TCU
#6 California
Horned Frogs Down No. 6 Cal
3/10/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
FORT WORTH, Texas - A huge upset in doubles followed by wins at the top three positions in singles propelled the No. 31 TCU men's tennis team to a 4-3 upset of No. 6 Cal on Friday night at the Hellman Tennis Complex in Berkeley, Calif.
For the second time this week, the Horned Frogs (6-4) took down a No. 1 ranking as Reese Stalder and Jerry Lopez paired up to clinch the doubles point against the Bears (9-3) with a 6-4 win over the top-ranked Filip Bergevi and Florian Lakat. The No. 27 pair of Alex Rybakov and Guillermo Nuñez scored the other doubles win of the day as they took down the No. 54-ranked pair of Andre Goransson and Billy Griffith, 6-3.
Cal responded in singles action by taking the bottom two courts, but No. 23 Cameron Norrie evened out the match and continued his streak with his seventh straight win with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over No. 14 Lakat. TCU then went up 3-2 in the match as No. 93 Nuñez secured a straight-set win on court three with a 6-4, 6-3 win over No. 53 Griffith. After Cal took court four, all attention turned to court two as No. 84 Rybakov had just split sets with No. 30 Goransson. In a rematch from the NCAA Round of 16 from a year ago, Rybakov revenged a loss by dominating the final set, 6-1, to secure the 4-3 win for TCU.
Quotes from the Match
Head Coach David Roditi
"This was a great road win for our squad. I am very proud of the way the top of our lineup played. Our lefties came through big time. The key win was at No. 1 doubles which gave us the doubles point which is huge when you are playing a top team and especially on the road. We need to improve at the bottom of our lineup. We will make some adjustments and compete better tomorrow. I think it was only fair for (Alex) Rybakov to clinch the match since that was our last match last season at the NCAA Championship. It is scary that we had to default another spot to them again at the No. 5 position. Next time we play them, we just won't play that spot and save ourselves an injury. We will have a celebratory dinner and play a well-coached and tough Stanford team tomorrow at 2 p.m."
Match Results
TCU vs Cal
Mar 10, 2017 at Berkeley, Calif.
(Hellman Tennis Complex)
#31 TCU 4, #6 Cal 3
Singles competition
1. #23 Cameron Norrie (TCU) def. #14 Florian Lakat (CAL) 7-5, 6-3
2. #84 Alex Rybakov (TCU) def. #30 Andre Goransson (CAL) 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-1
3. #93 Guillermo Nuñez (TCU) def. #53 Billy Griffith (CAL) 6-4, 6-3
4. #109 Filip Bergevi (CAL) def. #110 Jerry Lopez (TCU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
5. J.T. Nishimura (CAL) def. Reese Stalder (TCU) 6-2, 1-1, retired
6. Connor Heap (CAL) def. Gianni Mancini (TCU) 6-1, 6-2
Doubles competition
1. Reese Stalder/Jerry Lopez (TCU) def. #1 Filip Bergevi/Florian Lakat (CAL) 6-4
2. #27 Alex Rybakov/Guillermo Nuñez (TCU) def. #54 Andre Goransson/Billy Griffith (CAL) 6-3
3. Bjorn Hoffmann/J.T. Nishimura (CAL) def. Cameron Norrie/Gianni Mancini (TCU) 6-3
Match Notes:
TCU 6-4; National ranking #31
Cal 9-3; National ranking #6
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (5,6,1,3,4,2)
Up Next
TCU will continue its spring break road trip in California by heading to Palo Alto to face Stanford on Saturday, March 11 at 2 p.m. The Frogs will then head to UC Santa Barbara for a showdown on March 13 and wrap-up the trip at Pepperdine on March 16.
Players Mentioned
