TCU Drops 4-1 Decision to Texas

Monday, February 20

Chicago, IL

Noon

TCU

Texas

TCU Drops 4-1 Decision to Texas

3/22/2023 10:25:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

Horned Frogs continue homestead vs. No. 10 USC on Friday

By: Brady Johnson

FORT WORTH – No. 1 TCU tasted defeat for the first time in 2023, as the Horned Frogs came up short in a nonconference dual 4-1 to No. 3 Texas on Wednesday at the Bartzen Varsity Courts.

The Horned Frogs dropped the doubles point and surrendered the opening frame on three of six singles courts, ultimately leading to the loss.

"Rough day," head coach David Roditi said. "They took it to us. They played better. They deserved the win. They were the better team. It's disappointing. It was a great college match. Clean match, absolutely no issues other than that we just got beat. The crowd was awesome. The atmosphere was great. To the fans that came and supported us, thank you so much. We've got to do better than that. We'll get together as a team and discuss and see what we need to do to learn from today. I know our guys are very disappointed, and we must learn from it. Congratulations to Texas. They're a great team, and they deserved to win today. Go Frogs."

TCU fell to 15-1 on the season while Texas moved to 15-2. The Horned Frogs are now 5-1 in duals vs. top-10 opponents and 8-1 in top-25 affairs.

The match marked the second time in as many months the Horned Frogs and Longhorns converged on the tennis courts. TCU took the first of a possible five meetings between the teams in 2023 in a 4-0 blanking of Texas on Feb. 20 to capture the ITA Indoor National Championship. The Horned Frogs will return the trip to Austin on Apr. 15 in the Big 12 regular season finale for both teams and quite likely cross paths again in the Big 12 Tournament (Apr. 21-23) and NCAA Championships.

TCU lost the doubles point for just the second time all season and in as many outings.

Sebastian Gorzny and Pedro Vives roared back from a 4-1 hole on court three vs. Chih Chi Huang and Micah Braswell to nab a 6-4 win. Their victory, though, was sandwiched between losses on the top-two courts.

Texas' Pierre-Yves Bailly and Siem Woldeab struck first with a 6-3 defeat of Sander Jong and Jack Pinnington. Jong and Pinnington split the first six games, only for Bailly and Woldeab to claim the final three.

The doubles point was in turn decided on court one in a battle between two top-15 pairings in TCU's 13^th-ranked tandem of Jake Fearnley and Luc Fomba and No. 4 Eliot Spizziri and Cleeve Harper. Fomba and Fearnley initially led 3-1 and broke the Longhorn duo twice to assume a 6-5 lead. But the All-American tandem lost on serve and let the set slip to a tiebreaker. They battled to a 4-4 gridlock before Spizziri and Harper scored three of the final points to take the set 7-6 [7-6] and snare a 1-0 lead.

Pinnington then knotted the scoreboard at 1-1 with a dominant 6-3, 6-1 win in the third flight over No. 78 Braswell.

The momentum briefly appeared to shift in favor of the hosts. Gorzny, the No. 71 ITA singles player, took set one over Harper on court five 6-3, while No. 43 Jong grinded out a 6-4 set victory against No. 29 Woldeab in the No. 4 post.

But by virtue of the doubles defeat, TCU demanded four singles triumphs to clinch. Harper and Woldeab counterpunched with 6-4 wins in the second frame to prevent the Horned Frogs from assuming a lead. And TCU never recovered from opening set losses on the remaining three courts.

Texas inched further ahead 2-1 after Nevin Arimilli notched a 6-1, 6-4 win over Tomas Jirousek in the sixth flight. Jirousek led 4-1 in set two.

Fomba, No. 16 in the ITA singles rankings, fell 5-7, 2-6 to the 36^th-ranked Bailly on court two to widen the deficit to two points.

The Longhorns clinched after Fearnley lost a back-and-forth battle to Spizzirri, the nation's No. 1 singles player, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6. The third set was even at 1-1 to begin. Fearnley, however, dropped consecutive deuce points to go down two breaks and was unable to recover.

Woldeab led 4-2 over Jong. Gorzny and Harper were gridlocked at 3-3 in set three when play was paused.

Doubles Results

#4 Eliot Spizziri / Cleeve Harper (UT) def. #13 Jake Fearnley / Luc Fomba (TCU): 7-6 [7-5]
Pierre-Yves Bailly / Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Sander Jong / Jack Pinnington (TCU): 6-3
Sebastian Gorzny / Pedro Vives (TCU) def. Chih Chi Huang / Micah Braswell (UT): 6-4

Order of finish: 2, 3, 1

Doubles Notes

Wednesday's doubles lineup was identical to the teams' draw in the ITA Indoor National Championship.
Jong and Pinnington are now tied 1-1 vs. Bailly and Woldeab. They downed the Longhorn duo 6-2 at Indoor Nationals.
Jong and Pinnington are 3-3 when paired together in 2023. Wednesday's doubles defat was their second in as many matches.
Fearnley and Fomba clinched the doubles point in TCU's national championship triumph via a 6-4 win over Spizzirri and Harper.
Fearnley and Fomba are now 31-9 together as a doubles tandem.
Wednesday's setback was just the second doubles defeat Fearnley and Fomba have sustained this season. They are 8-2 together thus far.
Gorzny and Vives continue to lead TCU in doubles victories (12).
Gorzny and Vives have won nine of their last 10 doubles decisions.
Including the ITA Texas Regional, Gorzny and vives are 15-3 together in doubles n 2022-2023.
Gorzny and vives led 6-5 over Huang and Braswell during the ITA Indoor National Championship.
Overall, TCU is now 29-10 in doubles. Court by court, the Horned Frogs are 7-4 on court one, 10-4 on court two, and 12-2 on court three.

Singles Results

#1 Eliot Spizziri (UT) def. #21 Jake Fearnley (TCU): 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
#36 Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) def. #16 Luc Fomba (TCU): 7-5, 6-2
Jack Pinnington (TCU) def. #78 Micah Braswell (UT): 6-3, 6-1
#43 Sander Jong (TCU) vs. #29 Siem Woldeab (UT): 6-4, 4-6, 2-4
#71 Sebastian Gorzny (TCU) vs. Cleeve Harper (UT): 6-3, 4-6, 3-3
Nevin Arimilli (UT) def. Tomas Jirousek (TCU): 6-1, 6-4

Order of finish: 3, 6, 2, 1

Singles Notes

Pinnington is 2-0 head-to-head vs. Braswell in 2023. He earned a 6-4, 6-0 win over Braswell to put TCU ahead by two points in its indoor national championship victory.
Pinnington moved to 5-2 in singles play. He has won four straight decisions.
Fearnley faced off with Spizzirri for the third time in 2022-2023. They battled one another in the quarterfinals of the ITA National Fall Championships on Nov. 4 and split the first two frames of a dual on court one at Indoor Nationals.
Jong and Gorzny obtained TCU's final two points in its championship defeat of the Longhorns with respective sweeps of Woldeab and Harper.
The Horned Frogs are 46-10 in singles matches this season.
Pinnington's win improved TCU's collective mark on court three to 11-1.
Wednesday's result marked the first time all year TCU suffered multiple singles losses.

Up Next
TCU battles No. 10 USC (10-3) at 5 p.m. or following the conclusion of TCU women's tennis' match vs. Kansas State on Friday. The Trojans are the fourth consecutive ranked team TCU has hosted in two weeks.