Elite Again!

Saturday, May 11

Starkville, MS

1:00 PM

TCU

#7 Mississippi State

5/11/2019 8:57:00 PM | Men's Tennis

TCU 4, Mississippi State 2 (PDF)Photo Gallery

TCU advances to the NCAA Elite Eight for the 10th time in program history and third time in the last five seasons.

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Under the lights of the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre and in dramatic fashion, the No. 9 TCU men's tennis team clinched a berth to the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship quarterfinal by taking down No. 7 Mississippi State, 4-2, on Saturday night in Starkville, Miss.

In a match that had everything from rain delays to last minute stitches, the Horned Frogs (22-6) came away with a victory to advance the team to the Elite Eight for the 10th time in program history and third time in the last five seasons. TCU also snapped the Bulldogs' (24-4) 14-match winning streak with the victory and gave them their first loss at home in the last 27 matches dating back to 2017.

It all started in doubles with the freshmen duo of Luc Fomba and Sander Jong finding their way to a 6-2 victory on court three. Mississippi State took the win on court two, but the No. 15 duo of Alastair Gray and Alex Rybakov bounced back from a 2-1 deficit to win five of six service games to take down the No. 3 ranked pair of Nuno Borges and Strahinja Rakic, 6-3, on court one to clinch the early lead for TCU.

Singles action got underway, but lightning and rain hit Starkville early in the first sets on all six courts which caused an almost three hour delay. When played resumed, TCU and the Bulldogs split the opening sets as the battle continued. Mississippi State was able to pick up two quick points with straight-set victories on courts one and three to take the lead in the match. The Frogs responded with Fomba serving it out on court five for the 7-5, 6-3 victory followed by Bertus Kruger with the 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 win on court four. TCU was in control on the final two courts in action and serving for the match on both, but play was halted once again as No. 28 Gray took a nasty tumble on court two that required stitches. The junior bounced back within a five-minute window to serve it out to clinch the overall match victory for the Frogs.

Quotes from the Match
Head Coach David Roditi
Opening Statement
"First of all, I'm as competitive as it gets. Everybody knows that. I have so much respect for what Matt (Roberts) and his staff and for what they've done with their program. For us to be able to come here and first of all be able to make it a match. Then, it's unbelievable to come out of here with a win. This is one of the most organized, well-coached and disciplined programs out there. I have so much respect. It sucks, we ruined the party. We've been on the other side of it and know what it feels like. I thought their crowd was amazing. It was a great college match."

On his team's performance
"About our guys, I'm so proud of them. We had so many challenges that we had to overcome. Our travel was supposed to be a four-hour day, it turned into a 12-hour day. We got in at 3 a.m. with no bags. We couldn't practice outdoors yesterday. It was written for disaster, but our guys didn't care."

"We were able to hang in there at the beginning of singles. We had some key performances. Our freshmen (Luc Fomba and Sander Jong) were huge. They won at number three doubles. Then, they played well at number five and number six singles. For Sander to come back, I don't think he realized what he did being a set down. He won an unbelievable tiebreaker to keep his match going."

"At the end, Alastair has a gash on his chin after he fell. There was so much blood, I thought that he might pass out. It was a hard hit against the fence, but he showed unbelievable toughness to be able to close out the match after that. I'm proud of our team. It's big for (Alex) Rybakov to know that we have his back. I don't know if we've won a match against a ranked team without Rybakov contributing. Nuno (Borges) was a beast today, and he didn't allow him to get into the match. I'm happy, and I'm proud that we get to move on. We've come a long way from where we started in September."

Match Results
TCU vs Mississippi State
May 11, 2019 at Starkville, MS
(A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre)
#9 TCU 4, #7 Mississippi State 2

Singles competition
1. #1 Nuno Borges (MS) def. #4 Alex Rybakov (TCU) 6-1, 6-4
2. #28 Alastair Gray (TCU) def. #61 Giovanni Oradini (MS) 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 6-3
3. Strahinja Rakic (MS) def. Reese Stalder (TCU) 6-3, 6-2
4. Bertus Kruger (TCU) def. Niclas Braun (MS) 7-5, 4-6, 6-2
5. Luc Fomba (TCU) def. Trevor Foshey (MS) 7-5, 6-3
6. Florian Broska (MS) vs. Sander Jong (TCU) 6-2, 6-7 (7-9), 4-5, unfinished

Doubles competition
1. #15 Alastair Gray/Alex Rybakov (TCU) def. #3 Nuno Borges/Strahinja Rakic (MS) 6-3
2. #32 Niclas Braun/Giovanni Oradini (MS) def. #22 Bertus Kruger/Reese Stalder (TCU) 6-3
3. Luc Fomba/Sander Jong (TCU) def. Trevor Foshey/Gregor Ramskogler (MS) 6-2

Match Notes:
TCU 22-6; National ranking #9
Mississippi State 24-4; National ranking #7
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (1,3,5,4,2)
- 2019 NCAA Team Championship Super Regional (Round of 16)
- There was a 2:50 delay in the match due to lightning/rain that began @ 2:10 pm
- TCU advances to Thursday's NCAA quarterfinals against No. 2 Texas
Official: Terry Bailey T-6:01 A-318

Up Next
TCU advances to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships and will travel to Lake Nona, Fla., to face No. 2 seed Texas on Thursday, May 16 at 1 p.m., CT, at the USTA National Campus.