Saturday, April 15
Austin, TX
7 PM
TCU
at
Texas
TCU to Battle Texas for Undisputed Big 12 Regular Season Championship
4/13/2023 12:03:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Horned Frogs can claim their fourth straight regular season title with a win in Austin
FORT WORTH – They say everything is bigger in Texas, and the trope rings as loud as ever across the men's college tennis landscape.
No. 3 TCU and No. 1 Texas are set to collide on the courts for the third time in 2023 on Saturday in Austin in a match that will determine the undisputed Big 12 Regular season champion.
The Horned Frogs (20-1) and Longhorns (20-2) enter the tilt with identical 4-0 conference records.
This will be the second match between the teams that levies title implications. TCU shut out Texas 4-0 on Feb. 20 in Chicago in their first meeting, hoisting its second consecutive ITA Indoor National Championship in the process. The Longhorns avenged the loss 29 days later, downing the Horned Frogs 4-1 on March 22 in Fort Worth to hand TCU its lone defeat thus far in 2023.
The season rivalry between TCU and Texas almost certainly will not have reached its conclusion no matter the outcome in Austin.
In fact, the Horned Frogs and Longhorns are likely to see each other eight days following Saturday's tussle in the finals of the Big 12 Tournament, held from Apr. 21-23 in Lawrence, Kansas. Both teams earned first round byes in the six-team tournament last week and are undefeated against their conference counterparts in 2023.
Should that scenario play out, three of the four matches between TCU and Texas will have held championship implications. And it may not be the last time the teams square off with a title on the line in 2023.
If their respective runs through the gauntlet that is the 16-team ITA Indoor National Championships bracket are any indication - both teams downed three programs presently or previously ranked in the top-10 - TCU and Texas may indeed play each other five times this season. Assuming the Horned Frogs and Longhorns are seeded on opposite ends of the NCAA Tournament bracket, a fifth-and-final match would be for the ultimate prize, the NCAA Outdoor Championship on May 20.
First serve for Saturday's dual is 7 p.m. The contest will air on the Longhorn Network. The match is also available to watch on ESPN+ and the ESPN app for fans with a subscription to the LHN from an affiliated partner.
Follow Along
Watch: gofrogs.co/3UtywUr
Live Stats: gofrogs.co/43qsYxX
Inside the Duals
All-Time: Texas leads 31-25
Home Record: 9-14
Away Record: 9-11
Neutral Record: 7-6
Last 10 Duals: 7-3 TCU
First Meeting: 7-0 Texas, March 26, 1974, in Austin
Last Meeting: 4-1 Texas, March 22, 2023, in Fort Worth
Current Winning Streak: Texas W1
TCU vs. Texas in 2022-2033
ITA National Fall Championships (Nov. 4, 2022
Singles
QF – #35 Eliot Spizzirri (TEXAS) def. #65 Jake Fearnley (TCU): 6-2, 7-6 [7-2]
Texas 4, TCU 1 (Mar. 22, 2023)
Singles
Singles
ITA Team Rankings (April 11)
No. 3 – TCU
ITA Singles Rankings (April 11)
No. 15 – Jake Fearnley
No. 25 – Luc Fomba
No. 60 – Sander Jong
No. 70 – Sebastian Gorzny
No. 90 – Jack Pinnington
ITA Doubles Rankings (April 11)
No. 4 – Jake Fearnley / Luc Fomba
No. 16 – Sander Jong / Lui Maxted
No. 79 – Sander Jong / Jack Pinnington
Rankings Reversal
The roles are flipped in the third meeting between TCU and Texas in 2023. TCU occupied the top spot in the ITA team rankings while Texas was ranked third in the teams' nonconference dual on March 22 in Fort Worth. Texas won the match 4-1, and in Saturday's rematch, the Longhorns will take the courts as the national No. 1 against No. 3 TCU
Though TCU has a legitimate claim as to still deserving the top spot in the rankings - TCU blanked the Longhorns 4-0 to win the ITA Indoor National Championship and have one fewer loss than Texas and No. 2 Ohio State - the No. 3 ranking has been kind to the Horned Frogs. TCU was ranked No. 3 for the entirety of the indoor season, which produced a 12-0 overall record and the program's second consecutive indoor title.
TCU or Texas have occupied the No. 1 spot in the ITA team ranking for all seven weeks of the outdoor season.
Consistency is Key
The Horned Frogs are the lone NCAA Division I men's tennis program to have maintained a top-three ITA team ranking in 2023. TCU has sat atop the rankings five times and boasted the No. 2 or No. 3 ranking in eight polls (five indoor, three outdoor).
Doubles Delight
No program nationwide has been as dominant in doubles play as TCU over the last two seasons.
Since the 2022 campaign commenced, TCU has gone 44-7 in doubles. The Horned Frogs enjoyed a program-record and nation-leading doubles point streak of 18 between the 2022 NCAA Tournament and the start of the 2023 outdoor season.
Court by court, the Horned Frogs are 28-10 on court one, 31-10 out of the No. 2 post and own a 32-8 record in the third flight.
Obtaining the doubles point has proven a near-certain pathway to victory over the last two seasons. TCU is 40-2 when assuming a 1-0 lead on the scoreboard. This season, the Horned Frogs are an unblemished 18-0 when winning the doubles point.
On the Road Again
Nearly two years have passed since TCU dropped an away dual.
The Horned Frogs' 4-1 victory at No. 37 Tecas on April 8 extended the program's road winning streak to 11, dating back to the 2020-21 season.
TCU notched a perfect 7-0 record in away matches in 2022.
The Horned Frogs' last road defeat came in the Big 12 Tournament Championship at Baylor on Apr. 25, 2021.
Chasing Down 200
Luc Fomba, TCU's active leader in career combined victories, is 11 wins shy of reaching 200. Since arriving in Fort Worth in 2018, he has tallied 156 combined victories in duals over five spring seasons and sprinkled in an additional 33 in fall invitationals. When Fomba tallies career win No. 200, he will become the first player in 26 years to achieve the milestone and ascend to ninth on TCU's career combined victories list.
Fomba's year-by-year combined records are as follows:
2018-2019: 32-20 (21-7 singles / 11-13 doubles)
2019-2020: 32-12 (19-8 singles / 13-4 doubles)
2020-2021: 42-22 (22-9 singles / 20-13 doubles)
2021-2022: 48-16 (23-8 singles / 25-8 doubles)
2022-2023: 35-7 (18-3 singles / 17-4 doubles)
Jong Nears 150th Spring Season Victory
Ahead of Saturday's tilt, Sander Jong is eight victories away from joining Fomba as one of two players in TCU's Big 12 era to win 150 combined singles and doubles matches during the indoor and outdoor seasons. Jong owns a combined spring record of 142-65 (71-30 singles, 71-35 doubles) and boasts 177 career victories (85 doubles, 82 singles) when factoring in results from team sponsored fall invitationals.
Say it Ain't so, Seb
Sebastian Gorzny has lived up to his billing as the No. 5 overall player in the ITA preseason freshman/newcomer rankings.
Since arriving in Fort Worth in August, Gorzny has played to a 32-6 overall record. He went 7-2 in singles and doubles action in his TCU debut at the ITA Texas Regional, advancing all the way to the singles semifinals of the tournament. During the indoor season, Gorzny went 9-1 in doubles play alongside Pedro Vives. 11 of his 13 spring singles victories have been in straight sets. He has been victorious on courts three through six at least once in 2023. Gorzny earned the match-clincher over No. 112 Cleeve Harper in TCU's ITA Indoor National Championship triumph over Texas.
No. 3 TCU and No. 1 Texas are set to collide on the courts for the third time in 2023 on Saturday in Austin in a match that will determine the undisputed Big 12 Regular season champion.
The Horned Frogs (20-1) and Longhorns (20-2) enter the tilt with identical 4-0 conference records.
This will be the second match between the teams that levies title implications. TCU shut out Texas 4-0 on Feb. 20 in Chicago in their first meeting, hoisting its second consecutive ITA Indoor National Championship in the process. The Longhorns avenged the loss 29 days later, downing the Horned Frogs 4-1 on March 22 in Fort Worth to hand TCU its lone defeat thus far in 2023.
The season rivalry between TCU and Texas almost certainly will not have reached its conclusion no matter the outcome in Austin.
In fact, the Horned Frogs and Longhorns are likely to see each other eight days following Saturday's tussle in the finals of the Big 12 Tournament, held from Apr. 21-23 in Lawrence, Kansas. Both teams earned first round byes in the six-team tournament last week and are undefeated against their conference counterparts in 2023.
Should that scenario play out, three of the four matches between TCU and Texas will have held championship implications. And it may not be the last time the teams square off with a title on the line in 2023.
If their respective runs through the gauntlet that is the 16-team ITA Indoor National Championships bracket are any indication - both teams downed three programs presently or previously ranked in the top-10 - TCU and Texas may indeed play each other five times this season. Assuming the Horned Frogs and Longhorns are seeded on opposite ends of the NCAA Tournament bracket, a fifth-and-final match would be for the ultimate prize, the NCAA Outdoor Championship on May 20.
First serve for Saturday's dual is 7 p.m. The contest will air on the Longhorn Network. The match is also available to watch on ESPN+ and the ESPN app for fans with a subscription to the LHN from an affiliated partner.
Follow Along
Watch: gofrogs.co/3UtywUr
Live Stats: gofrogs.co/43qsYxX
Inside the Duals
- TCU and Texas are squaring off for the undisputed Big 12 regular season championship. The match signifies the third instance in which TCU can claim the conference crown outright with a win in its regular season finale.
- The match signifies the third instance in which TCU can claim the Big 12 conference crown outright with a win in its regular season finale. TCU is 0-2 in such contests. The Horned Frogs fell in their 2016 and 2021 regular season finales, respectively, to Texas Tech and Baylor. TCU shared the regular season championship with its regional rivals in both seasons.
- All roads to Big 12 regular season championship have run through Fort Worth and Austin over the last six years. The Horned Frogs have claimed three straight and five of the last six Big 12 regular season titles (2016-2018, 2021-2022), with Texas interrupting TCU's reign in 2019.
- Saturday's match is the third meeting between TCU and Texas this season and the second with title implications. The Horned Frogs shut out the Longhorns 4-0 on Feb. 20 in Chicago to capture their second consecutive ITA Indoor National Championship. Texas avenged the defeat four weeks later, handing TCU its lone loss thus far in 2023.
- This will be TCU's second match vs. the national No. 1 in its Big 12 era. TCU downed No. 1 Florida on Jan. 15, 2022, in Fort Worth to earn its first-ever win over the national No. 1.
- The Horned Frogs are 8-7 vs. Texas under head coach David Roditi. TCU has claimed the last three duals in Austin between the programs.
- TCU is riding a 12-match road winning streak into the Capital City. As of Saturday, 720 days will have passed since TCU last dropped an away dual.
- TCU is 146-82 all time vs. the Big 12 institutions that sponsor men's tennis. In the Roditi era, the Horned Frogs have produced a 56-31 record vs. their conference counterparts across 11 years of Big 12 membership.
- The Horned Frogs are outscoring opponents 97-15 through 21 matches. TCU has notched 13 victories over ranked teams by a combined 63-9 margin of victory. Only three teams - Texas, Kentucky and North Carolina - have scored multiple points vs. TCU.
- The Horned Frogs have claimed the doubles point in 22 of their last 24 outings dating back to the 2022 NCAA Tournament. TCU enjoyed a nation-leading and program record streak of 18 straight doubles points from May 5, 2022-March 19, 2023. TCU is 44-7 in doubles play over the last two seasons.
- Building an early lead in doubles has been a near-certain pathway to victory. TCU has won 16-of-17 matches when taking the first completed doubles set.
- Luc Fomba has clinched half of doubles points between three partners (Jake Fearnley, Lui Maxted, Luke Swan). Sebastian Gorzny and Pedro Vives own four doubles doubles point clinchers while Sander Jong and Jack Pinnington have staked TCU to a 1-0 match lead four times.
- In singles action, TCU has won 175-of-221 (.792) completed sets thus far in 2023. Two Horned Frogs sport undefeated singles records; Gorzny (12-0) and Maxted (7-0). Jong leads TCU in singles victories with 14.
- Fomba and Gorzny have been especially dominant in 2022-2023, as they each command respective overall records of 33-4 and 32-6. Gorzny has played singles in 19 matches this year and dropped the first set just once. He is undefeated this spring at 13-0 and 17-1 combined in 2022-2023.
- Fearnley and Jong have anchored the No. 1 singles post all season. They are a combined 13-4 on the top court. Fearnley is responsible for 10 of the victories, eight of which are against players featured in the top-125 of the ITA singles rankings.
- Fearnley has downed a team-leading 13 ranked opponents in 2022-2023. He holds a combined singles record of 21-6.
- Five Horned Frogs have staked TCU to a 14-0 singles record on court three; Fomba, Gorzny, Maxted, Pinnington and Tomas Jirousek. Fomba leads TCU with seven victories out of the No. 3 post.
All-Time: Texas leads 31-25
Home Record: 9-14
Away Record: 9-11
Neutral Record: 7-6
Last 10 Duals: 7-3 TCU
First Meeting: 7-0 Texas, March 26, 1974, in Austin
Last Meeting: 4-1 Texas, March 22, 2023, in Fort Worth
Current Winning Streak: Texas W1
TCU vs. Texas in 2022-2033
ITA National Fall Championships (Nov. 4, 2022
Singles
QF – #35 Eliot Spizzirri (TEXAS) def. #65 Jake Fearnley (TCU): 6-2, 7-6 [7-2]
Texas 4, TCU 1 (Mar. 22, 2023)
Singles
- #1 Eliot Spizzirri (TEXAS) def. #21 Jake Fearnley (TCU): 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
- #36 Pierre-Yves Bailly (TEXAS) def. #16 Luc Fomba (TCU): 7-5, 6-2
- Jack Pinnington (TCU) def. #78 Micah Braswell (TEXAS): 6-3, 6-1
- #43 Sander Jong (TCU) vs. #29 Siem Woldeab (TEXAS): 6-4, 4-6, 2-4, unfinished
- #71 Sebastian Gorzny (TCU) vs. Cleeve Harper (TEXAS): 6-3, 4-6, 4-3, unfinished
- Nevin Arimilli (TEXAS) def. Tomas Jirousek (TCU): 6-1, 6-4
- #4 Eliot Spizzirri/Cleeve Harper (TEXAS) def. #13 Jake Fearnley/Luc Fomba (TCU): 7-6 (7-5)
- Pierre-Yves Bailly/Siem Woldeab (TEXAS) def. Sander Jong/Jack Pinnington (TCU) 6-3
- Sebastian Gorzny/Pedro Vives (TCU) def. Chih Chi Huang/Micah Braswell (TEXAS) 6-4
Singles
- #8 Jake Fearnley (TCU) vs. #1 Eliot Spizzirri (TEXAS) 6-1, 6-7 [5-7], unfinished
- #49 Luc Fomba (TCU) vs. #33 Pierre-Yves Bailly (TEXAS): 6-4, 3-4, unfinished
- Jack Pinnington (TCU) def. #65 Micah Braswell (TEXAS): 6-4, 6-0
- Sander Jong (TCU) def. #25 Siem Woldeab (TEXAS): 6-2, 6-3
- Sebastian Gorzny (TCU) def. #112 Cleeve Harper (TEXAS): 6-4, 6-1
- Tomas Jirouseck (TCU) vs. Evin McDonald (TEXAS): 6-7 (5-7), 1-1, unfinished
- Jake Fearnley/Luc Fomba (TCU) def. #4 Eliot Spizzirri/Cleeve Harper (TEXAS): 7-5
- Jack Pinnington/Sander Jong (TCU) def. Pierre-Yves Bailly/Siem Woldeab (TEXAS) 6-4
- Pedro Vives/Sebastian Gorzny (TCU) vs. Micah Braswell/Chih Chi Huang (TEXAS): 6-5, unfinished
ITA Team Rankings (April 11)
No. 3 – TCU
ITA Singles Rankings (April 11)
No. 15 – Jake Fearnley
No. 25 – Luc Fomba
No. 60 – Sander Jong
No. 70 – Sebastian Gorzny
No. 90 – Jack Pinnington
ITA Doubles Rankings (April 11)
No. 4 – Jake Fearnley / Luc Fomba
No. 16 – Sander Jong / Lui Maxted
No. 79 – Sander Jong / Jack Pinnington
Rankings Reversal
The roles are flipped in the third meeting between TCU and Texas in 2023. TCU occupied the top spot in the ITA team rankings while Texas was ranked third in the teams' nonconference dual on March 22 in Fort Worth. Texas won the match 4-1, and in Saturday's rematch, the Longhorns will take the courts as the national No. 1 against No. 3 TCU
Though TCU has a legitimate claim as to still deserving the top spot in the rankings - TCU blanked the Longhorns 4-0 to win the ITA Indoor National Championship and have one fewer loss than Texas and No. 2 Ohio State - the No. 3 ranking has been kind to the Horned Frogs. TCU was ranked No. 3 for the entirety of the indoor season, which produced a 12-0 overall record and the program's second consecutive indoor title.
TCU or Texas have occupied the No. 1 spot in the ITA team ranking for all seven weeks of the outdoor season.
Consistency is Key
The Horned Frogs are the lone NCAA Division I men's tennis program to have maintained a top-three ITA team ranking in 2023. TCU has sat atop the rankings five times and boasted the No. 2 or No. 3 ranking in eight polls (five indoor, three outdoor).
Doubles Delight
No program nationwide has been as dominant in doubles play as TCU over the last two seasons.
Since the 2022 campaign commenced, TCU has gone 44-7 in doubles. The Horned Frogs enjoyed a program-record and nation-leading doubles point streak of 18 between the 2022 NCAA Tournament and the start of the 2023 outdoor season.
Court by court, the Horned Frogs are 28-10 on court one, 31-10 out of the No. 2 post and own a 32-8 record in the third flight.
Obtaining the doubles point has proven a near-certain pathway to victory over the last two seasons. TCU is 40-2 when assuming a 1-0 lead on the scoreboard. This season, the Horned Frogs are an unblemished 18-0 when winning the doubles point.
On the Road Again
Nearly two years have passed since TCU dropped an away dual.
The Horned Frogs' 4-1 victory at No. 37 Tecas on April 8 extended the program's road winning streak to 11, dating back to the 2020-21 season.
TCU notched a perfect 7-0 record in away matches in 2022.
The Horned Frogs' last road defeat came in the Big 12 Tournament Championship at Baylor on Apr. 25, 2021.
Chasing Down 200
Luc Fomba, TCU's active leader in career combined victories, is 11 wins shy of reaching 200. Since arriving in Fort Worth in 2018, he has tallied 156 combined victories in duals over five spring seasons and sprinkled in an additional 33 in fall invitationals. When Fomba tallies career win No. 200, he will become the first player in 26 years to achieve the milestone and ascend to ninth on TCU's career combined victories list.
Fomba's year-by-year combined records are as follows:
2018-2019: 32-20 (21-7 singles / 11-13 doubles)
2019-2020: 32-12 (19-8 singles / 13-4 doubles)
2020-2021: 42-22 (22-9 singles / 20-13 doubles)
2021-2022: 48-16 (23-8 singles / 25-8 doubles)
2022-2023: 35-7 (18-3 singles / 17-4 doubles)
Jong Nears 150th Spring Season Victory
Ahead of Saturday's tilt, Sander Jong is eight victories away from joining Fomba as one of two players in TCU's Big 12 era to win 150 combined singles and doubles matches during the indoor and outdoor seasons. Jong owns a combined spring record of 142-65 (71-30 singles, 71-35 doubles) and boasts 177 career victories (85 doubles, 82 singles) when factoring in results from team sponsored fall invitationals.
Say it Ain't so, Seb
Sebastian Gorzny has lived up to his billing as the No. 5 overall player in the ITA preseason freshman/newcomer rankings.
Since arriving in Fort Worth in August, Gorzny has played to a 32-6 overall record. He went 7-2 in singles and doubles action in his TCU debut at the ITA Texas Regional, advancing all the way to the singles semifinals of the tournament. During the indoor season, Gorzny went 9-1 in doubles play alongside Pedro Vives. 11 of his 13 spring singles victories have been in straight sets. He has been victorious on courts three through six at least once in 2023. Gorzny earned the match-clincher over No. 112 Cleeve Harper in TCU's ITA Indoor National Championship triumph over Texas.
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