No. 6 TCU men sweep Tulsa; women knock off Notre Dame in NCAA action

The No. 6-ranked TCU men’s team moved into the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament with a 4-0 sweep of Tulsa in the second round of the Fort Worth Regional, played indoors on Saturday at TCU’s Bayard H. Freidman Tennis Center.

The victory capped an undefeated season at home for the No. 5-seeded Horned Frogs, who will play No. 12 seed Wake Forest (23-7) at noon Thursday in Waco. The Demon Deacons swept Pepperdine 4-0 on Saturday in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Tulsa gave TCU a scare early. After the two teams split the first two doubles matches, the Horned Frogs weren’t able to lock up the point until Guillermo Nunez and Hudson Blake won a tiebreaker 10-8 victory.

TCU took over in singles, with freshmen Cameron Norrie and Guillermo Nunez picking up quick victories. The No. 39-ranked Norrie breezed to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Matthew Kirby on Court 3, and No. 59 Nunez added a 6-3, 6-4 win against No. 87 Alejandro Espejo. TCU senior Arnau Dachs sealed the match by beating Carlos Bautista 6-2, 6-3.

TCU lost at Wake Forest 4-3 on March 8. The Demon Deacons are led by freshman Noah Rubin, one of the top young American players. Rubin won the Wimbledon juniors title last year, was the USTA boys national champion and played in the main draw at the U.S. Open.

TCU women advance

No. 17-ranked TCU (19-8) picked up a 4-2 victory over No. 34 Notre Dame (14-11) on Saturday in College Station to advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament where they will meet No. 10 seed Texas A&M at 2 p.m. Sunday.

In doubles, TCU’s No. 30-ranked duo of Seda Arantekin and Stefanie Tan defeated Notre Dame’s No. 29-ranked Quinn Gleason and Monica Robinson 8-5 to seal the point after TCU’s Palina Dubavets and Alexis Pereira beat Allison Miller and Julie Vrabel 8-4.

In singles, Notre Dame evened the match at 1-1 with a victory on Court 5 before TCU went back in front with victories by Pereira 6-3, 6-2 over Jane Fennelly, and Sofiko Kadzhaya beat Julie Vrabel 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

Notre Dame cut the lead to 3-2 before TCU’s No. 46-ranked senior Simona Parajova clinched the match with a 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 6-3 victory over Monica Robinson.

This story was originally published May 9, 2015 at 6:22 PM with the headline "No. 6 TCU men sweep Tulsa; women knock off Notre Dame in NCAA action."