Men's tennis team set for weekend doubleheader

The TCU men’s tennis team returned home to host a two-game series this weekend. The No. 44 Frogs will face Texas Tech Saturday and Santa Clara Sunday.

The Horned Frogs (2-3) will enter the match with a 4-3 win against No. 47 Alabama Sunday.

“We gained a lot of confidence as a team. It was our first big win,” freshman Nick Chappell said. “Coming off a couple of losses, we learned we could compete with anybody in the country.”

Texas Tech (4-2) is ranked No. 22 in the country, according to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s rankings. It is the 33rd straight year for the Red Raiders to appear in the ITA’s top 75.

Texas Tech has an eight-man roster with seven upperclassmen, while the Frogs have a young team with five freshmen on an 11-man roster.

“We know it’s going to be a tough match, but we’ll just worry about taking care of the things that we can control here at TCU,” head coach David Roditi said.

He said the team was going to step on the court with a lot of energy, using the advantage of having a supportive home crowd to out-compete its opponents.

“It’s all a learning experience,” Roditi said. “We learned the kind of energy you have in the warm-up, the energy you have in the practice, translates to the beginning of the match.”

No. 49 Santa Clara (3-2) started the season with three straight wins but they are currently on a two-game losing streak.

“We expect both of them to be tough matches,” Chappell said. “We know they’re both solid teams, and it’s going to be a battle.”

It will be the third week in a row for the Horned Frogs to have two matches during a weekend. Roditi said back-to-back matches were always tough on the players.

“Your body takes a beating the first day,” Roditi said. “Not only is it physical, but emotionally, you’re tired.”

He said there were only two ways a player was going to feel at the end of a match.

“You win, you’re on a high. You lose, you’re on a low, so either one you have a lot of emotions,” Roditi said. “You learn to put them away and come back the next day.”