Marathon Match Ends in 4-3 Loss

Sunday, January 16

Fort Worth, Texas

12 PM

TCU

Tennessee

Marathon Match Ends in 4-3 Loss

1/16/2022 6:24:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score - TCU 3 Tenn 4

The Horned Frogs drop four singles matches, fall to No. 4 Tennessee, 4-3.

FORT WORTH – No. 5 TCU men's tennis (2-1) suffered its first loss of the new season to No. 4 Tennessee, 4-3, on Sunday afternoon inside the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center. The Horned Frogs won the doubles point, but ultimately came up short in a match that lasted just over four and a half hours.

"Tough loss today," head coach David Roditi said. "This is why we scheduled these matches. As great as Friday felt, this one hurts just as bad. We had a great weekend but credit to Tennessee, to their coaches and players for playing as well as they did. There are plenty of good takeaways from today. We had our chances. They fought so hard and won some tough matches. I'm so proud of our guys. Jake Fearnley keeps playing with so much heart, giving us a chance. Thank you so much for all of the support this weekend. It was a great weekend. We got exactly what we wanted, just not the result today. Lots to learn. We'll move on and be ready for our next match. Thank you to the TCU athletics staff for all their hard work. The support from the fans was just amazing. Go Frogs!"

TCU won the doubles point with victories at No. 1 and No. 2. TCU's top two pairs of Luc Fomba/Jake Fearnley (No. 1) and Sander Jong/Lui Maxted (No. 2) have been perfect this season (3-0).

Fomba and Fearnley defeated 2021 Doubles national champions Pat Harper/Adam Walton, 6-3. In just their third doubles match as a pairing, Fomba and Fearnley covered the court with tremendous efficiency, overpowering the defending national champions with a break to go in front, 4-2, before both players held serve to win the match.

The win at No. 1 came while Jong and Maxted were battling, on serve, 5-4, just one court over. The pairing, also playing in just their third match together, sent the match into a tiebreaker, 6-6. In the tiebreaker, Jong and Maxted thoroughly dominated play, winning the tiebreak, 7-1, to defeat the Tennessee pairing that had entered the match with an 18-2 record and No. 6 ranking in the nation.

DOUBLES QUICK HITS

TCU won its third doubles point of the season with victories at No. 1 and No. 2
Luc Fomba and Jake Fearnley improved to 3-0 this season as TCU's top pairing, with a 6-3 victory.
Fomba improves his career record at No. 1 doubles to 15-7 while Fearnley progresses to 9-7.
Lui Maxted and Sander Jong collected their third win of the season together at No. 2.
Maxted is now a perfect 3-0 in doubles in his budding collegiate career.
Jong improves his doubles record to 26-9 in dual matches over the last three seasons and 35-19 in dual matches over his career.
TCU is 6-1 in doubles matches this season and is outscoring opponents 43-29.

Doubles Results
1. Luc Fomba/Jake Fearnley (TCU) def. Pat Harper/Adam Walton (UT) 6-3
2. Sander Jong/Lui Maxted (TCU) def. #6 Emile Hudd/Shunsuke Mitsui (UT) 7-6 (7-1)
3. Juan Carlos Aguilar/Tomas Jirousek (TCU) vs. Mark Wallner/Johannus Monday (UT) 6-5, unfinished

Order of finish: 1, 2

In singles play, four of the six matches went to three sets and in all four instances, the player that lost the first set, won the match. Tennessee got on the board first, winning in straight sets at No. 2 and No. 4, before Sander Jong gained momentum back with a three-set victory at No. 3. Tennessee went in front, 3-2, with a victory at No. 1, while Maxted and Fearnley were beginning their first sets.

Fearnley got the last break in a tumultuous second set at No. 6, tying his match, 4-6, 7-5. In the third, he got in front with a quick break, 3-2, and showed tremendous drive, powering his way to another break and a 6-2 victory to tie the score, 3-3.

Maxted won his opening set, 7-5, but couldn't find a break in the third set, despite forcing multiple deuce points. Tennessee would win the match in three sets and win the dual, 4-3.

SINGLES QUICK HITS

TCU won matches at No. 3 and No. 6.
Jong bounced back from a difficult loss against No. 1 Florida on Friday to win his second singles bout of the season.
He is 2-1 this season and 12-5 in his career playing at No. 3
He defeated No. 51 Emile Hudd, the second highest ranked win for Jong and his highest ranked victory in a dual match.
Jong is now 3-4 in his dual career against ranked opponents.
Jake Fearnley improves to 3-0 this season with a three-set victory at No. 6, defeating No. 123 Conor Gannon.
It was his second ranked singles win of the weekend after defeating No. 111 Goodger (UF) on Friday.
Fearnley is now 2-2 in his career against ranked opponents.
He improves his dual singles record to 17-8 as a Horned Frog.
TCU is now 10-7 in singles matches this dual season.

Singles Results
1. #39 Adam Walton (UT) def. #68 Luc Fomba (TCU) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4
2. #10 Johannus Monday (UT) def. #19 Juan Carlos Aguilar (TCU) 6-2, 6-4
3. Sander Jong (TCU) def. #51 Emile Hudd (UT) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
4. #125 Shunsuke Mitsui (UT) def. Tomas Jirousek (TCU) 6-4, 6-4
5. Angel Diaz (UT) def. #33 Lui Maxted (TCU) 5-7, 6-4, 6-3
6. #76 Jake Fearnley (TCU) def. #123 Conor Gannon (UT) 4-6, 7-5, 6-2

Order of finish – 2, 4, 3, 1, 6, 5

Up Next
The Horned Frogs will have some time off before hosting Abilene Christian on Jan. 27 at 2 p.m. inside Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center. Admission to the match is free to the public. Free pizza will be provided courtesy of Buffalo Bros.

For more information on TCU men's tennis, visit gofrogs.com and follow the team on social media: @TCUMensTennis on twitter, Facebook and Instagram.