Men’s Tennis: TCU Finishes Indoor Season Undefeated

The Frogs went on the road this week and got wins over two ranked teams – North Carolina and Baylor.

Bring on the ITA Indoor National Championships. The TCU Horned Frogs men’s tennis team will be able to defend the national championship the program won last season. The No. 3 Frogs faced two touch road duals this week, both against ranked teams. On Sunday, the team rallied from behind to defeat No. 14 North Carolina 4-3 in Chapel Hill. Then, the team traveled down I-35 for a conference matchup with No. 10 Baylor 4-1.

After the two wins this week, TCU extended its indoor winning streak to 20 and notched its 10th and 11th consecutive road wins. The last time the Frogs lost on the road was in April 2021. The Horned Frogs are the only program in the nation to have consecutive wins over teams in the Top 15 of the ITA rankings. And actually, TCU has done it back-to-back-to-back, having defeated then-No. 10 Tennessee last week.

TCU went 8-0 in the indoor season. They will be one of 16 teams participating in the ITA Indoor National Championships, which will be played February 17-20 in Chicago, Illinois. There are some familiar names in the field. Other participating teams will be Baylor, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio State, South Carolina, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas, USC, Virginia, and Wake Forest.

Here are the highlights from both of this week’s duals:

TCU 4 – North Carolina 3 – February 5

For the first time this season, TCU was down and had to rally from behind to get the win. The Frogs found themselves down 2-3. Thanks to wins by Sebastian Gorzny (Court 6) and then Luis Maxted (Court 5), TCU came away with the win. It marked the first time the Frogs have won in Chapel Hill since 1998 and only their second victory all-time over the Tar Heels. The dual was a meeting of the two most recent ITA Indoor National Champions. UNC claimed the crown in 2021, while TCU stood atop the college tennis world the following year.

Doubles Play – TCU Won

• In the seventh dual of the season, TCU won its seventh doubles point.
• On Court Three, Gorzny and Pedro Vives never trailed en route to their second straight wire-to-wire win and fifth of the spring. Vives strung three straight aces together to give the tandem its largest lead of the set at 5-2. They are 8-2 all-time alongside one another.
• Sander Jong and Maxted, No. 4 in the ITA doubles rankings and playing on Court One, fell victim to an upset for the second consecutive match. They lost 4-6.
• Jake Fearnley and Luc Fomba, the preseason ITA No. 1 doubles team, stretched their undefeated record in 2023 to 5-0. The pair has clinched the doubles point in four of TCU’s last five outings.

Singles Play – TCU and UNC tie 3-3

• Tomas Jirousek, playing on Court Four, lost his singles match of the season, 4-6, 1-6. This tied the dual at 1-1.
• Fomba, No. 28 in the ITA singles rankings, commanded Court Three for the third straight contest. He twice clawed his way out of early deficits to keep his shutout streak intact. The fifth-year senior trailed 4-3 in the opening frame before closing the show with wins in three straight games. After trailing 4-1 to begin set two, he forced a 4-4 tie, inched his way ahead 6-5, and claimed the tiebreaker to exit the court in straight sets. Fomba owns an 11-0 overall record and has yet to surrender a set this season. This put the score 2-1 in TCU’s favor.
• Fearnley, the No.8 singles player and playing on Court One, easily won the first set 6-2 but lost the second set, 3-6. He got within one point at 5-4 in the third set but could not force the tiebreaker. This once again tied the dual at 2-2.
• Jong, at Court No. 2, had the tough assignment of playing No. 9 Ryan Seggerman. His match was almost identical to Fearnley’s. Jong won the first set 6-1, then lost 3-6, 4-6, also coming within one point of forcing the third set tiebreaker. For the first time this season, TCU found themselves behind on the scoreboard 2-3 after this match.
• Gorzny, on Court Six, won in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4. The match was once again tied, this time at 3-3.
• It came down to the match on Court Five. Maxted lost the first set 5-7. He was tied at 3-3 in the second set and then won nine of his final games. He won the second set 6-4 and then the third set 6-1.

TCU 4 – Baylor 1 – February 8

Baylor had won five of the six previous meetings with TCU, including the Big 12 tournament final last May. But not this time. In front of a capacity crowd, the Frogs were not intimidated. This dual was a nonconference matchup. The conference matchup will occur on the outdoor purple courts in Fort Worth on April 6.

Doubles Play – TCU Won

• Gorzny and Vives, on Court Three, got the quick win at 6-1 to give TCU the first match. This duo is now 6-1 on the season.
• Jong and Maxted, on Court Two, despite being up 5-4, ended up losing their set 5-7.
• Fearnley and Fomba played on Court One for the first time this season. It was a position they anchored in last year’s campaign. They won their set 7-5, clinching the doubles point for TCU. The pair has clinched four straight and five of TCU’s last six doubles points.

Singles Play – TCU won 3-1

• Fearnley was the first to win his match, defeating Baylor’s No. 1 player Finn Bass 6-3, 6-1. He won ten of his last 11 games.
• Jack Pinnington made his collegiate debut on Court Two. Unfortunately, his debut didn’t go to his advantage, as he lost 3-6, 4-6. This put Baylor on the board. Frogs were up 2-1.
• Gorzny, on Court Five, lost his first set but came back to win the next two, winning his match 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.
• Fomba was ahead 5-3 in the second set of his dual as Gorzny's result went final. He then won four of his last five points to sew up a 7-6, 6-3 victory and earn his first match-clincher of the season.
• The reigning Big 12 Men's Tennis Player of the Week, Fomba is now 13-0 overall this spring and has still yet to surrender a set in singles or doubles.
• Fomba, Maxted, and Gorzny remained undefeated in singles. Fomba sports a 7-0 mark, while Gorzny and Maxted are each 5-0.

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Next up: The Horned Frogs travel to Chicago on February 17 to defend their ITA Indoor National Championship title. 

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