TCU men, women, UT Arlington set for NCAA tennis regionals

Four area college teams will open the NCAA Tennis Championship this weekend at various locations around the country, including the No. 4-ranked TCU men’s team, which will host the Fort Worth Regional at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center at TCU.

The Horned Frogs will make their 27th appearance in the NCAA tournament when they open the first round against SWAC champion Jackson State (6-18) at 1 p.m. Friday. No. 26 Rice (23-7) plays No. 36 LSU (14-11) in the first first-round match at 10 a.m. The two first-round winners will play at 1 p.m. Saturday for a berth in the Round of 16 in Tulsa.

Admission to the Fort Worth Regional is $5 for adults and $3 for youths.

The No. 37-ranked TCU women’s team will also open Friday against No. 29 Wichita State at 10 a.m. at the Miami Regional in Coral Gables, Fla. No. 7 seed Miami will play Quinnipiac in the other first-round match.

In other men’s action, the UT Arlington men’s team, which turned in its best season in school history with an 18-win season, plays No. 10 Oklahoma at 4 p.m. Friday in Norman, Okla. SMU takes on Washington in the first round at 10 a.m. Saturday in Lubbock.

Despite the loss of four seniors off last year’s team, the TCU men will not only be looking to reach the Final Four for the second year in a row, but the Horned Frogs also could have the talent to win it all.

So is this year’s team better than last year?

“I’ve thought about that: ‘Are we better than last year?’ TCU coach David Roditi said. “If we can play doubles at the level we’ve been playing doubles, then the fact that Cameron [Norrie] is better than he was last year, and Trevor Johnson is better than he was last year, then you could argue that it might be a better team. … It would be a good match.”

Roditi, who was named Big 12 co-coach of the year along with Texas Tech’s Brett Masi, said the team is confident, especially opening the tournament at home.

“We’ve won a lot the last two years at home,” he said. “This team, with their youth, there is a lot of excitement. A lot of times it’s hard to be afraid of something you don’t know. So from that respect, I expect these guys to be extremely motivated in wanting to create their own identity.”

The Frogs are led by Norrie, a sophomore from New Zealand who is ranked No. 5 in the nation after going 21-7 overall this season.

He is joined this year by Alex Rybakov, who was named Big 12 freshman of the year after joining the team in January and winning 20 matches with a 4-0 mark in conference. The Coral Springs, Fla., native is 18-4 in dual matches and 10-4 against ranked opponents this season.

Also receiving All-Big 12 honors on Thursday were junior Hudson Blake and freshman Reese Stalder on first-team doubles, and sophomore Guillermo Nunez on second team.

TCU has also gotten solid play this season in both singles and doubles from Trevor Johnson, a sophomore, as well as freshman Eduardo Nava and juniors Jerry Lopez and Trey Daniel.

The TCU women are led by All-Big 12 players Seda Arantekin, Olaya Garrido-Rivas and Caroline Wegner.

Garrido-Rivas became the second player in program history to be named newcomer of the year. Arantekin was a double honoree on the All-Big 12 doubles first team with Wegner for the second straight season, while also picking up an All-Big 12 singles second-team honor.

The women’s match will be available on ESPN3.

This story was originally published May 12, 2016 at 5:46 PM with the headline "TCU men, women, UT Arlington set for NCAA tennis regionals."