TCU Thumps South Florida, Georgia State Holds Off FAU, Presbyterian Wraps Up Big South Title, Update on Big 12 Crowd Policy

Tagged with: Big 12 Crowd Rules, Florida Atlantic, Georgia State, Presbyterian, TCU

TCU continued its hot streak on Monday afternoon when the Horned Frogs won its ninth straight match with a 4-0 win over No. 26 South Florida. TCU won the doubles point for the 14th time in 18 matches with a 6-1 win at No. 2 and a 6-4 win at No. 3. TCU won all six opening sets in singles and Reese Stalder was the first to finish with a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 6. A few minutes later play was halted due to rain so they ended up going indoors to finish the match out. Within two minutes of play resuming TCU sophomore Alex Rybakov extended the lead to 3-0 with a 6-3, 7-5 win at No. 2 and then shortly thereafter TCU junior Trevor Johnson clinched the match with a 7-5, 6-3 win at No. 5. It was Johnson’s first dual-match singles appearance of the season after missing the past three months due to back issues. TCU will be back in action on Thursday with Texas Tech coming to town while South Florida is off until next Monday when they host Memphis in their regular season finale

#9 TCU 4, #26 USF 0
Apr 10, 2017 at Fort Worth, Texas (Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. #3 Cameron Norrie (TCU) vs. #48 Sasha Gozun (USF) 6-0, 5-7, 5-0, unfinished
2. #21 Alex Rybakov (TCU) def. Justin Roberts (USF) 6-3, 7-5
3. #86 Guillermo Nuñez (TCU) vs. Alberto Barroso (USF) 7-5, 3-4, unfinished
4. #111 Jerry Lopez (TCU) vs. #105 Peter Bertran (USF) 6-2, 5-7, unfinished
5. Trevor Johnson (TCU) def. Vadym Kalyuzhnyy (USF) 7-5, 6-3
6. Reese Stalder (TCU) def. Pierre Luquet (USF) 6-3, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. #68 Sasha Gozun/Alberto Barroso (USF) def. #47 Jerry Lopez/Reese Stalder (TCU) 6-4
2. #23 Guillermo Nuñez/Alex Rybakov (TCU) def. Peter Bertran/Justin Roberts (USF) 6-1
3. Cameron Norrie/Trevor Johnson (TCU) def. Vadym Kalyuzhnyy/Jakub Wojcik (USF) 6-4
Match Notes:
USF 13-8; National ranking #26
TCU 14-4; National ranking #9
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (6,2,5)
Match moved indoors because of rain.
T-2:55 A-230

 

 

Post-Match Quotes from TCU’s recap
Head Coach David Roditi – “I have been stressing out about this match forever. We had to play on a Monday with Cameron Norrie and myself coming back from Davis Cup. He played on indoor clay in France and arrived here late last night and then had to play at the No. 1 spot. It just shows how tough he is and what a competitor he is against a really good team. USF beat SMU yesterday and they have as good of a coaching staff as anybody in the world really. USF has world class players. You could see the adjustments they made after the first sets and there goes Ashley (Fisher) and Jimmy Arias flying around making adjustments and the next thing you know, we are in a battle in every singles match. I am happy the boys got the win. For them to not say a word when we had to go back inside and (Alex) Rybakov served it out like a professional player would. To see Trevor (Johnson) clinching his first match back is just too good of a story. I am very happy and now we have a huge conference match on Thursday and we hope to see all our fans out here on at 5:30 p.m., against Texas Tech. That is always a tough one and they are a very competitive team.”

 

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Georgia State put itself in great shape for an NCAA at-large bid (if it doesn’t win the Sun Belt Tournament) with a come from behind 4-3 win over Florida Atlantic. The Panthers took the doubles point with 6-3 wins at No. 1 and No. 3 and then the teams split first sets in singles. Florida Atlantic won the only two matches to finish in straight sets with junior Remi Chancerel and sophomore Anthony Schohn winning at No. 2 and No. 3. FAU junior Artur Stefani extended the Owls lead to 3-1 with a 0-6, 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 5 but Georgia State rallied to tie it with senior Zackery Kennedy and freshman Quentin Coulaud each winning in three sets at No. 1 and No. 4. 

Georgia State senior Felipe Jaworski and FAU junior Ignacio Jimenez split sets at No. 6 with Jaworski taking the first set in a tiebreak while Jimenez did the same in the second. It stayed on serve in the third set until Jaworski broke for 4-3 and then he broke again to close it out 7-6, 6-7, 6-3. 

Georgia State closes out its regular season on Friday with a trip to Furman then the following weekend they’ll be in New Orleans for the Sun Belt Tournament. Florida Atlantic finishes the regular season with a 17 wins which is tied for the third most wins in school history. FAU will be back in action a week from Friday at the Conference USA Tournament in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. 

 

 

#38 Georgia State 4, Florida Atlantic 3
Apr 10, 2017 at Piedmont Park
Singles competition
1. Zackery Kennedy (GSU) def. Andrei M-Kougoucheff (FAUM) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
2. Remi Chancerel (FAUM) def. Andrei Andrukhou (GSU) 6-1, 6-2
3. Anthony Schohn (FAUM) def. Jannis Koeke (GSU) 7-5, 6-2
4. Quentin Coulaud (GSU) def. Felipe Frias (FAUM) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
5. Arthur Stefani (FAUM) def. Sebastian Acuna (GSU) 0-6, 6-2, 6-3
6. Felipe Jaworski (GSU) def. Ignacio Jimenez (FAUM) 7-6, 6-7, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. Zackery Kennedy/Andrei Andrukhou (GSU) def. Andrei M-Kougoucheff/Remi Chancerel (FAUM) 6-3
2. Sebastian Acuna/Jack MacFarlane (GSU) vs. Felipe Frias/Arthur Stefani (FAUM) 4-3, unfinished
3. Felipe Jaworski/Quentin Coulaud (GSU) def. Anthony Schohn/Alexander Gitin (FAUM) 6-3
Match Notes:
Florida Atlantic 17-6
Georgia State 15-6; National ranking #38
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (2,3,5,1,4,6)

Post-Match Quotes from GSU’s recap
“I was really proud of Felipe and how he handled the pressure in the third set to close out the match,” head coach Brett Ross. “The guys showed great resilience in the second half of the match. Florida Atlantic has a solid team and they really made us earn another good win.”

 

 

Presbyterian won the Big South regular season title for the second time in the last four seasons with a 5-2 win over Winthrop. The Blue Hose took the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3 then they tacked on five first sets in singles. Alexander Lykou, Diego Manzanas, Ben Kelley, and Jaime Lopez each won in straight set for Presbyterian while Winthrop’s Ruy Teixeira and Josh Ryan won the final two matches to finish. 

Presbyterian has yet to make it to the NCAA Tournament, since moving up from D2 to D1 in 2008, but they’ll be the top seed in the Big South Tournament which starts a week from Wednesday in Winston-Salem. Last year Presbyterian lost a 4-3 heartbreaker to Coastal Carolina in the conference finals however Coastal Carolina has since departed for the Sun Belt. 

Presbyterian 5, Winthrop 2
April 10, 2017 at Clinton, S.C. (Templeton Tennis Courts)
Singles competition
1. LYKOU, Alexander (PC) def. QUIROZ, Diego (WUM) 6-1, 6-3
2. TEIXEIRA, Ruy (WUM) def. MILLS, Brandon (PC) 6-4, 6-4
3. MANZANAS, Diego (PC) def. PAPPAYIANNIS, L. (WUM) 6-2, 6-2
4. KELLEY, Ben (PC) def. DIAS, Gabriel (WUM) 6-2, 6-1
5. LOPEZ, Jaime (PC) def. GOKHALE, Aditya (WUM) 6-2, 6-4
6. RYAN, Josh (WUM) def. ROBERTS, Joel (PC) 2-6, 7-6, 1-0 (10-5)
Doubles competition
1. GOKHALE, Aditya/QUIROZ, Diego (WUM) def. KELLEY, Ben/ROBERTS, Joel (PC) 6-2
2. MILLS, Brandon/LYKOU, Alexander (PC) def. TEIXEIRA, Ruy/RYAN, Josh (WUM) 7-5
3. MANZANAS, Diego/LOPEZ, Jaime (PC) def. DIAS, Gabriel/PAPPAYIANNIS, L. (WUM) 6-1
Match Notes
Winthrop 6-12, 3-3 Big South
Presbyterian 14-10, 6-1 Big South
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (3,1,4,5,2,6)

Post-Match Quote from PC’s recap
“I am so proud of my team for what they achieved,” said PC head coach Patrick Fediuk. “It’s their hard work and determination to win that allowed this to happen.”

 

 

I think by now just about everyone has seen the video clips (like the one above) of what went on in Waco on Friday night in the match between Baylor and Oklahoma. There was confusion from many, including myself, about what exactly was permitted to be said by fans under the Big 12 rules. I think many of us thought the new ITA crowd rules were in effect for all matches so when the outbursts started we were wondering why nothing was being done to stop it.  

The ITA rules state that if a fan is harassing or abusing a player a verbal warning will be issued and any subsequent harassment or abusive behavior will lead to a point penalty and if it’s a repeat offender that person will be removed from the facility. If a Big 12 team is at home during a non-conference match then the crowd has to abide by the ITA rules however during a conference match the Big 12 rules supersede the ITA rules. The Big 12 rules allow the fans to say anything at any point during the match as long as it’s not vulgar, profane, or abusive. I heard a lot of chatter on the live stream but I’ll admit I didn’t hear anything that was vulgar, profane, or abusive so the chair was fine to not do anything because the fans were actually following the written rules.

The match was obviously watched by many and the buzz started to get around that something needed to be done to get the rules changed and to get them changed immediately. The Big 12 office fielded a few calls on Saturday, including a few from some Big 12 head coaches, and after gathering stories from multiple people they decided to act and suspend the Big 12 crowd rules effective immediately. The ITA crowd rules were in effect on Sunday for Baylor’s match against Oklahoma State and they’ll remain in effect for all other Big 12 matches the rest of the season. 

Personally, I’m all for crowd interaction but you have to draw the line somewhere and letting people yell out during a point is crossing the line in my book.