Season Preview Season Outlook ...... 18-19 2008 Schedule ...... 20 Roster Information...... 20 SEASON PREVIEW The TCU men’s team looks poised to return to the NCAA going 16-4 overall, including three wins over ranked opponents. Championships after a rebuilding year last season, when the The duo went 2-1 in the fall and advanced to the quarterfinals of Horned Frogs were without five of the previous season’s letter- the Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Championships. winners. The Frog roster is full of youth this season, as TCU has welcomed “I think we have a complete team after my first year of recruiting,” in five newcomers, along with freshman Jack Seider, who missed said second year head coach Dave Borelli. “The necessary ingre- last season due to eligibility rules. Zach Nichols and Adrian Simon dients to a successful program are to recruit the kids at home first, led the newcomers in the fall, as both Frogs will enter the 2008 and also get some international stars with experience and under- season ranked in singles play. Casey Powers is another freshman standing of how to compete. I think we were able to do both of who had an impressive fall and will look to make an immediate those things that translated into a top-eight or top-10 recruiting impact for TCU. class. Zach Nichols had the second-most wins on the team in the fall “Five of the top-seven players in our lineup are freshmen, which with an 8-3 record. The Austin, Texas, native, who earned a pre- means they could be the youngest team in the country with a lot of season ranking of No. 93, advanced to the quarterfinals of the talent. With that comes a lot of ups and downs. I certainly think Baylor Intercollegiate after knocking off No. 72 Milan Mihailovic that now we have the potential to play with most of the good of Texas and No. 61 Dominik Muller of Baylor. teams.” Zach had a great fall for a freshman,” said Borelli. “I believe his TCU returns three letterwinners from last season, including its style of game represents our style as a team. Zach is the youngest top-two performers, Cosmin Cotet and Kriegler Brink. Cotet, who guy on our team, and as he gets stronger and matures, I think he enters the season ranked No. 27 in singles play, put together an 11- will be one of the best players in college tennis.” 9 mark last season playing primarily at the No. 1 spot, after never playing higher than the No. 3 position prior to the season. Adrian Simon, a native of Romania, put together a 5-3 mark in fall singles play and earned a preseason ranking of No. 54. Simon Cosmin Cotet had an impressive fall season, going 4-2 overall, began his career with the Purple and White with an upset of No. including wins over three nationally ranked opponents. Cotet 60 Thomas Liversage of San Diego in the opening round of the advanced to the main draw round of 16 at the Polo Ralph Lauren Baylor Intercollegiate. Simon ended on a positive note as well, All-American Championships after upsets of No. 2 Steven downing No. 34 Jerry Makowski of Texas A&M at the Moneke of Ohio State and No. 46 Cory Parr of Wake Forest. Wilson/ITA South Central Regional Championships.

“I can’t say enough about Cosmin,” Borelli said. “I really believe he’s one of the best players in college tennis right now. He’s improved so much, from having a losing record at No. 4 two years ago to moving up at No. 1. The first half of last year was uncer- tain as he lost some tough matches, but as the season progressed he improved and gained confidence. He has a great understanding of playing on hard courts and I really think he’s one of the premier players in college tennis.”

Kriegler Brink, a junior from Gauteng, South Africa, posted an 11-8 record last season playing mostly at the No. 3 and No. 4 posi- tions. Brink led the team with a 9-4 mark in the fall of 2007, which included straight-set victories over No. 81 Ralph Knupfer of Rice and No. 93 Sinisa Markovic of Texas Tech.

“Kriegler gets better and better all the time,” Borelli explained. “His style of game is good because he forces the issue. He puts pressure on people with his attacking game. His ground strokes, particularly his passing shot, have improved a lot. He’s done things to his game this year to make him a better player from last season. He also understands the concept of dealing with the highs and lows of a match. He’s probably one of our most improved players.”

Brink and Cotet also enter the season ranked together in doubles The doubles tandem of Cosmin Cotet (left) and Kriegler Brink play at No. 44. The duo earned All-MWC honors last season after (right) went 16-4 last season at the No. 1 position and enters the 2008 season ranked 44th.

www.GoFrogs.com 18 SEASON PREVIEW “Adi is a guy who can be as good as he “Casey is possibly the sleeper on the wants,” explained Borelli. “He can be the team,” said Borelli. “He had a great fall PRESEASON RANKINGS best player in college tennis, and the amaz- and his strength is that he competes TEAM RANKINGS ing thing is, he had never played on a hard extraordinarily well. He has to continue to No. Team court when he came here last fall. develop confidence in himself and realize 1. Watching him play in Europe, I felt his he’s a pretty good player. He changed his 2. Georgia 3. Ohio State style of game was more suited to hard forehand from two-handed to one-handed, 4. Baylor courts. He’s the kind of guy that could real- and he’s hitting it very well now, but it’s a 5. Mississippi ly go a long way.” dramatic change to go through.” 6. USC 7. Texas Jack Seider, an Austin, Texas, product, Emanuel Brighiu, a freshman from Iasi, 8. Illinois will see his first dual match action of his Romania, joined the Frogs for the start of 9. UCLA collegiate career this season. Seider won the spring semester, while fellow freshman 10. North Carolina two matches in the fall season while bat- Alex Panayides and sophomore Mike 11. Notre Dame tling illness, and will look to bounce back Donovan will redshirt this season. 12. Alabama 13. Florida this spring. 14. Wake Forest “Getting Emanu was the last piece to put- 15. Duke “Jack redshirted last spring and then he ting together a solid team,” Borelli said...... was sick this fall, but at this point, this is “He has the biggest serve I’ve seen at TCU 63. TCU the kid I recruited,” said Borelli. “He is in many years. He’s similar to Adi in how playing so much better and he’s a key to he’s getting used to the hard courts, but SINGLES RANKINGS our success this year. As he’s feeling better that’s what his game is suited to. He has so No. Name (School) 1. (Virginia) physically, he’ll get stronger and continue much upside to his game, and he’ll proba- 2. Alex Clayton (Stanford) to improve. His game is built on confi- bly be a better player than he was back 3. (Virginia) dence, and he needs to play a lot. He’s home. 4. Travis Helgeson (Georgia) doing that now and playing better and bet- 5. Matthias Wellermann (Mississippi) ter.” “Mike is a great athlete with a warrior 6. Justin Kronauge (Ohio State) mentality. He’s improving more and more. 7. Daniel Vallverdu (Miami, Fla.) Casey Powers began his collegiate career I really see him being a major asset to our 8. (Florida) in the fall with a bang, winning four con- program, because he has a great ability to 9. (USC) secutive matches to advance to the semifi- continue to improve. 10. Denes Lukacs (Baylor) 11. Brett Helgeson (Notre Dame) nals at the Baylor Intercollegiate. The 12. Treat Huey (Virginia) Austin, Texas, native posted a 5-2 record “Alex has a lot of talent and was a good 13. Bassam Beidas (Pepperdine) overall. Florida junior. He’s very crafty and 14. Philippe Frayssinoux (Mississippi St.) reminds me a lot of a John McEnroe-type 15. Ryan Rowe (Illinois) player. He’s a lefty who has a lot of abili- ...... ty.” 27. Cosmin Cotet (TCU) 54. Adrian Simon (TCU) After inheriting a team with only three 94. Zach Nichols (TCU) scholarship players remaining last season, Coach Borelli is excited to begin the sea- DOUBLES RANKINGS son and expects to be very competitive this No. Pair (School) 1. Huey/Devvarman (Virginia) year. 2. Van’t/Farah (USC) 3. Fogleman/Kearney (North Carolina) “We had great records at the top four sin- 4. Tveit/Berg (Mississippi) gles positions against the schedule we 5. Cunningham/Connelly (Tulsa) played last year, but I feel that we’re deep- 6. Holmstrom/Persson (Denver) er and our doubles are better this season,” 7. Alcala/Christen (Arizona) said Borelli. “The cupboard was bare and 8. Baker/Sramek (South Alabama) we had to start all over. I think it was a 9. Davis/Rowe (Illinois) good first step for me to stamp the type of 10. Szumanski/Rojmar (Texas Tech) 11. Breler/Markovic (Texas Tech) program I want and the style I have. I 12. Barriga/Damico (Texas) expect us to have some great moments this 13. Chodkiewicz/Corrie (Texas) year, and we have the potential to have a 14. Kumar/Ermakov (Harvard) very good team.” 15. Soriano/Brugues (Tulsa) ...... Freshman Adrian Simon will enter the 44. Brink/Cotet (TCU) season ranked 54th nationally.

19 2008 TCU Men’s Tennis 2008 SCHEDULE AND ROSTER 11 @Oklahoma State 2008 MEN’S TENNIS14 SCHEDULEDuke February 2 @ Texas-San Antonio 12 @ Illinois 2 St. Edwards 14 Wake Forest 4 Idaho 18 Columbia 6 Texas-Arlington 21 @ Fresno State 6 Abilene Christian 22 @ Pepperdine 11 Dallas Baptist 27 Air Force 11 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 28 BYU 17 Texas Tech 29 @ UNLV 23 Minnesota 24 Oklahoma State April 10 Utah March 11 San Diego State 5 Oklahoma 12 New Mexico 8 @ Texas A&M 16 @ SMU 10 @ Wisconsin 24-26 MWC Championships

2008 TCU MEN’S TENNIS ROSTER Name Yr-Exp Ht Wt Plays Hometown (Previous School) Emanuel Brighiu Fr. - TR 6-3 210 Right-Handed Iasi, Romania (George Baritiu Univ.) Kriegler Brink Jr. - 2L 6-1 162 Left-Handed Gauteng, South Africa (Hoerskool Stellenbosch H.S.) Caleb Bulls So. - 1L 5-9 150 Left-Handed Tyler, Texas (Tyler J.C.) Cosmin Cotet Sr. - 2L 6-5 187 Right-Handed Iasi, Romania (Unv. of Iasi) Mike Donovan So. - 1L 6-2 205 Right-Handed Lake Forest, Ill. (Lake Forest H.S.) Zach Nichols Fr. - HS 6-1 156 Right-Handed Austin, Texas (Lake Travis H.S.) Alex Panayides Fr. - HS 5-8 145 Left-Handed Wesley Chapel, Fla. (Saddlebrook Prep) Casey Powers Fr. - HS 5-10 155 Right-Handed Dallas, Texas (Highland Park H.S.) Jack Seider RFr. - HS 6-0 160 Right-Handed Austin, Texas (Lighthouse Christian Academy) Adrian Simon Fr. - TR 6-2 175 Right-Handed Sibiu, Romania (Lucian Blaga Univ.)

BY CLASS Seniors (1) ...... Cosmin Cotet Juniors (1) ...... Kriegler Brink Sophomores (2) ...... Caleb Bulls, Mike Donovan Freshmen (6) ...... Emanuel Brighiu, Zach Nichols, Alex Panayides, Casey Powers, Jack Seider, Adrian Simon

BY STATE/COUNTRY Florida (1) ...... Alex Panayides Illinois (1) ...... Mike Donovan Romania (3)....Emanuel Brighiu, Cosmin Cotet, Adrian Simon South Africa (1) ...... Kriegler Brink Texas (4)...... Caleb Bulls, Zach Nichols, ...... Casey Powers, Jack Seider

PRONUNCIATION GUIDE Emanuel Brighiu...... Brig-EW Kriegler Brink...... KREE-gler Cosmin Cotet ...... coze-MEEN coh-TET Zach Nichols ...... NIK-uhls Alex Panayides ...... Pan-YAY-dees Kriegler Brink Jack Seider ...... sigh-DER Adrian Simon ...... si-MONE

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