TCU Team Page
FORT WORTH – The No. 25 TCU women’s tennis team forged a rally in singles against No. 15 Texas Tech, but were unable to complete the mission with the Lady Raiders taking the match 4-3 Friday afternoon at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.
The loss took the Horned Frogs to 17-4 overall and 6-2 in Big 12 play. The win improved TTU to 18-4 overall and 8-0 in conference competition. The win gave the Lady Raiders at least a share of the Big 12 regular season title.
“Texas Tech is a tough, competitive team,” TCU head coach Dave Borelli said. “They competed a little better than we did today, but it is encouraging to think that we still could have won even with missing Federica Denti at No. 4 singles.”
After dropping the doubles point, TCU would have to put together a rally in singles. Unfortunately for the Frogs it did not get off to an ideal start with Millie Nichols dropping No. 5 singles to Nikki Sanders of TTU 6-2, 6-2.
The Horned Frogs began to stage a rally. The late scratch of Federica Denti from the lineup gave Kelsey Sundaram a chance to enter the TCU lineup at No. 6 singles, where she pulled off a 6-4, 6-3 win over Caroline Starck of the Lady Raiders.
Olivia Smith got through a challenging first set against Kenna Kilgo of TTU at No. 2 singles to help pave the way for a 7-6, 6-2 victory to tie the team score at 2-2.
“I thought we really had a great chance to win today,” Borelli said. “It was tough to lose.”
The Lady Raiders took care of business after that. No. 3 singles saw an up and down match with Rashmi Teltumbde of Texas Tech taking the first set off TCU’s Simona Parajova before getting shutout by the Frog in the second set. Teltumbde was able to rally to get the win 6-3, 0-6, 6-4 and another point for the Lady Raiders.
TTU closed out the match at No. 1 singles with Samantha Adams rallying after a big first set loss to defeat Stefanie Tan 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.
The Horned Frogs got some consolation at No. 4 singles from Monika Sirilova. After dropping the first set of her match against Elizabeth Ullathorne, the Slovakian won the first three games of the second set for the Horned Frogs. The two took the second set to a tiebreaker with Sirilova prevailing in the tiebreak. With the match result already in the books, the two played a super tiebreaker with Sirilova maintaining her undefeated record in the Big 12 with an 11-9 win in the super tiebreak. The final line read 4-6, 7-6 (8), 1-0 (9).
“We need to play better in the big points,” Borelli concluded. “I think we are going to play great on Sunday. We are going to be a tough out at the Big 12 tournament next week.”
The Horned Frogs conclude the regular season with a visit from No. 26 Texas on Sunday. First serve is slated for noon.
No. 15 Texas Tech 4, No. 25 TCU 3
SINGLES
No. 1 – No. 93 Samantha Adams (TTU) def. No. 45 Stefanie Tan (TCU), 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
No. 2 – No. 100 Olivia Smith (TCU) def. Kenna Kilgo (TTU), 7-6, 6-2
No. 3 – Rashmi Teltumbde (TTU) def. Simona Parajova (TCU), 6-3, 0-6, 6-4
No. 4 – Monika Sirilova (TCU) def. Elizabeth Ullathorne (TTU), 4-6, 7-6 (8), 1-0 (9)
No. 5 – Nikki Sanders (TTU) def. Millie Nichols (TCU), 6-2, 6-2
No. 6 – Kelsey Sundaram (TCU) def. Caroline Starck (TTU), 6-4, 6-3
DOUBLES
No. 1 – No. 15 Samantha Adams/Kenna Kilgo (TTU) def. Olivia Smith/Stefanie Tan (TCU), 8-2
No. 2 – Nikki Sanders/Rashmi Teltumbde (TTU) def. Gabi Barbosa/Kelsey Sundaram (TCU), 8-2
No. 3 – Caroline Starck/Elizabeth Ullathorne (TTU) def. Millis Nichols/Monika Sirilova (TCU), 6-5 (7-3)
MATCH NOTES
TCU - 17–4 (6-2 Big 12); National Ranking #25
Texas Tech - 18–4 (8-0 Big 12); National Ranking #15
Order of Finish: Singles (5, 6, 2, 3, 1, 4) Doubles (1,2,3)
