Jan. 27, 2012

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FORT WORTH, Texas - The TCU men's tennis team will hit the road for the first time in 2012, traveling to the 2012 ITA Kick-Off Weekend, hosted by the University of Georgia in Athens, Ga.

Fifteen universities were designated as host sites in order of their year-end ranking in the 2011 Campbell/ITA team poll. In all, 60 teams will be competing across the country this weekend for 15 vacant spots at the ITA National Men’s Team Indoor Championship, hosted by the University of Virginia at the Boar's Head Tennis Club, Feb. 17-20.

The Horned Frogs are listed as the No. 4-seed and will take on host Georgia Sunday at 1 p.m. CT. Virginia Tech is the No. 2-seed and is scheduled to play No. 3-seed Nebraska Sunday at 8 a.m. CT. Depending on Sunday’s results, TCU will continue the weekend against Virginia Tech or Nebraska on Monday at 8 a.m. CT. Both of the Frogs’ matches will take place indoors at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.

The Frogs opened the season Wednesday with a 4-2 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi indoors at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center. Freshman Nick Chappell and junior JT Sundling each won in singles from the top two spots and teamed up to clinch the doubles point. Senior Daniel Sanchez got his final campaign off to a good start, picking up a singles win for TCU.

UGA is currently ranked No. 4 in the national team rankings and lineup is headlined by No. 3 Wil Spencer and No. 10 Sadio Doumbia, No. 26 Ignacio Taboada. Spencer was a finalist at the 2011 ITA All-American Championships, winning 17 of his first 19 singles matches during the fall. The Bulldogs hosted No. 66 Clemson on Jan. 21, picking up a convincing 7-0 victory over the Tigers to tune up for this weekend.

Virginia Tech is the No. 34 ranked team in the country as they return seven players from the 2011 squad. The Hokies finished the 2011 season with a record of 15-12 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. VT has two singles players ranked in No. 50 Lukea Somen and No. 71 Lucus Oliveria, along with the double tandem of Somen and Corrado Delg'Incerti Tocci listed at No. 51.

Nebraska has two singles players ranked in the ITA top-75 with No. 41 Christopher Aumueller and No. 78 Benedikt Lindheim. The Huskers' doubles team of Aumueller and Lindheim is ranked No. 7 in the country, while the duo of Robert Schulze and Andre Stenger are ranked No. 44. Nebraska finished the 2011 season ranked No. 44 with a record of 15-13, falling to Miami (Fla.) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.