Thursday, January 22, 2009

FROGS FALL TO RICE IN SPRING DEBUT

HOUSTON, TEXAS (January 22, 2009) The 33rd-ranked TCU men’s tennis team dropped a 5-2decision to No. 24 Rice in its season opener Wednesday at the Owls’ Hess Tennis Center. Rice, playing its fifth team match of the spring after opening its season last week, remained undefeated at 5-0 on the season.

Two Horned Frogs opened spring play with singles wins. Sophomore Emanuel Brighiu, ranked 93rd prior to the spring season by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), earned a three-set victory, 6-1, 4-6, 7-5, over Rice’s Bruno Rosa, who was rated 26th nationally. The win marked Brighiu’s second of the year over a ranked opponent, as he downed then-No. 63 Sinisa Markovic of Texas Tech back in fall tournament action.

Another ranked Horned Frog, junior Kriegler Brink (No. 97), recorded a straight-sets win while playing in the No. 3 position, 6-1, 7-5, over Chong Wang. Brink improved to 42-17 all-time in his career in dual matches.

Four other Frogs in singles action dropped their first matches of the spring.
Sophomore Zach Nichols was pitted against No. 62 Sam Garforth-Bles at the No. 5
position, where he suffered a 6-0, 6-2 defeat, while junior Adrian Simon lost to
Tobias Scheil, 6-3, 6-3, at No. 4 singles. Two newcomers who joined the team at
semester, sophomore Christopher Price and freshman Slah Mbarek, also lost, Price
to Isamu Tachibana in the No. 6 slot, 7-5, 6-3, and Mbarek at No. 2 singles to
Christoph Müller, 6-1, 7-5.

The competition began with Rice sweeping two doubles matches to grab a quick 1-0
lead on the Horned Frogs. Brighiu and Simon, the nation’s 12th-ranked doubles
tandem, were upset in their first outing of the spring, 8-6, by Rice’s No. 1
team of Müller and Scheil. Sophomores Zach Nichols and Jack Seider also fell,
8-3, at the No. 3 slot to Isamu Tachibana and Sam Garforth-Bles to clinch the
Owl point.

Junior Kriegler Brink and sophomore transfer Christopher Price’s doubles match
went unfinished with the Frog pair leading 4-3 after the Owls clinched the team
point.

“The top of our lineup played well,” Head Coach Dave Borelli said following the
match. “(Brighiu) played well, and it was a big win for him over a very good
opponent. I thought Kriegler and Slah also played well. We could have been
better at No. 4 through 6 singles, as well as in doubles.

“It was our first match of the year. We have a lot of matches ahead of us this
season and just need to continue to improve.”

TCU returns to the courts Jan. 30-31, when it travels to Austin, Texas, for the
ITA Indoor Regional Championships.

Results
No. 24 Rice 5, No. 33 TCU 2
Jan 21, 2009 at Houston, Texas (Hess Tennis Center)

Singles
1. No. 93 Emanu Brighiu (TCU) def. No. 26 Bruno Rosa (Rice) 6-1, 4-6, 7-5
2. Christoph Müller (Rice) def. Slah Mbarek (TCU) 6-1, 7-5
3. #97 Kriegler Brink (TCU) def. Chong Wang (Rice) 6-1, 7-5
4. Tobias Scheil (Rice) def. Adrian Simon (TCU) 6-3, 6-3
5. #62 Sam Garforth-Bles (Rice) def. Zach Nichols (TCU) 6-0, 6-2
6. Isamu Tachibana (Rice) def. Christopher Price (TCU) 7-5, 6-3

Doubles
1. Christoph Müller/Tobias Scheil (Rice) def. No. 12 Emanu Brighiu/Adrian Simon
(TCU) 8-6
2. Bruno Rosa/Chong Wang (Rice) vs. Kriegler Brink/Christopher Price (TCU)
unfinished, 3-4
3. Isamu Tachibana/Sam Garforth-Bles (Rice) def. Zach Nichols/Jack Seider (TCU)
8-3

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