MTEN Preview: Big 12 Championship
4/29/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
STILLWATER, Okla. - The No. 5 TCU men's tennis team will start postseason action this weekend as they are set to take part in the 2016 Big 12 Tennis Championship from April 30-May 1 at the Greenwood Tennis Center in Stillwater, Okla.
The Horned Frogs (22-3) earned a share of the Big 12 regular season title for the first time in program history, the No. 2 seed in the tournament and a first round bye. TCU will face No. 10 ranked and the No. 3 seed Oklahoma (15-9) in the semifinals on Saturday at Noon.
TCU Notables
TCU is coming off a stellar regular season where they put together 17 straight victories, wins over 20 ranked opponents and the team clinched a share of the Big 12 regular season title. The Frogs also have won 28 consecutive matches at home at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.
In the newest Oracle/ITA individual rankings, TCU has three ranked singles players and one ranked doubles team. Cameron Norrie is at No. 6 in this week's rankings and has a 19-7 overall record, including a 13-4 mark in dual match action and a 14-7 record against ranked foes. Alex Rybakov sits at No. 24 with an 18-5 overall record and 16-4 mark in dual match play. Guillermo Nuñez rounds out the singles rankings at No. 87 with the sophomore posting 21 wins thus far in the season.
Norrie and Rybakov have been nearly undefeated in doubles play with the duo losing their first match just last weekend and sitting at 9-1 on the season. Hudson Blake and Reese Stalder sit at No. 60 in the latest doubles poll with the pair playing mainly at the No. 1 position with 13 wins posted in dual match play, four wins over ranked opponents and the pair are currently riding a six match winning streak.
Scouting the Sooners
Oklahoma had to face the Texas in the opening round of the Big 12 Championship and scored a 4-1 win on Friday to move into the semifinals against TCU. The Sooners have picked up wins in eight of their last 10 matches including the last two straight.
In this week's Oracle/ITA rankings, No. 25 Axel Alvarez Llamas leads the way with the senior posting nine wins this season. Alex Ghilea checks in at No. 51 with nine wins as well this season, while Spencer Papa sits at No. 81 with eight wins. No. 91 Andrew Harris just recently returned to the singles lineup in Big 12 action and has posted a 4-1 record.
The Sooners have three ranked doubles teams with the No. 21 pair of Llamas and Harris holding the highest ranking with the duo posting six wins this season all at the No. 1 spot. Llamas is also ranked with Papa at No. 38, while Harris checks in at No. 62 with Ghilea.
All-Time Series
Saturday's match will be the second meeting this season and the 22nd all-time. Oklahoma holds the advantage in the series record with a slight 11-10 edge. In the first meeting earlier this season, TCU grabbed a 4-3 victory over the Sooners in Fort Worth with Guillermo Nuñez snagging a tiebreaking victory on court three to seal the win. In the series, TCU won nine of the first 11 meetings before the Sooners took nine straight victories from 2009 to last season. The match will mark the sixth all-time on neutral grounds with Oklahoma holding a 3-2 advantage. The last time the Frogs defeated Oklahoma on neutral grounds was in 1984.
Live Results
Live results of all the matches at the championship can be found at OkState.StatBroadcast.com. Final results and a recap of all matches can be found on GoFrogs.com following the completion of the competition each day. In-match updates can be found by following TCU men's tennis on twitter (@TCUMensTennis).
Players Mentioned
