FORT WORTH – The culmination of the college indoor tennis season has arrived, and for the fifth consecutive year, TCU will factor into the quest to determine a national champion.
 
The third-ranked Horned received the No. 3 seed in the ITA Indoor National Championships, held from Friday-Monday in Chicago at the XS Tennis Village.
 
TCU (8-0) faces No. 14 seed Baylor (5-5) in the round of 16 at 9 a.m. CT on Friday. 
 
The Horned Frogs will then meet No. 6 South Carolina or No. 11 Georgia on Saturday in the quarterfinals of the winners' bracket or in the consolation draw.
 
Each of the 16 participating teams is guaranteed three duals. The two schools that emerge from the weekend gauntlet unscathed earn the right to play for all the marbles in Monday's championship match. 
 
Non-Illinoisans and Horned Frog fans who are not making the jaunt to the Windy City have ample opportunity to follow the action. Live stats for every match will be transmitted in real time on the ITA Division I Indoor National Championship home page on WeAreCollegeTennis.com. Fans can also watch a live stream of each match for free on the Cracked Racquets YouTube channel.
 
Follow Along 
Tournament Home Page (includes links to live scores and the bracket): gofrogs.co/3E5ZRoM
Watch: gofrogs.co/3XsDVLn
 
TCU's ITA Indoor National Championships History 
All-Time Appearances: Seven (2015-2016, 2019-2023)
All-Time Record: 11-8
Record Since 2019: 9-4
Record vs. 2023 participants: 7-7
Record in Chicago: 2-4
Tournament Experience on the 2023 Roster: Six players (Jake Fearnley, Luc Fomba, Tomas Jirousek, Sander Jong, Lui Maxted, Pedro Vives)
 
Series History: Baylor
All-Time: TCU leads 37-26
Home Record: 18-10
Away Record: 15-12
Neutral Record: 4-4
First Meeting: 6-1 Baylor, Apr. 2, 1974, in Fort Worth
Last Meeting: 4-1 TCU, Feb. 8, 2023, in Waco
Current Winning Streak: TCU W1
 
Frogs at Indoor Nationals
 
Sander Jong – 17-6 (9-3 singles, 8-3 doubles)
Luc Fomba – 16-6 (8-2 singles, 8-4 doubles)
Jake Fearnley – 8-5 (3-2 singles, 5-3 doubles)
Lui Maxted – 5-1 (2-1 singles, 3-1 doubles)
Pedro Vives – 3-1 (3-1 singles)
Tomas Jirousek – 2-1 (2-1 singles,)
 
Frog Focus

• TCU is making its seventh all-time appearance at Indoor Nationals - all of which have come under head coach David Roditi - and fifth straight showing at the culmination of the indoor tennis season.
• The Horned Frogs have been victorious in six of their last seven outings under the ITA Indoor Nationals banner.
• The Horned Frogs arrive in Chicago in possession of consecutive road victories over three participants in the 16-team field; No. 10 seed North Carolina, No. 12 seed Tennessee and No. 14 seed Baylor. TCU is the only team in the country with a trio of ITA top-15 road wins. 
• The Horned Frogs' first round matchup vs. Baylor marks the second time in as many years TCU has drawn the same team it faced in its indoor regular season in the first round of the tournament.
• Friday's match will be the ninth time TCU has faced Baylor in the last 24 months.

• TCU is enjoying its first 8-0 start to a season under Roditi, first since 2008 and sixth all-time (1977, 1978, 1981, 1986). The eight straight wins are tied for the third-best start to a season in school history.
• TCU is riding a program record and nation-leading 20-match indoor winning streak into the tournament. In total, 12 of the Horned Frogs; victories in that span have come at the expense of ranked opponents.
• TCU has won 10 consecutive road matches, a streak that dates back to the 2021 season.
• Following the latest ITA collegiate tennis rankings update, TCU has spent exactly five years - or 260 consecutive weeks - in the top-25 of the ITA team rankings.
• The Horned Frogs maintained their top-three ITA team ranking ahead of the tournament. In doing so, the program has now boasted a top-10 team ranking for 156 straight weeks – the longest such streak of any Division I program.
• The Horned Frogs have claimed 11 straight doubles points dating back to the 2022 campaign. Luc Fomba and Jake Fearnley, the preseason No. 1 doubles pair, have clinched the doubles point in four straight matches and five of TCU's last six outings. They are 29-7 together since 2022.
• Sebastian Gorzny and Vives are 6-1 as TCU's No. 3 doubles tandem. The duo has staked TCU to 1-0 doubles head starts in each of its three ranked victories.
• In singles action, TCU has won 73-of-91 completed sets thus far. Fomba (6-0), Gorzny (5-0) and Maxted (5-0) each sport perfect records. Fearnley and Jong have combined for six wins on court one.
• Fomba, No. 49 in the ITA singles rankings and a four-time All-American, is 13-0 overall and has yet to surrender a set this season. He was crowned Big 12 Player of the Week for Jan. 30-Feb. 5 after leading TCU to wins at Tennessee and UNC.
• Freshman Jack Pinnington made his collegiate debut in TCU's 4-1 win over No. 10 Baylor on Feb. 8. Pinnington is the former British No. 1 ITF juniors player. 

Facing a Familiar Foe in the First Round
 
It shouldn't come as a surprise that the Horned Frogs drew No. 10 Baylor, a team they defeated 4-1 on Feb. 8 in its indoor regular season finale, as their first round opponent in the ITA Indoor National Championships. 
 
In fact, it's par the course for a rivalry that has dominated the Big 12 men's tennis landscape for the past decade.
 
Friday's dual will be the ninth tilt in the last 24 months between the Horned Frogs and Bears. And it's entirely conceivable that the programs could square off as many as five times in 2023.
 
TCU's win in Waco last week counted as a nonconference affair. Baylor will return the trip to Fort Worth on Apr. 6 during Big 12 play, marking the third confirmed match between the schools this spring. 
 
Given their history, the programs are likely to see each other during the Big 12 and/or NCAA Tournaments, too.
 
TCU and Baylor engaged in four duals - two regular season, two postseason - during the 2021 campaign.
 
The Horned Frogs and Bears have combined to claim nine of the last 10 Big 12 regular season championships, with Baylor winning five to TCU's four. Six of the last 10 Big 12 Tournament trophies reside in Fort Worth or Waco.
 
The programs have squared off on 18 occasions since 2013. The Bears own a 12-6 edge in that span.
 
Oddly enough, the road team has been victorious in the programs' four most recent matches. TCU survived a grueling 4-3 dual on Apr. 3, 2022, in Waco, only for Baylor to sandwich respective 5-2 and 4-2 wins on March 25 and Apr. 24 between the result.
 
How it Happened: TCU 4, Baylor 1 (Feb. 8, 2023)
 
TCU had to fight to earn its 11th consecutive doubles point, dating back to 2022.
 
Sebastian Gorzny and Pedro Vives coasted to a 6-1 win on court three over Luc Koenig and Ethan Muza. But after leading 4-1, TCU's No. 2 tandem of Sander Jong and Lui Maxted found themselves on the wrong end of a 7-5 comeback to Tadeas Paroulek and Zsombor Velcz. The doubles point was in turn rendered to court one, where Jake Fearnley and Luc Fomba trailed 4-1 to begin their set. But Fearnley and Fomba, the preseason ITA No. 1 doubles team, fought back to clinch a 7-5 win over the ninth-ranked pair of Finn Bass and Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi.
 
Yet Baylor was hardly out of the fight. The Bears claimed four of the first six singles sets.
 
TCU figured out ways to win, though. Fearnley swept Bass on court one, 6-3, 6-1, to increase TCU's lead to 2-0. Paroulek sliced the deficit in half, defeating TCU's Jack Pinnington, who made his collegiate debut, 6-3, 6-4, in the No. 2 flight. Gorzny and Fomba ensured the Horned Frog victory would not be prolonged, however. Gorzny dropped his first set on court five to Mazzuchi 4-6 but rallied for 6-2, 6-1 wins in the final two sets to put TCU within a point of triumph. Fomba earned the match clincher, downing Marko Miladinovic 7-6 {7-4}, 6-3 on court three.
 
Across the ITA Rankings
 
ITA Team Rankings (Feb. 9)
No. 3 - TCU
 
ITA Singles Rankings (Feb. 8)
No. 17 - Jake Fearnley
No. 49 - Luc Fomba
No. 106 - Pedro Vives
No. 124 – Sebastian Gorzny
 
ITA Doubles Rankings (Nov. 16)
No. 11 - Sander Jong / Lui Maxted
 
Preseason ITA Singles Rankings (Sept. 6)
No. 5 - Luc Fomba
No. 58 - Sander Jong
No. 65 - Jake Fearnley
No. 66 - Lui Maxted
No. 87 - Pedro Vives
 
Preseason ITA Singles Rankings (Sept. 6)
No. 1 - Luc Fomba / Jake Fearnley
No. 3 - Sander Jong / Lui Maxted
 
ITA Newcomer Rankings (Sept. 6)
No. 5 - Sebastian Gorzny
 
The Longest Streak of ITA Top-10 Team Rankings in the Nation
 
TCU is the only program in the country that has finished in the top-10 of the final ITA team rankings for eight consecutive seasons. Nearly three years have passed since TCU dropped out of the top-10 of the ITA team rankings. In fact, the Horned Frogs are enjoying the longest consecutive streak of weeks ranked in the top-10 of any Division I program. TCU has boasted a top-10 ITA team ranking for 155 consecutive weeks, dating back to March 10, 2020.
 
260 and counting...
 
As of Wednesday, Feb. 15, exactly five years have passed since TCU last dipped outside the top-25 of the ITA team rankings. The Horned Frogs have spent 260 straight weeks in the top-25 of the ITA team rankings, a streak matched by few other Division I programs.
 
The streak began on March 21, 2018, when TCU skyrocketed from No. 32 to No. 11 following three straight wins over No. 17 Duke (March 13), No. 12 Florida (March 14) and No. 9 Columbia (March 18)
 
The trio of top-20 wins ignited a 12-match winning streak to close the regular season. The Horned Frogs concluded the 2016-17 season with a 20-5 overall record and No. 9 final ITA team ranking.
 
Since then, TCU has spent just one week outside the top-20 of the ITA team rankings and posted an 81-24 combined record in that span.
 
TCU's program-best streak of top-25 appearances will reach five years should the Horned Frogs hold steady in the rankings through March 21.
 
Protect the Purple
 
The Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center is arguably the toughest venue in the nation for opposing teams to compete at. TCU has amassed a 99-11 (.900) record on the purple courts since 2015. Of the 99 victories, 61 have come at the expense of ranked opponents. Under head coach David Roditi, the Horned Frogs have posted a remarkable 139-35 (.799) home record.
 
On the Road Again
 
Nearly two years have passed since TCU dropped an away dual.
            
The Horned Frogs' 4-1 victory at No. 10 Baylor on Feb. 8 extended the program's road winning streak to 10, dating back to the 2020-21 season.
            
TCU notched a perfect 7-0 record in away matches in 2022.
            
The Horned Frogs' last road defeat came in the Big 12 Tournament Championship at Baylor on Apr. 25, 2021.
 
Frogs on the Tour
 
Eight Horned Frogs compete professionally in ATP and UTR events throughout the offseason in addition to TCU sponsored tournaments. Below are the career-high ATP singles rankings and current UTR of each member of the Horned Frogs' 2023 roster:
 
ATP Singles Rankings
Jack Pinnington – 489 
Pedro Vives – 578 
Tomas Jirousek – 762 
Sander Jong – 929 
Jake Fearnley – 998 
Lui Maxted – 1,178
Luc Fomba – 1,370
Sebastian Gorzny – 1,806
 
UTR
Jack Pinnington - 14.04
Jake Fearnley - 13.72
Sander Jong - 13.55
Sebastian Gorzny - 13.41
Pedro Vives - 13.35
Lui Maxted - 13.29
Tomas Jirousek - 13.05