Rybakov Named Rookie of the Year
5/24/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
FORT WORTH, Texas – Following a successful debut season on the TCU men's tennis team, freshman Alex Rybakov earned ITA National Men's Rookie of the Year honors on Tuesday afternoon at the annual awards banquet held at the NCAA Division I Championships in Tulsa, Okla.
After becoming the first player in program history to score ITA Texas Region Rookie of the Year and ITA Texas Region Player to Watch honors in the same season, Rybakov becomes the first TCU student-athlete to go on to win a national ITA award. Rybakov's honor marks the second straight season a Horned Frog has earned a national award as head coach David Roditi was named Wilson/ITA National Coach of the Year last season.
Rybakov joined the team in January and scored 20 wins in his debut campaign with a perfect 4-0 mark in conference action. The Coral Springs, Fla., native went 18-5 in dual matches and 10-5 against ranked opponents this season. Rybakov won eight of his last nine and scored a win in 17 of the team's victories this season. The freshman was also an integral part in helping the Frogs win a share of the Big 12 regular season title and the Big 12 tournament title for the first time in program history.
Rybakov entered the Oracle/ITA Singles poll at No. 122 in February and has only gone up from there. After defeating a top-10 opponent, Rybakov made an almost 100 jump in the rankings up to No. 24 and reached as high as No. 15 during the season. In doubles action, Rybakov paired with fellow top player Cameron Norrie and the duo were a solid win in doubles action in dual matches for TCU this spring. The duo became a pair in March and strung together nine straight victories and helped the Frogs win the doubles point in eight of those matches. The pair finished out the dual match season with a 12-1 record.
Besides his ITA Texas Regional honors, Rybakov was also honored as Big 12 Freshman of the Year and was named to the All-Big 12 Singles First Team, All-Big 12 Doubles Second Team and the Big 12 All-Tournament Team at No. 2 Singles and No. 3 Doubles.
TCU finished out its season last Friday by making it to the Round of 16 for the 10th time in program history and second straight season. Rybakov, along with Norrie, earned at-large bids to the NCAA Singles Championship that will be played May 25-30 at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla.
Players Mentioned
