Men's Tennis Preview: Texas A&M
4/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
FORT WORTH, Texas -- The No. 10 TCU men's tennis team will complete its nonconference slate this season by hosting No. 7 Texas A&M on April 11 at 1 p.m., at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.
The Horned Frogs (18-6) will be taking on the Aggies (17-3) for the second time this season after TCU defeated Texas A&M, 4-2, in the opening round of the ITA Kick-Off on January 24. Admission to the match is free for all fans and those in attendance can enjoy free popcorn from King Korn, free pizza from Buffalo Bros., and a raffle drawing throughout the match.
TCU Notables
The Frogs enter the matchup after defeating four straight ranked opponents, with three of the four ranked in the top-25. TCU entered this week by taking down SMU (4-1) and was able to defeat Oklahoma State (4-2), Texas Tech (4-2) and USF (4-3) the last two weekends. With two of those victories coming at home last weekend, TCU moved to 11-0 at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center this season.
TCU continues to have three ranked singles players in No. 48 Nick Chappell, No. 63 Guillermo Nuñez and reigning Big 12 Player of the Week and No. 50 Cameron Norrie. Nuñez and Chappell have 22 and 17 wins, respectively. Norrie has 18 wins on the season, including five over ranked opponents, and went undefeated in doubles and singles last weekend.
In doubles, the senior duo of Chappell and Will Stein moved up to No. 18 in the rankings and lead the team with a 20-14 record and eight wins over ranked opponents. Norrie and Trevor Johnson check in at No. 29 with 16 wins on the season with wins in their last four straight matches.
Scouting the Aggies
The Aggies played a nearly perfect week of tennis last week, sweeping Rice (4-0), Auburn (4-0) and Florida (4-0).
Texas A&M is one of just eight teams to boast four or more ranked singles players. Junior Harrison Adams continues to pace the Aggie attack, ranking No. 55 in the latest ITA rankings. Rounding out the Aggie contingent are senior Jeremy Efferding, junior Shane Vinsant and freshman AJ Catanzariti at No. 60, No. 64 and No. 78, respectively.
In addition to the four ranked singles players, the Aggies enlist a pair of ranked doubles teams in this week's poll. No. 13 Adams and Vinsant have been ranked within the top-25 every poll this season. Efferding partners with fellow senior Jordan Szabo to rank 41st, the senior duo are 7-3 against ranked pairs this year.
All-Time Series
TCU and Texas A&M will be taking each other on for the 54th time in program history, with the Frogs leading the series with a 35-18 advantage. The teams met earlier this season, with TCU coming away with a 4-2 win for the team's first victory over Texas A&M since 2006. This will be the 20th time the two teams have faced off in Fort Worth with the Frogs holding a 12-7 series advantage.
Live Results
Fans who can't attend can watch live results at TCU.StatBroadcast.Com, while final recaps of the match against the Aggies can be found at GoFrogs.com following the completion of the competition. In-match updates can also be found by following TCU men's tennis on twitter (@TCUMensTennis).
Players Mentioned
