Louisville Tops TCU 4-2 in C-USA Semifinals
April 23, 2005 | Men's Tennis
April 23, 2005
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - - Third-seeded University of Louisville defeated No. 2 seeded TCU 4-2 in a match that lasted nearly five hours in the 2005 Conference USA Men's Tennis semifinals Saturday at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center.
Louisville rallied to clinch the doubles point to start the match. TCU's Fabrizio Sestini and Rafael Abreu picked up an 8-3 win over Jakob Gustafsson and Jeremy Clark at the top spot. Louisville's Slavko Radman and Jhonny Berrido were down 6-2, but came back to edge Jordan Freitas and Jacob Martin 9-7 (2) at No. 2 to even the doubles matches. The Cards' Mark Kennedy and Damar Johnson responded from a 5-3 deficit and outlasted Jacopo Tezza and Radu Barbu 9-8 (7-4) at the three-spot to clinch the point.
In singles action, Clark gave the Cards' a 2-0 lead with a 6-4, 6-2 decision over Freitas at No. 5. Sestini pulled the Horned Frogs within 2-1 with a 7-6, 6-2 win over Damar Johnson at No. 1. Louisville's Gustafsson defeated Tezza 7-6, 6-3 at No. 3 to give the Cardinals a 3-1 lead. Abreu edged Berrido 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 at the six slot to make the score 3-2. Radman outlasted Martin 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 at No. 2 for the match-winner.
"This match wasn't just about the tennis," said U of L assistant coach Mark Beckham. "Both teams played extremely well. We were mentally tough and played with more heart than I've seen us play with all year. We've had trouble with TCU the last few times we've played them, so it was good not only to beat them, but to do so with a chance to play for the conference championship on the line."
The victory extends the Cardinals' home win streak to 42 matches. The streak began with a 4-2 win over TCU on April 21, 2002 in the Conference USA tournament. Since that match, the Horned Frogs had beaten Louisville four straight times, including a 4-2 decision on Feb. 27 of this year in the Conference USA Shootout in Ft. Worth, Texas.
The Cardinals (21-8) advance to the finals of the championship where they will face the winner of the Tulane/South Florida match Sunday at 11 a.m. at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center for an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Match Summary - #34 Louisville 4 - #42 TCU 2 Singles 1. #27 Fabrizio Sestini, TCU def. #75 Damar Johnson, UL 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 2. Slavko Radman, UL def. Jacob Martin, TCU 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 3. Jakob Gustafsson, Louisville def. Jacopo Tezza, TCU 7-6, 6-3 4. Octavian Nicodim, UL vs. Radu Barbu, TCU 4-6, 7-5, 4-3, susp. 5. Jeremy Clark, UL def. Jordan Freitas, TCU 6-4, 6-2 6. Rafael Abreu, TCU def. Jhonny Berrido, UL 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 Order of finish: 5, 1, 3, 6, 2
Doubles 1. #14 Sestini/Abreu, TCU def. #49 Gustafsson/Clark, UL 8-3 2. Radman/Berrido, UL def. Freitas/Martin, TCU 9-7 3. Mark Kennedy/Johnson, UL def. Tezza/Barbu, TCU 9-8 (7-4) Order of finish: 1, 2, 3
Players Mentioned
