The Alabama men’s tennis team (1-3) fell to Texas Christian University (1-3) Sunday afternoon at the Alabama Tennis Stadium.
The Crimson Tide came into Sunday’s matchup against the Horned Frogs fresh off of their first victory of the season against UC-Irvine at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Los Angeles a week prior. However, after an impressive showing in the doubles matches, the Crimson Tide came up short in the singles round.
“It’s always disappointing to lose,” sophomore Carlos Taborga said. “But overall, I had a pretty good game.”
A good game it was for the junior from La Paz, Bolivia. He was the most consistent player for the Tide on Sunday, whether it was with his doubles partner, Vikram Reddy, or solo.
“He matched up pretty well,” Pate said. “He was our highlight, in a sense, and if he can continue to improve, he’s going to be a real force for us.”
Taborga and Reddy finished their doubles match with an 8-4 win over TCU’s Blake Wiggins and Daniel Sanchez. Freshman David Vieyra and junior Jarryd Botha dominated court two in doubles action with an 8-2 win over TCU senior Paul Chappell and freshman Will Stein. But the Tide’s Michael Thompson and Ricky Doverspike fell on court one to TCU, 8-5.
“I thought after the doubles, we came out with a lot of momentum,” Pate said. “But the singles, TCU came out and responded and jumped out on us in a couple of courts.”
The Tide struggled out of the gate in singles play with Doverspike falling to TCU junior JT Sundling 6-1, 6-1. After Taborga’s singles win over junior Max Stevens, the Tide tried to rally to gain ground but was dominated on courts one and six and fell behind 4-2, sealing their fate before junior Daniil Proskura finished with a win.
“I mean, we’re clearly disappointed,” Pate said. “At this point in the season, it is not where we’d like to be.”
Taborga attributed the Tide’s tough loss to a lack of composure.
“I think that we could have won,” he said. “I think that if we do a better job at that, we can do a better job at securing a win.”
“I think when you get momentum, you keep momentum,” Pate said. “That’s what we have to do in the future matches, keep that momentum and finish.”
Pate said he is willing to try some fresh players off of the bench in next week’s match.
The Tide will face Furman and Troy University next week at 10 a.m. as part of a doubleheader at the Alabama Tennis Stadium.
