TCU
Duke
Preview: NCAA Championships
5/15/2024 2:29:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Horned Frogs set to play Kentucky in quarterfinals on Thursday at 1:30 p.m.
FORT WORTH - For the ninth straight season, No. 4 TCU advanced to the final site of the NCAA Championships and meets a familiar foe in Thursday's quarterfinals.
The Horned Frogs face fifth-seeded Kentucky at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday at the Greenwood Tennis Center on the campus of Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla.
TCU (25-4) has yet to drop a point in the NCAA Tournament, most recently shutting out No. 13 Duke in Super Regional action on Saturday. The Wildcats (27-2) skated by No. 12 Harvard, 4-2, to set up Thursday's match.
The two clubs have a recent postseason history. Kentucky spoiled No. 1 seeded TCU's season in the NCAA quarterfinals in 2022, upsetting the Horned Frogs 4-3. TCU avenged the loss in the semifinals at the 2023 ITA Indoor National Championships in on Feb. 19, 2023. The Horned Frogs knocked out Kentucky, 4-2, and went on to repeat as indoor National Champions the following day.
If the bracket goes chalk, the Horned Frogs will rematch No. 1 Ohio State in the semifinals at 11 a.m. on Saturday. TCU fell 4-3 to the Buckeyes in this year's ITA Indoor National Championship match and faced Ohio State in the 2023 NCAA semifinals.
The Buckeyes face No. 8 Columbia prior to TCU's dual with Kentucky. On the opposite half of the bracket are No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Virginia, No. 6 Wake Forest and No. 7 Tennessee. TCU holds victories over the Longhorns, Demon Deacons and Volunteers.
TCU enters the NCAA Championships with a record of 53-33 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. Head coach David Roditi has amassed a record of 27-9 in the NCAA Tournament.
The Horned Frogs and Cavaliers are the only programs that have advanced to the final site of the NCAA Championships in each of the last nine seasons.
TCU has notched seven quarterfinal berths in the last nine seasons. No program in the country has reached more Elite Eights. The Horned Frogs will make their 14th all-time NCAA quarterfinal appearance on Thursday. TCU has advanced to the semifinals five times (1989, 1996, 2001, 2015, 2023).
Series History: Kentucky
All-Time: 5-2
Home Record: 1-0
Away Record: 0-0
Neutral Record: 4-2
First Meeting: 9-0, TCU on March 8, 1984, in Fort Worth Texas
Last Meeting: 4-2, TCU on February 19, 2023, in Chicago, Illinois
Follow Along
Live Stream: gofrogs.co/4bfWIB5
Live Stats: gofrogs.co/3wChs75
Frog Focus
· TCU earned a national seed in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight season.
· TCU is 53-33 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
· David Roditi is 27-9 in the NCAA Tournament.
· The Horned Frogs finished 13-0 in home duals this season and have won 19 consecutive contests on the pruple courts dating back to 2023.
· TCU concluded the regular season tabbed fourth in the ITA team rankings. The Horned Frogs have been ranked in the top-five the entirety of the season.
· The Horned Frogs were runners-up in the Big 12 Championship, falling to No. 2 Texas after defeating No. 39 Baylor and No. 9 Oklahoma in the first two rounds.
· TCU had six players receive a combined seven postseason All-Big 12 accolades.
· No. 13 Jack Pinnington leads the Horned Frogs in singles wins in 2023-24 with 30.
· Pinnington has garnered 22 ranked wins since the fall.
· Pinnington has a record of 18-4 in duals.
· Pinnington was named Big Player of the Week twice this season.
· Pinnington is 12-2 in 2024 on court one.
· Fearnley owns 10 wins over nationally ranked foes, including the top-ranked players in the country in No. 1 Johannus Monday and No. 2 Eliot Spizziri.
· Seventh-ranked Jake Fearnley is 14-2 in 2024. He has pocketed 10 victories on the top court.
· Pinnington and Fearnley were unanimous All-Big 12 Singles first team selections.
· Both players received All-American status after earning seeded positioning in the NCAA Individual Championships. Fearnley and Pinnington are the 29th and 30th All-Americans in program history.
· Fearnley garnered All-Big 12 tournament team honors at No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles.
· In the Fort Worth Regional, Pinnington took down Ivy League Player of the Year Radu Papoe in straight sets, 6-1, 7-5. Papoe, No. 14 nationally, is the second-highest ranked player Pinnington has defeated.
· No. 78 Lui Maxted is tied with Pinnington in dual singles victories with 18.
· No. 77 Sebastian Gorzny, the 2023 Big 12 Freshman of the Year, is 7-4 so far in dual singles play. Gorzny made his return to the lineup vs. UC Irvine for the first time since March 17. He played doubles in both of TCU's Fort Worth Regional wins.
· Two of TCU's three doubles pairs are nationally ranked.
· The ninth-ranked duo of Sebastian Gorzny and Pedro Vives are 9-2 on the year with all matches on court one.
· Gorzny and Vives made the All-Big 12 doubles team along with being automatic qualifiers for the NCAA Men's Tennis Doubles Championships.
· The pairing of Jake Fearnley and Pedro Vives was named to the All-Big 12 tournament team as the No. 1 doubles team.
· Fearnley and Vives are currently No. 63 in the latest ITA rankings.
· Fearnley and Vives are 4-0 this season with three wins against ranked foes.
· In the Fort Worth Super Regional, Vives and Fearnley took down the nation's No. 1 pair of Johns/Rodenas of Duke, 6-2.
· Vives was the Big 12 singles champion on court two.
· Vives also made the All-Big 12 second team for singles.
· The tandem of Duncan Chan and Lui Maxted are 15-9 in 2024.
· Chan has produced a combined 7-4 singles record on courts five and six. He has tallied three match-clinchers, two of which have come with TCU tied 3-3.
· Chan made his outdoor debut on six on March 10 vs. No. 25 Baylor and clinched a 4-2 Horned Frog victory. He clinched a 4-3 road win at No. 44 USC just six days later in the sixth position and picked up his third match-clincher in TCU's regular season finale, a come-from-behind 4-3 home victory against No. 29 UCF.
· Tomas Jirousek is 12-7 in 2024 and is a combined 7-3 on courts four and five.
· Jirousek leads the Horned Frogs with five match-clinchers on the year.
· Jirousek and Kaj Quirijns were the Big 12 No. 3 doubles individual season champions.
· Julian Alonso is 5-1 in 2024.
· Alonso registered his first career Big 12 win at Oklahoma State on March 30.
· Alonso has won four matches in a row dating back to his triumph in Stillwater.
2024 So Far
· TCU was picked second in the Big 12 Men's Tennis Preseason Poll.
· The Horned Frogs notched their sixth consecutive ITA Kickoff Weekend championship to begin the season.
· While hosting to ITA Kickoff Weekend, TCU pitched consecutive 4-0 shutouts of Rice and Tulsa to punch its ticket to ITA Indoor Nationals. Both the Owls and Golden Hurricane have since cracked the top-75 of the ITA team rankings.
· After ITA Kickoff Weekend, TCU welcomed a pair of top-15 teams to the indoor Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center on Feb. 2 and Feb. 4, respectively in No. 15 Stanford and sixth-ranked Tennessee.
· After winning the doubles point, TCU claimed wins on courts two, three, four and five to secure a 5-2 win over the Cardinal.
· Just two days later, TCU played in an instant classic against the Volunteers. TCU trailed 3-1 and was down to match point on court one, before Jake Fearnley earned his biggest collegiate victory thus far. Fearnley took down his Wimbledon doubles partner, Johannus Monday, who is currently ranked No. 4 in the nation. Fearnley fought off match point to win, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6(3). Fearnley's win fueled the TCU comeback which led to Tomas Jirousek clinching the match on court six over Tennessee's Chris Li, 6-3, 6-2.
· TCU then traveled up north to play No. 13 Michigan (Feb. 13) in its indoor regular season finale and won 4-0 in Ann Arbor.
· TCU made its third-straight ITA Indoor National Championship.
· TCU went 3-1 in the ITA Indoor National Championships
· TCU took down No. 15 Arizona State (Feb. 16), No. 10 Texas A&M (Feb. 17) and No. 6 Wake Forest (Feb. 18) in the ITA Indoor National Championships before falling to No. 1 Ohio State (Feb.19) , 4-3.
· TCU had two selections on the ITA Indoor National Championships All-Tournament Team as Fearnley and Pinnington garnered the honors.
· In its first outdoor dual of 2024, TCU defeated No. 10 Texas (Mar. 2), 4-3 in a thrilling collegiate tennis match.
· Fearnley clinched the match with a win over the No. 1 ranked Eliot Spizzirri, 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-4.
· TCU won three straight ranked road matches from March 13-17 over spring break, defeating, No. 29 UCLA, No. 44 USC and No. 40 Pepperdine.
· TCU is 17-3 against ranked foes.
· TCU took down No. 27 Baylor (Mar. 22) 4-1 in its opening conference match on the road in Waco.
· The Horned Frogs swept BYU (April 4) and Texas Tech (April 6).
· The Horned Frogs went 2-0 to close out the regular season with ranked wins against No. 40 SMU (April 11) and No. 31 UCF (April 13).
· TCU went 2-1 in the Big 12 Tennis Tournament (April 19-21)
· TCU beat No. 39 Baylor for the third time this year.
· TCU took down No. 9 Oklahoma, 4-1, before falling to Texas in the championship match.
· TCU swept both No. 67 UC Irvine and No. 35 Cornell to advance to its seventh Super Regional in nine years.
· TCU swept No. 13 Duke in the Fort Worth Super Regional.
· TCU is 13-0 at home this season.
Quick Hits
Doubles Info
Overall Doubles Record.............................................................48-23
No. 1 Doubles Record...................................................................15-5
No. 2 Doubles Record..................................................................18-11
No. 3 Doubles Record..................................................................15-7
When Winning the Doubles Point.................................................19-2
When Losing the Doubles Pont....................................................6-2
Singles Info
Overall Singles Record.............................................................91-35
No. 1 Singles Record...................................................................22-3
No. 2 Singles Record...................................................................15-6
No. 3 Singles Record...................................................................11-10
No. 4 Singles Record...................................................................16-5
No. 5 Singles Record..................................................................15-5
No. 6 Singles Record...................................................................12-6
Projected Singles Lineup
- No. 13 Jack Pinnington Season: 18-4/Career 38-11
- No. 7 Jake Fearnley Season: 14-2/Career 81-30
- No. 73 Pedro Vives Season: 10-9/Career: 53-28
- No. 77 Sebastian Gorzny Season: 7-4/Career 34-10
- No. 78 Lui Maxted Season: 18-4/Career 47-18
- Tomas Jirousek Season: 12-7/Career 43-25
Projected Doubles Lineup
- No. 63 Pedro Vives/Jake Fearnley Season: 4-0
- Duncan Chan/Lui Maxted Season: 15-9
- Sebastian Gorzny/Jack Pinnington Season: 3-0
Players Mentioned
