling at No. 1 and No. 3. The Frogs managed a 9-7 victory at two thanks to the freshmen tandum of Fabrizio Sestini and Daniel Scholten as they defeated the Cardinals' Matt Mayer and Brent McCombe. The point was clinched at the top spot by Louisville's Cody Conley and Octavian Nicodim with their 9-8 triumph over freshman Jacob Martin and sophomore Alex Menichini.
Louisville pushed their lead to 2-0 when Mayer picked up a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Menichini at four singles. TCU responded when Gordon, ranked No. 64, defeated 110th-ranked Conley at one by a 6-3, 7-5 count. The Frogs tied the match when Scholten took a 6-2, 7-5 match from Alex Sivertsen at the five slot.
With the match tied at 2-2, all the remaining matches were pushed to a third and decisive final set. The Cardinals prevailed first at two singles when Paulo Carvalho upended Sestini 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, and then McCombe completed a 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 come-from-behind victory over freshman Willy Gali at the six spot to clinch the win for Louisville. The match between TCU senior Daniel Wajnberg and Octavian Nicodim was suspended in a third set tiebreaker.
TCU will now look for an at-large bid to the NCAA Men's Tennis Championships, which begin on May 11 with the NCAA Regionals, followed by the NCAA Championships on May 18-27 in College Station, Texas on the campus of Texas A&M. A live Internet broadcast of the tournament selection show on www.NCAAChampionships.com will take place on Thursday, May 2 at 5:30 p.m. (CT). The Frogs have made 11 consecutive NCAA appearances dating back to 1991.
Singles
No. 1 #64 Toni Gordon (TCU) def. #110 Cody Conley (UL) 6-3, 7-5
No. 2 Paulo Carvalho (UL) def. #101 Fabrizio Sestini (TCU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
No. 3 Daniel Wajnberg (TCU) vs. Octavian Nicodim (UL) DNF
No. 4 Matt Mayer (UL) def. Alex Menichini (TCU) 6-4, 6-1
No. 5 Daniel Scholten (TCU) def. Alex Sivertsen (UL) 6-2, 7-5
No. 6 Brent McCombe (UL) def. Willy Gali (TCU) 5-7, 7-5, 6-4
Doubles
No. 1 Conley/Nicodim (UL) def. Menichini/Jacob Martin (TCU) 9-8
No. 2 Scholten/Sestini (TCU) def. Mayer/McCombe (UL) 9-7
No. 3 Carvalho/Sebastian Aspillaga (UL) def. Gordon/Chris Brandi (TCU) 9-8
Players Mentioned
