MTEN Set for Big 12/Pac-12 Challenge
2/5/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
FORT WORTH, Texas - The No. 2 TCU men's tennis team will start a two-week road trip by heading to Austin, Texas to take part in the Big 12/Pac-12 Challenge on Feb. 6-7 at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center hosted by Texas.
The Horned Frogs (2-0) will open competition with No. 18 Stanford (5-1) on Saturday at 11 a.m., before facing No. 24 Cal (2-1) on Sunday at 10 a.m. The Longhorns will also take part in competition by facing the Golden Bears on Saturday and the Cardinal on Sunday at 2 p.m., and 1 p.m., respectively.
TCU Notables
TCU is 2-0 on the season after taking a week off after winning the ITA Kick-Off Weekend for the second year in a row. The Frogs recently jumped to No. 2 in the Oracle/ITA poll for its highest ranking ever under head coach David Roditi. It its two victories this season, TCU was able to defeat San Diego State, 4-0, before claiming a tight 4-3 victory over Big 12 foe Oklahoma State.
Four singles players are ranked in the national poll with two in the top-25 in sophomores Cameron Norrie (No. 4) and Guillermo Nuñez (No. 24). Fellow sophomore Trevor Johnson is at No. 73 and Jerry Lopez checks in at No. 109 after securing the match against the Cowboys with his singles victory.
Scouting the Cardinal
Stanford is sitting at 5-1 on the season, with all five victories coming in sweeps. The only loss on the Cardinal record is in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend Championship match to then-No. 16 and site host Columbia, 4-3.
The Cardinal have four ranked singles players and one ranked doubles pair in the national poll. Tom Fawcett leads the way at No. 9 and is 5-0 on the season at the No.1 position. David Wilcynski checks in at No. 57 with a 2-1 dual match record, while Michael Genender and Maciek Romanowicz are at No. 61 and No. 89, respectively. Romanowicz and Nolan Paige hold the only doubles ranking at No. 42 and the duo are 3-0 in dual matches.
Scouting the Golden Bears
Cal dropped its season opener to Tulsa, 4-3, but has rebounded with two straight wins over Hawaii (4-0) and San Francisco (4-0) last weekend. The Golden Bears are led by Peter Wright who is in his 23rd season at the helm of the program.
Of all four teams competing this weekend, Cal boasts the most ranked players with five singles players and two doubles teams. Andre Goransson is 14-3 on the season and sits at No. 3 nationally, while freshman Florian Lakat is 9-4 and ranked No. 30. Bill Griffith checks in at No. 39 with a 13-3 record, while Oskar Wikberg sits at No. 54 and is 10-3 on the season. Filip Bergevi rounds out the ranked singles players at No. 86. Lakat pairs up with Wikberg for the team's highest doubles ranking at No. 38, while Lakat is also ranked with Goransson at No. 59.
All-Time Series
TCU and Stanford will be facing off for the seventh time in program history with the Cardinal holding the overall advantage at 4-2. The Frogs won the first-ever meeting back in 1987 with a 5-3 victory on neutral ground. TCU also picked up the win in the last meeting on Feb. 5, 2013 in Palo Alto with a 5-2 win. This will be the fifth time the two teams have faced on neutral ground with Stanford holding a 3-1 advantage.
Sunday will mark the eighth meeting all-time between TCU and Cal, with the Golden Bears holding a 6-1 advantage in the series record. The only win for the Frogs in the series was in 2001, as TCU took a 5-1 victory in Fort Worth. This will be only the second match between the teams in a neutral setting, as Cal took the victory in the only other neutral match in 1981.
Live Results
Live scoring of all matches will be available at TexasSports.com, with a final recap of the TCU matches along with results available on GoFrogs.com following the completion of competition each day. In-match updates can also be found by following TCU men's tennis on twitter (@TCUMensTennis).
Big 12/Pac-12 Challenge Schedule
Feb. 6
No. 2 TCU vs. No. 18 Stanford - 11 a.m.
No. 26 Texas vs. No. 24 Cal - 2 p.m.
Feb. 7
No. 2 TCU vs. No. 24 Cal - 10 a.m.
No. 26 Texas vs. No. 18 Stanford - 1 p.m.
Players Mentioned
