TCU Upends No. 3 Mississippi State

Friday, January 11

Tempe, Ariz.

1:00 PM

TCU

Mississippi State

TCU Upends No. 3 Mississippi State

2/15/2019 12:26:00 PM | Men's Tennis

TCU 4, Mississippi State 1 (PDF)

The Horned Frogs took down Mississippi State, 4-1, in the opening round of the ITA Team Indoor Championship.

CHICAGO, Ill. – A dominant performance in singles action paved the way for the No. 15 TCU men's tennis team to pull off the biggest upset under head coach David Roditi's watch as the Horned Frogs posted a 4-1 victory over No. 3 Mississippi State on Friday morning in the opening round of the 2019 ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championship at the Midtown Athletic Club in Chicago, Ill.

TCU (5-2) handed the Bulldogs (6-1) their first loss of the season after storming back from dropping the doubles point to win four straight singles matches in straight sets. The Frogs advance to the quarterfinals of the indoor championship for only the fourth time in program history as they will face No. 8 North Carolina in the next round on Saturday.

The doubles point all came down to a tiebreaker on court one as TCU split the bottom two courts with Mississippi State. The Frogs got a big upset on court two as the No. 48 pair of Reese Stalder and Bertus Kruger took out the No. 6 ranked pairing of Niclas Braun and Giovanni Oradini, 6-3. Alex Rybakov and Alastair Gray battled point-for-point in the tiebreaker on the top court, but a lucky hit of the net cord on match point gave Mississippi State the win and the early 1-0 lead.

TCU took the momentum right back in singles and captured the opening sets on all six courts. Reese Stalder made quick work of Strahinja Rakic on court three and got the Frogs on the board with a 6-1, 6-4 victory. Freshman Sander Jong followed with his first dual match victory of the season as he took out Florian Broska on court six, 6-1, 6-4. No. 83 Bertus Kruger continued the streak as the sophomore upset No. 64 Braun with a 7-5, 6-3 victory on court four. Freshman Luc Fomba proved to be the clincher as he remained undefeated in dual matches and moved to 3-0 against ranked opponents with a 6-4, 7-6(3) upset of No. 98 Trevor Foshey on court five.

Quotes from the Match
Head Coach David Roditi
"What a great effort and performance by our whole team. It definitely took every member of our squad to get that win. Mississippi State is so gritty and so competitive and it takes a lot of factors to go your way to beat them. Winning six first sets after losing a tough doubles point showed a lot of maturity and resilience from our guys. I know this was a big match for them so I'm happy for them. They earned it. We were in a similar place against Florida a week ago and based on today, we learned from it and we were able to get that fourth team point that can be so hard to get.

"There is still plenty of room to improve which is nice. Hopefully we can make some small adjustments and continue to play better as the tournament continues. This tournament is so competitive and I'm proud of our guys for competing like they did today."

Match Results
TCU vs Mississippi State
Feb 15, 2019 at Chicago, Ill.
(Midtown Athletic Club)
#15 TCU 4, #3 Mississippi State 1

Singles competition
1. #5 Nuno Borges (MS) vs. #8 Alex Rybakov (TCU) 6-7, 6-6, unfinished
2. #66 Giovanni Oradini (MS) vs. #75 Alastair Gray (TCU) 2-6, 6-3, 2-3, unfinished
3. Reese Stalder (TCU) def. Strahinja Rakic (MS) 6-1, 6-4
4. #83 Bertus Kruger (TCU) def. #64 Niclas Braun (MS) 7-5, 6-3
5. Luc Fomba (TCU) def. #98 Trevor Foshey (MS) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)
6. Sander Jong (TCU) def. Florian Broska (MS) 6-1, 6-4

Doubles competition
1. #34 Nuno Borges/Strahinja Rakic (MS) def. Alex Rybakov/Alastair Gray (TCU) 7-6 (7-5)
2. #48 Reese Stalder/Bertus Kruger (TCU) def. #6 Niclas Braun/Giovanni Oradini (MS) 6-3
3. Trevor Foshey/Gregor Ramskogler (MS) def. Luc Fomba/Sander Jong (TCU) 6-2

Match Notes:
TCU 5-2; National ranking #15
Mississippi State 6-1; National ranking #3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (3,6,4,5)

Up Next
TCU advances to the quarterfinals of the 2019 ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championship and will face No. 8 North Carolina on Saturday at 9 a.m., at the Midtown Athletic Club.