Frogs Open MWC Tourney Thursday vs. Utes
4/27/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 27, 2010
FORT WORTH—TCU begins play in the 2010 Mountain West Conference Men's Tennis Championship Thursday in Las Vegas, Nev., when it faces fifth-seeded Utah at 9 a.m. PDT in one of three quarterfinal matches. The match, which was originally slated for Wednesday, was rescheduled due to high winds.
The Frogs enter the tournament as the No. 4 seed after posting a 3-3 record in regular-season league play. BYU received the No. 1 seed and will have an opening-round bye into the semifinals. The other seedings are: No. 2 San Diego State, No. 3 New Mexico, No. 6 UNLV and No. 7 Air Force.
TCU, currently ranked No. 72 in the ITA national team rankings, hopes to duplicate the results from its regular-season matchup with the Utes. The Frogs posted a 4-3 victory in the teams' April 8 meeting in Fort Worth to run their advantage in the all-time series to 5-2.
TCU has experienced a great deal of success in its previous four appearances at the MWC Championship, advancing to at least the semifinal round each season. The Frogs claimed conference titles in both 2006 and 2008, while last year's squad reached the final match before being eliminated by New Mexico.
Utah enters the tournament with a 7-15 overall record. Senior Phillip Eilers leads the squad with a 13-8 dual match record, including a 5-1 showing in MWC action. Senior Timmy Allin (11-11) and juniors Stephen Jacobs (10-11) also have reached double digits in victories this spring. Eilers and freshman Alex Golding are 11-10 this spring for Utah at No. 1 doubles, while Jacobs and sophomore Benito Suriano have paired up for a 10-6 mark, including 4-1 in league play.
The winner of Wednesday's TCU-Utah quarterfinals will face top-seeded Utah in Friday's semifinals at 10 a.m. PT.
In other news, this week's latest edition of the ITA national rankings saw the TCU doubles pairing of juniors Emanuel Brighiu and Christopher Price soar up the ratings. The duo, listed No. 72 last week, now appears at No. 37 and is the top-ranked pairing in the MWC. The highest-ranked tandem in each league following the conclusion of the conference championships will receive an automatic bid to next month's NCAA Individual Championships.
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 at the link at the top of this page.
Players Mentioned
