FORT WORTH, Texas -- The No. 13 TCU men's tennis team suffered its first loss of the 2005 season Wednesday in Fort Worth, Texas. The Horned Frogs were upset by No. 51 South Alabama 4-3 on the Bernard J. "Tut" Bartzen Varsity Tennis Courts at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center. TCU is 3-1 on the year, while the Jaguars improved to 6-1.
The Purple and White got swept in doubles play. USA's first victory came at the top slot where Dias Doskarayev and Clinton Jacobs toppled the 13th-ranked duo of Rafael Abreu and Fabrizio Sestini, 8-1. Sam Huffman and Tiago Santo clinched the doubles point at three when they beat Radu Barbu and Jacob Martin by an 8-5 score. Franticek Babej and David Kepka completed the sweep with a 9-7 triumph over Jordan Freitas and Jacopo Tezza at the second position.
TCU bounced back with two quick victories in singles at the Nos. 3 and 6 holes. Abreu provided the first at No. 6, downing Mark Gellard 6-1, 6-1 to remain unbeaten in dual matches. Tezza got the second point with a 6-1, 6-2 victory against Doskarayev.
The Jaguars got their second point at two singles from Jacobs, who defeated Barbu in straight sets, 7-6, 6-4. Freitas put TCU ahead 3-2 thanks to a 6-4, 7-5 win versus Santo at the No. 5 spot. As Freitas won his match, Sestini and Martin were both entering third sets in their matches at one and four singles.
Martin battled his way into a tiebreaker with Kepka and took a 4-1 lead after the first five points. Kepka responded with five unanswered points to lead 6-4, however, Martin took the next two to tie things back up heading to the changeover. The next two points belonged to Kepka, giving him a 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 win.
Sestini was down a break and Babej, who is ranked 64th, was serving up 5-4 when Martin dropped his match. The nation's 22nd-rated player, Sestini won the first point of the game, but the next four were claimed by Babej. The Jaguar won by scores of 6-7, 6-3, 6-4.
TCU will host the Conference USA Shootout over Feb. 25-27 at the Friedman Tennis Center. The Horned Frogs have a first-round bye and face the winner of DePaul-Memphis Saturday, Feb. 26, at 1:30 p.m. CST. The other Friday match features East Carolina-Saint Louis at 10 a.m. The winner takes on Louisville the next day at 10 a.m.
#51 South Alabama (6-1) 4, #13 TCU (3-1) 3
SINGLES
1. #64 Franticek Babej, USA, def. #22 Fabrizio Sestini, TCU, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4
2. Clinton Jacobs, USA, def. Radu Barbu, TCU, 7-6, 6-4
3. Jacopo Tezza, TCU, def. Dias Doskarayev, USA, 6-1, 6-2
4. David Kepka, USA, def. Jacob Martin, TCU, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6
5. Jordan Freitas, TCU, def. Tiago Santo, USA, 6-4, 7-5
6. Rafael Abreu, TCU, def. Mark Gellard, USA, 6-1, 6-1
Order of Finish: 6, 3, 2, 5, 4, 1*
DOUBLES
1. Doskarayev/Jacobs, USA, def. #13 Abreu/Sestini, TCU, 8-1
2. Babej/Kepka, USA, def. Freitas/Tezza, TCU, 9-7
3. Sam Huffman/Santo, USA, def. Barbu/Martin, TCU, 8-5
Order of Finish: 1, 3*, 2
* Clinching point
