Tennis eyes third trophy
Team’s final chance to win WAC championship

By John Weyand
Staff Reporter

The No. 4 men’s tennis team will try to bring home its last Western Athletic Conference Championship trophy this weekend.

TCU, who has won two of the last three conference titles, is playing its final season in the WAC before it joins Conference USA next season.Sophomore Antonio Gordon said a WAC title would be a pleasant goodbye to the conference.

“It would be great to have those kind of bragging rights to the WAC,” Gordon said.

Head coach Joey Rive said he is confident about the Frogs’ chances in the tournament despite the team’s recent loss to cross-town rival Southern Methodist.

“We’re going there for one thing, and that’s to bring home the trophy,” Rive said. “When we compete, we are tough to beat.”

Many of the members of the Frogs tennis team share Rive’s confidence in the team’s tournament success. Senior Petr Koula said the team is ready to play its best.

“I think we can win,” Koula said. “I think we all feel like that.”

Along with the team’s confidence, however, Koula said that the Frogs have to make sure they are mentally prepared to deliver their best performances.

“This is a time to suck it up and play hard,” he said.

Besides winning the conference title, Rive said that he wants the team to get re-accustomed to tournament play in time for the NCAA Regionals, May 12 and 13, and the NCAA Championships May 19 to 27. The top 16 teams in the nation each host a four-team regional, and Rive said that the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center is a shoe-in for regional play.

“Even if we lose in the first or second round (of the WAC Championship Tournament), I don’t see us dropping from No. 4 out of the top 15,” he said.

Among the better opponents the Frogs will face in the WAC Championships are No. 7 SMU, No. 26 Fresno State and No. 36 Tulsa. Of those teams, Fresno State is the only one the Frogs have not faced this season.

John Weyand
j.h.weyand@student.tcu.edu