Bring on Another Natty. Men's Tennis to Defend Title Against Wake Forest

Game! Set! Match! The No. 2 TCU Horned Frogs (27-3) met a familiar foe on the courts in Waco on Saturday night. They defeated the No. 3 Texas Longhorns (29-5) in the national semifinals by a score of 4-2.

It was a gritty dual that lived up to the rivalry the two teams have had over the last two seasons. TCU won the doubles point and the first singles match, making the score 2-0. Texas got on the board with a singles win. TCU would go up 3-1. Texas would make it 3-2.

The dual came down to third sets on Courts One and Six. Roger Pascual clinched the victory on Six. With the win, TCU advanced to the national championship for the second consecutive year. The Frogs will face No. 1 Wake Forest (39-1) on Sunday night.

It will be a rematch of the ITA Indoor National Championship dual in which the Demon Deacons defeated the Frogs 4-3 in February.

TCU Defeats Texas 4-2 in National Semifinal Dual

TCU came out strong on the doubles court, which set the tone for the rest of the night. TCU won the point thanks to two 6-3 sets against ranked pairs. It was TCU's 12th consecutive doubles win.

Albert Pedrico and Duncan Chan won their set 6-3 on Court Three against the Texas pair of Pierre-Yves Bailly and Sebastian Eriksson, who are ranked No. 81. TCU's Lui Maxted and Pedro Vives, the nation’s No. 2 ranked pair, did the clinching honors seconds later, taking out the 10th-ranked duo of Lucas Brown and Timo Legout on Court One. Jack Pinnington and Cooper Woestendick were at 4-5 on Court Two when the point was won.

In singles play, Maxted quickly put the Frogs up 2-0 with a straight-sets win on Court Three, winning 6-3, 6-0. However, Woestendick fell in straight sets on Court Four, 4-6, 0-6. This put the Longhorns on the board with a score of 2-1.

Tied at 5-5 on Court Five, Pedrico broke to take the first set 7-5. He would then win the second set 6-2, giving the Frogs a two-point lead and just one point shy of clinching the dual.

Texas was not done, though. Sebastian Gorzny took care of business in three sets on Court Two, defeating TCU's Vives 6-2, 3-6, 6-0. Last year, it was Gorzny, who was then playing for TCU, who had the clinching point to win the national championship over Texas.

With the score now 3-2 in the Frogs' favor, it came down to Courts One and Six, both of which were playing in the third set.

On Court One, No. 8 Jack Pinnington was facing the Legout, the top-ranked player in the nation. Legout won the first set 6-4. Pinnington forced the third set winning the second 6-3. Pinnington was up 4-3 in the third.

On Court Six, TCU's Roger Pascual was up against UT's Brown. Pascual won the first set 6-4 but then quickly lost the second set 0-6. He lost the first three games of the third set, but would win six straight to win the third set 6-3, making the score 4-2.

Pascual's winning point as a 27-stroke intense rally.