FORT WORTH, Texas - Abilene Christian men's tennis' season came to a close with a 4-0 loss to No. 2 seed TCU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center on Friday. The Wildcats returned to the postseason for the first time since 2022 after capturing the Western Athletic Conference title.
Doubles play between ACU and the reigning national champion Horned Frogs came down to court No. 1 after
Matheus Lima and
Benjamin McDonald fought for a 6-3 win over Roger Pascual and Filip Apltauer.
TCU opened with a 6-4 defeat of
Ethan Scribner and
Alejandro Verdasco at No. 2 and secured the doubles point by taking down
Merse Deli and
Daniel Morozov, 6-4.
The Horned Frogs carried their momentum into singles play to outlast the Wildcats.
Tomas Tischner fell to Pascual, 6-1, 6-1, before Albert Pedrico beat Deli, 6-1, 6-2. TCU clinched the victory when Jack Pinnington defeated the senior Morozov, 6-3, 6-3.
ACU earned its fourth WAC championship in four seasons in the conference while racking up 13 wins this spring. The Wildcats built a 9-1 record when playing in Abilene and built a streak of 11 wins across 13 matches. They entered the WAC Tournament as the No. 3 seed and took down No. 2 UT Arlington and No. 1 Grand Canyon en route to the crown.
After five Wildcats were named to the conference's All-Tournament Team, ACU was well-represented on the WAC awards slate with a league-high eight players. Morozov was named WAC Player of the Year, Tischner earned Freshman of the Year honors and Juan Nuñez garnered Coach of the Year recognition.
Morozov, Tischner and McDonald received a spot on the All-WAC First Team, as did Scribner and Verdasco as doubles partners. Deli, a sophomore, reached the All-WAC Second Team.
