TCU
#6 Duke
Horned Frogs Suffer a 4-2 Setback
2/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
FORT WORTH, Texas - The No. 17 TCU men's tennis team dropped a heartbreaking 4-2 loss to No. 6 Duke on Saturday morning at the 2015 ITA National Indoor Team Championship in Chicago, Ill.
Facing their second top-10 ranked team for the second straight day, the doubles point for the Horned Frogs (5-2) and the Blue Devils (10-1) was a battle to the finish, while TCU and Duke fought for points in the singles portion of the match with the Blue Devils shaking off multiple match points by TCU to ultimately take the match victory.
"Today was a heartbreaking loss," head coach David Roditi said. "Today was two very good teams battling until the very end. Lots of credit to Duke for winning two matches after being down match points. Nick Chappell pulled out a great win and there was another great performance by Guillermo Nuñez. We will learn from it and play our third top-10 match in a row tomorrow versus UCLA. Our team is hungry and we will be ready again."
Duke opened the match with No. 34 Nicolas Alvarez and Raphael Hemmeler pulling the upset on court one over No. 24 Will Stein and Nick Chappell, 6-4. TCU evened out the doubles fight with Guillermo Nuñez and Cameron Norrie picking up their third win of the spring season with a 7-5 victory over Jason Tahir and Josh Levine.
The doubles point would all come down to court three, as Hudson Blake and Trevor Johnson were battling Chris Mengel and Bruno Semenzato game for game for a 5-5 tie to open the match. After holding serve through the first 10 games, Duke was able to get the break on TCU's serve for the 6-5 lead. The Blue Devils were able to hold serve and steal the match from TCU to take the doubles point.
TCU did not stay down long in the match with No. 112 Nuñez notching his 12th victory of the season with a commanding 6-2, 6-1 win over Chris Mengel at No. 5 singles. Duke would take the lead right back, as No. 95 Semenzato took down Will Stein, 7-5, 6-1 on court four.
Duke increased its lead to 3-1 after taking the win on court three, but No. 48 Chappell pulled off an upset of his own at No. 2 singles to bring the match closer with a come-from-behind 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 38 Tahir. Chappell now has nine singles wins on the season and has defeated three ranked opponents.
The clincher for the match came on court one, as No. 18 Norrie fell to No. 9 Alvarez. Norrie was able to handle Alvarez for a 6-4 victory in the first set, and had triple match point in the second set but the Alvarez fought back to take the second set 7-5 and then finish off the third set, 6-3, to take the win and the match for Duke.
Johnson was sitting at double match point on court six in the tiebreaker in the third set for TCU, but the match was called after Duke clinched the match.
TCU will wrap up competition at the indoor championships by facing No. 10 UCLA on Sunday, Feb. 16 at 9 a.m., at the Midtown Athletic Club.
Tennis Match Results
TCU vs Duke
Feb 14, 2015 at Chicago, Ill.
(Midtown Athletic Club)
#6 Duke 4, #17 TCU 2
Singles competition
1. #9 Nicolas Alvarez (DU) def. #18 Cameron Norrie (TCU) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
2. #48 Nick Chappell (TCU) def. #38 Jason Tahir (DU) 1-6, 6-4, 6-2
3. #77 Raphael Hemmeler (DU) def. Arnau Dachs (TCU) 6-2, 7-6 (7-1)
4. #95 Bruno Semenzato (DU) def. Will Stein (TCU) 7-5, 6-1
5. #112 Guillermo Nuñez (TCU) def. Chris Mengel (DU) 6-2, 6-1
6. Trevor Johnson (TCU) vs. Josh Levine (DU) 6-2, 4-6, 6-6 unfinished
Doubles competition
1. #34 Nicolas Alvarez/Raphael Hemmeler (DU) def. #24 Will Stein/Nick Chappell (TCU) 6-4
2. Guillermo Nuñez/Cameron Norrie (TCU) def. Jason Tahir/Josh Levine (DU) 7-5
3. Chris Mengel/Bruno Semenzato (DU) def. Hudson Blake/Trevor Johnson (TCU) 7-5
Match Notes:
TCU 5-2; National ranking #17
Duke 10-1; National ranking #6
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (5,4,3,2,1)
Players Mentioned
