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Thursday,
April 15, 2004 |
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High
hopes of NCAA bid for No. 1-seeded Frogs
By
Mary
Hollis
Skiff Staff
The regular season is over and the TCU men’s tennis
team will enter the Conference USA tournament as the No.
1 seed.
The 12th-ranked squad finished their season at 14-5 and
hopes to win the conference this weekend and come home
with a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The Frogs have been looking forward to the tournament
all year, said assistant coach Cory Hubbard. He said this
was a good season for the team and that they have worked
hard and deserve the No.1 seed.
“It’s the post season and this is why we get
up early and do conditioning and these guys are really
looking forward to this,” Hubbard said. “We
are going there basically just to lay it on the line.”
Hubbard said the recent win over Virginia, a top 12 team,
gave confidence to the Frogs to go on the road and play
well. Hubbard said the team will be facing other very
good teams this weekend and they will need a strong and
quick start to stay ahead.
“This is what is great about being a team sport;
we can try to accomplish these goals together,” said
Hubbard. “If we focus on the little things, just
being ready to play and competing hard and going after
it and playing with confidence, I think that the results
and the outcome will take care of itself.”
Senior Alex Menichini said because this is his last season
he wants to keep it going by winning C-USA and advancing
to the NCAA Tournament. Menichini said it is very important
for the players to get off to a good start in the matches
because they only play to four games.
“We have to trust everybody and that everybody is
going to bring their game. I know the rest of the guys
on the team are really good players and can play a great
game,” Menichini said.
Junior Fabrizio Sestini said the team knows what their
strengths are and they do not really need to focus on
rankings.
“The only thing that matters is just whenever we
go down in the court is just to give our best, knowing
what we are capable of, and I think we probably are going
to have success,” Sestini said.
Sestini said the team cannot rely on their seed and must
go in ready to play with a lot of intensity and hunger
to win. He said this season has been one of consistency
and teamwork, which will work to their advantage for the
tournament.
“One of our very big strengths in this team is we
are really, really united and we always help each other;
we lose and we win as a team,” Sestini said.
The University of Memphis will be hosting the C-USA Championship.
The Frogs play the winner of Charlotte-Southern Miss.
in the quarterfinals at 9 a.m. Friday.
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