TCU
NCAA Doubles Championships
Brighiu, Simon Eliminated from NCAA Doubles
5/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
May 21, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas—TCU's Emanuel Brighiu and Adrian Simon suffered a first-round loss in doubles play at the NCAA Division I Men's Individual Tennis Championships Thursday at Texas A&M's George P. Mitchell Tennis Complex. Both Horned Frogs were making their first career individual appearances at the NCAA Championships.
Brighiu and Simon faced a tall order in the form of USC's fourth-rated duo of Robert Farah and Steve Johnson. The Trojan pairing, seeded among the Nos. 5-8 entries, earned a straight-set, 6-2, 6-4 victory to advance on to Friday's Round of 16.
"We had a tough start to the match then played better in the second set, but it wasn't enough today," head coach Dave Borelli said. "The team from USC served really well against us."
The loss ended Brighiu's and Simon's season with a 19-12 doubles record. The two Frogs had advanced to the NCAA Championships by earning the Mountain West Conference's automatic selection as the league's highest-rated doubles tandem. The duo's strong play this season helped TCU earn the doubles point in 14 of 22 opportunities this spring.
The selection of Brighiu and Simon helped continue a long tradition of Frogs competing in NCAA individual competition. TCU featured at least one entry in 30 of the past 34 years.
"We'll now take a little bit of a break, then the guys will play in some tournaments this summer to try and improve. We'll just get back to work in our efforts of trying to improve as a program with our goal of becoming a top-20 team."
Players Mentioned
