No. 4 TCU tennis hopes it has learned from season’s first loss
No. 4 TCU has lost just three times this season on its way to a second straight appearance in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA men’s tennis championship.
The Frogs (26-3), who reached the semifinals last year, will meet No. 13 California (18-6) at 9 a.m. Friday at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on the University of Tulsa campus.
The Frogs’ first loss of the season came against then-No. 24 Cal on Feb. 7 in the Big 12/Pac-12 Challenge on the Weller Indoor Courts in Austin.
“We don’t want any more losses,” TCU coach David Roditi said. “I think we learned a lot from that loss. I think they were the more physical team, very physical, and we needed to focus on keeping up a certain intensity for the whole duration of the match.”
TCU won the doubles point against the Bears in Austin, and picked up a victory on the No. 1 singles court from sophomore Cameron Norrie. Cal, however, rallied to win four singles matches to clinch the victory.
“We were a little whiny in some spots,” Roditi said. “We didn’t show the resilience to come back after losing the first set in four of those matches. We’ve proven that we learned from that against Oklahoma and Texas where we were able to come back from that kind of situation and win.”
TCU defeated Texas after dropping the first set on four of the six singles courts. The same thing happened against the No. 10 Sooners in the first round of the Big 12 Championships on April 30.
“I also think that when you win the doubles point, you have a tendency to get complacent,” Roditi said. “But we learned that just because you win the doubles point, doesn’t mean you will win the match. They now know that can happen, and we did it to several teams this season.”
Roditi said Cal is better suited to play indoors, with three Swedes and a French player who all grew up playing indoors, and they are tall, which is an advantage playing indoors.
“We’ve got guys from Chile, New Zealand, Mexico, Las Vegas, Arizona and Florida, so we grew up playing outdoors,” Roditi said. “Hopefully it won’t rain, and we won’t have to move indoors.”
Alex [Rybakov] is one of the most mature and overall most professional freshman I’ve ever had. I’m not saying he’s perfect, nobody is, but as far as understanding where his priorities are, he’s as good as it gets.
TCU coach David Roditi
And with a TCU team that features three freshmen and three sophomores, the learning curve was expected.
The Cal match was just the fourth collegiate match for freshman Alex Rybakov of Coral Springs, Fla., who joined the team in January after playing as an amateur on the USTA Pro Circuit during the fall. He has won 20 of 25 completed matches to climb to No. 24 in the nation, playing mostly in the No. 2 spot.
“Alex is one of the most mature and overall most professional freshman I’ve ever had,” Roditi said. “I’m not saying he’s perfect, nobody is, but as far as understanding where his priorities are, he’s as good as it gets.”
TCU also has gotten strong play from freshmen Eduardo Nava of Northridge, Calif., and Reese Stalder of Costa Mesa, Calif. Nava is a quick and tenacious player, who has won 10 of 17 matches mostly on Court 5. He is also undefeated in five doubles matches.
Stalder has won eight of 10 singles matches, but he has excelled on the doubles court, taking over at No. 1 doubles with junior Hudson Blake and climbing to No. 65 in the nation. The duo also earned All-Big 12 honors in doubles.
The three freshmen have provided a solid influx of talent. That, combined with an extra year of seasoning for Norrie, fellow sophomores Guillermo Nunez and Trevor Johnson and the addition of junior transfer Jerry Lopez, has played a significant role in TCU’s return to the Sweet 16.
Only time will tell if they have learned enough to win the final four matches that stand between them and a national championship, which will be decided Tuesday in Tulsa.
Rusty Hall: 817-390-7816, @RustyHall10s
NCAA Tennis Championships
Friday’s Sweet 16
TCU vs. Cal, 9 a.m.
This story was originally published May 19, 2016 at 2:43 PM with the headline "No. 4 TCU tennis hopes it has learned from season’s first loss."