March 5, 2008
Box Score
FORT WORTH, Texas - The No. 29 TCU men's tennis team fought to a 4-3 win over No. 35 Oklahoma on Wednesday night at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center. With the win, the Horned Frogs improved to 10-1 this season, while the Sooners dropped to 4-4 overall.
"It's a match we should've won, which turned into a match we should've lost, and we were able to come back to get the win," said TCU head coach Dave Borelli. "For Zach (Nichols) to come down from 5-0 in the third set was very impressive."
The Frogs began the match with a sweep of doubles play. Emanu Brighiu and Adrian Simon led off with an 8-2 victory over Vlad Marinescu and Alexandru Joitoiu at the No. 2 position. The TCU duo of Kriegler Brink and Cosmin Cotet followed with an 8-4 win over the 28th-ranked duo of Andrei Daescu and Federico Chavarria, while Zach Nichols and Jack Seider improved to 11-0 this season with an 8-3 win over Ionut Beleleu and Ryan Thomas at the No. 3 spot.
After a TCU loss at the No. 6 singles position, Brink put the Frogs back up 2-1 with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Joitoiu at the No. 4 flight. Brink improved to 10-0 in singles play this year with the win.
Oklahoma would bounce back to win matches at the top two singles positions to take a 3-2 lead in the match. Brighiu fell to Sergey Avdeyev by a score of 6-3, 7-5, while Cotet, ranked No. 27 nationally, fell to No. 21 Daescu by a score of 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.
TCU's Simon, ranked No. 115, won a gutsy 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 match over Beleleu at the No. 3 position, tying the match at 3-3.
With Nichols trailing 5-0 in the final frame, the TCU freshman rallied back to win five games and eventually force a tiebreaker. Nichols would take the tiebreaker by a score of 7-3 to give TCU the victory.
The Frogs, who have already matched their win total from last season, will return to action on Saturday at 1 p.m. at No. 19 Texas A&M.
No. 29 TCU (10-1) def. No. 35 Oklahoma (4-4), 4-3
SINGLES
1. No. 27 Andrei Daescu (OU) def. No. 21 Cosmin Cotet (TCU) 6-2, 3-6, 7-5
2. Sergey Avdeyev (OU) def. Emanu Brighiu (TCU) 6-3, 7-5
3. No. 115 Adrian Simon (TCU) def. Ionut Beleleu (OU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
4. Kriegler Brink (TCU) def. Alexander Joitoiu (OU) 6-1, 6-3
5. No. 122 Zach Nichols (TCU) def. Vlad Marinescu (OU) 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(3)
6. Federico Chavarria (OU) def. Jack Seider (TCU) 6-0, 6-0
Order of Finish: 6, 4, 2, 1, 3, 5*
DOUBLES
1. Brink/Cotet (TCU) def. No. 28 Daescu/Chavarria (OU) 8-4
2. Brighiu/Simon (TCU) def. Marinescu/Joitoiu (OU) 8-2
3. Nichols/Seider (TCU) def. Beleleu/Thomas (OU) 8-3
Order of Finish: 2, 1*, 3
*Clinching point
