October 20, 2007
The Texas A&M men?â„¢s tennis team advanced in both the singles and doubles draw on the first day of the ITA South Central Regional Championship held Saturday at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center.
Junior All-Big 12 Conference standout Conor Pollock (San Antonio, Texas) and sophomore transfer Chris Chirico (Philadelphia, Pa.) moved on to the round of 32 with straight-set victories. Pollock, seeded fourth at the tournament, handily defeated Prairie View A&M?â„¢s Nicolas Bateman, 6-1, 6-3, while Chirico eliminated Rice?â„¢s Vishnu Rajam, 6-4, 6-4.
?We had some good things happen to us today and our guys came out and played hard,? Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. ?In a couple of our matches, we did not win the big points which made all the diffrerence between winning and losing. We just didn?â„¢t quite play like we wanted to in those losses. Overall, I am proud of our guys and look forward to tomorrow?â„¢s matches.?
In doubles competition, two Aggie combinations reached the round of 16 with Conor Pollock and Chris Chirico defeating Texas Tech?â„¢s Ilya Babinciuc and James Wilson, 8-4. Meanwhile, senior All-American Jerry Makowski (Bradenton, Fla.) and Kayvon Karimi defeated Texas-Arlington?â„¢s Gonzalo Bienzobas and Hugo Taracido, 9-7.
The Aggies continue play tomorrow beginning at 8:30 a.m.
2007 ITA SOUTH CENTRAL REGIONAL MEN?â„¢S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
Oct. 20-23, 2007
Penick-Allison Tennis Center
at Austin, Texas
SINGLES
Round of 128
Brad Williams (Texas A&M) def. Caleb Bulls (TCU), 6-1, 6-1.
Chris Chirico (Texas A&M) def. Milos Kustudija (Texas Tech), withdrew (injury).
Round of 64
(9) Piotr Banas (Louisiana-Lafayette) def. Matt Bain (Texas A&M), 6-2, 6-1.
(4) Conor Pollock (Texas A&M) def. Nicolas Bateman (Prairie View A&M), 6-1, 6-3.
Matt Brown (Baylor) def. Kayvon Karimi (Texas A&M), 6-3, 6-2.
Adrian Simon (TCU) def. (3) Jerry Makowski (Texas A&M), 6-1, 4-6, 7-6.
Jonah Kane-West (Texas) def. Brad Williams (Texas A&M), 7-6, 7-5.
Chris Chirico (Texas A&M) def. Vishnu Rajam (Rice), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
DOUBLES
Round of 64
Bain-Williams (Texas A&M) def. Avila-Mohinta (UT-Pan American), 8-5.
Round of 32
(5) Chirico-Pollock (Texas A&M) def. Babinciuc-Wilson (Texas Tech), 8-4.
(5) Novikov-Pavlov (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) def. Bain-Williams (Texas A&M), 9-7.
Makowski-Karimi (Texas A&M) def. Bienzobas-Taracido (UTA), 9-7.