The No. 46 TCU women’s tennis team will take to the court in the team’s final nonconference match as the Frogs battle the No. 25 Virginia Commonwealth University Rams on Friday night at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.The Frogs are fresh off of a home win after the team defeated Kansas State 6-1 Monday. The team is playing in an important nonconference match, head coach Jefferson Hammond said.
“We feel that it’s a big match that has a lot of implications, but we play it like any other match with the same energy and focus,” Hammond said.
Junior Andrea Morgado also said a win Friday will help the team gain confidence going into Mountain West Conference play.
The TCU squad features three nationally ranked players this week; No. 41 senior Ana Cetnik, No. 84 freshman Nina Munch-Soegaard and No. 54 sophomore Anna Sydorska, who moved up 50 spots. The squad also includes junior Kewa Nichols and Morgado. The squad will face a VCU team that has gone 5-1 in its last six outings.
Numerous injuries have kept the Lady Frogs’ shorthanded in both doubles and singles play, but the spots will be filled for Friday’s match, Hammond said.
Having those spots filled will help give the team a boost, Morgado said.
“It’s going to help the team having an extra person there supporting and cheering us on,” she said. “It’s easier to win with six.”
The No. 6-ranked tandem of Cetnik and Sydorska is set to face off against VCU’s No. 2-ranked doubles team of Olga Borisova and Marianna Yuferova at the No. 1 spot. Borisova and Yuferova carry a 17-1 record on the season and recently beat the No. 19 ranked doubles team from Pepperdine.
“(Cetnik and Sydorska) come in with the mindset that they expect to win,” Hammond said. “It’d be an excellent win to add to their resume.”
The team has played six of its last seven matches on the road, and Hammond said it will use its warrior mentality to stay in the matches and fight to the end.
Munch-Soegaard agreed.
“It’s a big thing being mentally tough, saying that each player will have to put aside the fact they might be tired and remain mentally tough,” she said.
The Frogs and Rams have only met one time prior to this match where VCU claimed a 5-1 victory in the first round of the 2000 NCAA Regionals.
