Frogs continue dominance over Mavericks
No. 17-ranked TCU captures doubles point in win over UTA
By Quinten Boyd
Staff Reporter

The men’s tennis matches between TCU and Texas-Arlington have all had one thing in common. In the past five meetings, the Frogs have defeated the Mavericks by a combined score of 32-3.

Wednesday’s match at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center was no different.

David Dunai/STAFF REPORTER Freshman Fabrizio Sestini picked up a straight set win at No. 2 singles spot for the Frogs. Sestini, also, won his doubles match in Wednesday’s 5-2 win over Texas-Arlington at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.

The No. 17-ranked Frogs won the doubles point and never looked back as they defeated the No. 70-ranked Mavericks, 5-2. The match was the first meeting between the two teams since last year’s NCAA Championships, when the Frogs won, 4-0.

With the victory, the Frogs spring record improves to 2-1. The Mavericks fall to 1-2.

Freshman Daniel Scholten continued his tear through the spring season, defeating James Young, 6-3, 6-2, to remain undefeated on the spring season. During the match, Young described some of Scholten’s shots as “brilliant.”

“Daniel’s doing a great job,” said head coach Joey Rive. “He’s been playing very well. He’s shown a lot of toughness the entire season.”

The Frogs won two out of three doubles matches to claim the doubles point. Scholten and Alex Menichini defeated Young and Ola Bentzen 8-5, and the team of Fabrizio Sestini and Toni Gordon defeated UTA’s Tom Zarzeczny and Alon Goldshuv, 8-2.

“I’m very pleased with our doubles play,” Rive said. “We’ve been experimenting with different pairings. I’m proud of how they played.”

From there, the Frogs went on to claim four consecutive singles victories, including Scholten’s win over Young. Sestini defeated David Corrie 6-3, 6-4, and freshman Jacob Martin won over Goldshuv 6-3, 6-4.

Finally, Menichini defeated Zarzeczny, 6-4, 6-4, to clinch the match for the Frogs. The Frogs had a chance to win every match, but UTA finished strong in two matches that went the full three sets. Senior Daniel Wajnberg fell to Bentzen, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. However, Rive was confident in Wajnberg’s play.

“Daniel will get his ‘A’ game back," Rive said. “He played a good match, but couldn’t get the win.”

In the day’s final match, Gordon, ranked No. 69-ranked in the nation, fell to No. 5-ranked Andy Leber, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3).

“I expected the match to go back and forth like it did,” Rive said. “Toni has played him (Leber) three times prior to today, and all three were dogfights. Toni played a great match and nearly pulled it off.”

The Frogs travel to Oklahoma to take on Tulsa. The match is set for 6 p.m. Saturday at Tulsa, Okla. After that, the Frogs return home for the Conference USA Shootout on Feb. 22 and 23. Charlotte, Tulane and South Florida will also take part in the event.

Quinten Boyd
q.m.boyd@student.tcu.edu

credits

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