Frogs Open MWC Title Defense Friday
4/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 23, 2009
TCU begins the defense of its 2008 Mountain West Conference men's tennis tournament championship Friday in Albuquerque, N.M, when it plays host to fifth-seeded San Diego State at 11 a.m. CDT in the first of two semifinals matches. Each of the tournament's matches are scheduled to be held at Albuquerque's Jerry Cline Tennis Center.
The Frogs, who won the conference's regular-season championship with a 5-1 league record, learned of their semifinal opponent Thursday afternoon, as SDSU upended No. 4 seed BYU, 4-0, in quarterfinal action. The other semifinal will pit the winners of two more matches still to be played Thursday afternoon: No. 3 Utah-No. UNLV and No. 2 New Mexico-No. 7 Air Force.
TCU, currently the top-ranked team in the MWC with a No. 38 national rating from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), was the lone squad in the field to receive a bye in Thursday's opening round, as it clinched the tournament's top seed with a win over Air Force in its regular season finale on April 11. The Frogs won their only matchup against San Diego State this season, 4-2, back on April 10 in San Diego. The only team among the field to defeat TCU is Utah, which took a 5-2 decision on April 4 in Salt Lake City.
The Frogs will look to continue their recent success experienced during the second half of the spring season. TCU opened the campaign with a 2-7 record before regrouping by winning nine of its last 12 matches. The team's schedule was dotted with numerous challenges that seemed to prepare it well for the conference campaign; 19 of 21 opponents appeared in the national team rankings at some point this season.
Leading the Frogs are three players who were named to both the All-MWC singles and doubles squads and currently ranked by the ITA: senior Kriegler Brink (No. 72), freshman Slah Mbarek (No. 84) and sophomore Emanuel Brighiu (No. 114). Brink and Mbarek team to form the nation's 40th-ranked doubles tandem, while Brighiu and junior Adrian Simon are the MWC's top-rated duo at No. 29.
San Diego State enters the MWC Championship as the league's third-highest ranked team at No. 46. The squad finished the MWC season with a 2-3 record and is 14-11 overall this spring. Junior Bartosz Golas, rated 122nd in singles, and sophomore Achim Ceban, listed at No. 125, are the Aztecs currently receiving national rankings.
Fans looking to follow this weekend's action at the Mountain West Conference Championship can tap into live results via the MWC's official web site. A link to the site is available at the top of this page.
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