Men's Tennis Aces Its Way Back to the National Quarterfinals

The No. 2 TCU Men's Tennis team (25-3) is still on serve to defend its national championship title after defeating No. 15 UCF (23-9) in a 4-0 sweep on Saturday in the Fort Worth Super Regional.

The Horned Frogs advanced to the national championship site for the 10th consecutive season. It marks the sixth-straight quarterfinals appearance for TCU. They will face No. 7 Virginia (23-7) on Friday in the Elite Eight at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco. The Cavaliers, tabbed fourth in the final ITA regular season team rankings, defeated No. 10 Arizona 4-2 in their third round bout. 

Saturday's dual against the Knights was a revenge game for the Frogs, as UCF eliminated TCU in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals three weeks prior. TCU was firing on all cylinders on Saturday, only dropping two sets in the entire dual.

In that tournament dual, the Frogs were down three players due to injury or illness, including two of the top four in their singles lineup, and saw another pair sustain injuries during the match. Saturday's dual was the first time the team played with its full lineup since March 11.

With the win, TCU extended its NCAA-leading home winning streak to 35 matches and finished unblemished at Bayard for the second straight year. Saturday’s triumph augmented the program’s all-time home postseason record to 28-1. TCU moved to 59-33 all-time in the NCAA Tournament while head coach David Roditi spiked his career record in the flagship event to 33-9.  

No. 2 TCU vs No. 15 UCF - Doubles Recap

The dual started with the doubles courts, and from the beginning, it looked like this was going to be a close one, just like that match in Waco. TCU won a set on one court, and UCF followed with a win on another court. It took the third court to determine the winnier, with TCU coming away with the doubles point.

TCU's Pedro Vives had been out of the lineup for several weeks with an injury. He returned last week for the doubles match against Oklahoma. He was back for both doubles and singles play in the Super Regional.

Vives and Lui Maxted, the No. 2 doubles pair in the nation, took care of business on Court One, winning the set 6-3. They improved to 15-1 vs. ranked opponents and 24-3 overall. The senior duo has lost just once since October.

TCU's Duncan Chan and Albert Pedrico, playing on Court Three, surrendered an early break and could not get it back, despite a couple of opportunities. The duo lost their match 4-6.

The doubles point came down to Court Two with the No. 32 pair of Jack Pinnington and Cooper Woestendick. They played to a 4-4 tie before earning a break and then winning the set 6-4 to give TCU the first point of the dual. Pinnington and Woestendick have now won 10 straight matches and are undefeated outdoors. Their season record stands at 14-4.

TCU finished undefeated in doubles at home (15-0) for the first time in its storied history. The Horned Frogs have claimed 10 consecutive doubles points and are 24-4 on the season.

No. 2 TCU vs No. 15 UCF - Singles Recap

If the doubles matches were competitive and close, the singles matches were anything but that. TCU breezed through them, winning five of the six first sets.

TCU would get a couple of straight-set victories from the outside courts. Albert Pedrico (on Court Five) and Roger Pascual (on Court Six) both did a little jousting with the Knights and knocked their armors off. Pedrico won 6-2, 6-3, while Pascual won 6-1, 6-2.

Both matches were revenge matches for the Frogs, from the dual three weeks ago in Waco, as both Pedrico and Pascual faced the same UCF opponents. In that dual, Pascual lost his match to Nicolas Oliveira, while Pedrico was forced to medically retire his court. Those two points earned by UCF were the dual-clinching ones that sent UCF to the tournament finals.

Lui Maxted would clinch the dual on Saturday with a 6-2, 6-4 win on Court Three. Maxted continues to lead TCU in singles victories behind a 28-6 season record.

With the win, TCU advances to the quarterfinals of the NCAA D1 Men’s Tennis Championship. They will face No. 7 Virginia on Friday at 4 p.m. CT at the dual in Waco.