No. 23 LSU Slips Past No. 27 A&M, 4-3

Feb. 8, 2009

Post Game Audio [mp3]:
Head Coach Kleinecke

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - No. 23 LSU overcame a 3-0 deficit to defeat No. 27 Texas A&M, 4-3, in a match that endured two rain delays and a change of venue from the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center to the indoor courts at the City of Bryan Tennis Center.

 

"This match was definitely in our grasp," A&M coach Bobby Kleinecke said. "We had our hands on it. It was ours, and we just didn't finish. We moved over here indoors, we lost a little momentum and they started off well, and that ended up costing us."

 

The Lady Tigers improve to 5-1 after picking up their first win against the Aggies in five meetings. A&M drops to 3-2 after suffering its first home loss of the season.

 

"This [match] could have really helped our cause, but the thing is that we might look back on this at the end of the year and say, `you know what, we learned a very valuable lesson right here and this made us stronger, made us tougher.' That's what you hope when you have losses. You bounce back and play them one at a time and realize that the first half of the season is an extremely tough part."

 

A&M survived a 28-minute rain delay in doubles to win on two of three courts and take a 1-0 lead. A&M's Stephanie Davidson and Morgan Frank were leading Hannah Robinson and Whitney Wolf, 3-2 at the No. 2 position before the delay and went on to win 8-4.

 

LSU's 17th-ranked duo of Megan Falcon and Mykala Hedberg also held a 3-2 lead over Janelle Cuthbertson and Christi Liles when play was suspended and went on to win 8-4.

Aggies Elzé Potgieter had jumped out to a 4-1 lead against Nicole Kantor and Staten Spencer at No. 3 before the first rain delay. They held their lead for the remainder of the match to win, 8-5, and clinch the point. It was the third consecutive win for the Aggie tandem.

 

Frank then gave A&M a 2-0 advantage, taking just one hour, 11 minutes to defeat Hedberg, 6-1, 6-2, at No. 2 singles. Olivier quickly followed, completing a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Robinson at the No. 5 line to put the Aggies ahead, 3-0.

 

"Morgan continues to just be a bulldog out there," Kleinecke said. "She is a big plus for us right now. I'd say we are where we are right now because of Morgan.

 

"Looking at Sheri Olivier's play at No. 5, she did a great job. Usually she has lost the second set even after winning an easy first set, so I was very proud of her today for finishing out that match in two sets."

 

LSU picked up its first point at No. 1 singles where Falcon, ranked No. 5 in the nation, won the first four games before Potgieter got on the scoreboard. Falcon went on to win the first set, 6-1, and jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second set before Potgieter won three straight games to tie the score. The players held serve before Falcon got a break to go up 5-4. She then held serve to win the match.

 

Nicole Smith then got a crucial win for LSU at No. 6 to put the Lady Tigers within 3-2. Davidson held a 4-2 lead when Smith ran off four straight games to win the first set. Smith ran her game winning streak to eight as she jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second set. Davidson got within 4-3, but Smith won the next two games to end the match.

 

"We had chances to be up 5-3 in that first set," Kleinecke said. " We had our chances right there, and Stephanie has been playing good for us. That probably was a breaker right there at No. 6. I felt like we were going to win No. 6."

 

Liles was coming off a second-set win and held a narrow 1-0 lead in the third set against Kantor at No. 3, and Wolf had just earned a split against Lauren Santacroce at the No. 4 line when play was suspended because of rain. The matches were moved to the indoor courts, and after a one hour, 13 minute delay, play resumed.

 

Wolf, who won the second set, 6-4, after dropping the first set, 7-5, raced to a 6-0 third-set victory over Santacroce to even the match at 3-3.

 

"From the very first point [of the third set, Wolf] was dictating the play," Kleinecke said. "Lauren never got to where she was dictating any points. She wouldn't step up and hit the ball, and then you really become a ball machine. [Wolf] wasn't missing."

 

Kantor also quickly gained the momentum after moving indoors, frustrating Liles with an effective lob shot. Kantor had won the first set, 6-2, but then fell behind, 4-0, in the second set en route to a 6-3 loss. Liles broke Kantor to begin the final set, but Kantor broke back when play resumed indoors and then held serve to take a 2-1 lead. Each player held serve until Kantor broke in the final game to win, 6-4, and clinch the match for the Lady Tigers.

 

"[Kantor] is a hard girl to play," Kleinecke said. "You have to put her on the move and step up in the court, take balls out of the air and give her less time to prepare. The more you get caught back, it is easy for her to play. She has the whole court to hit into. That is her game. That is not the type of game that you like to play against.

 

"We were not putting her on the move. Every time we put her on the move, every time we got her stretched out and we moved forward, we usually won the point. That is the difference in the match. The game plan was there, but the situation was really hard for us to overcome."

 

The Aggies do not play again until Feb. 21 at No. 9 Duke. It is the first of a two-match road swing, as A&M also will face No. 33 Wake Forest Feb. 22 in Winston-Salem, N.C.

 

"I think we are further ahead than I thought we would be, but a big part of that is without me seeing how we are going to respond to this loss," Kleinecke said. "If we respond to this loss in a good, positive way and get better in these next couple of weeks -- we've got a weekend where we are not playing -- if we respond there, then yes, I feel like we are further ahead. If we let this loss linger on, then we are going to be in trouble.

 

"The season doesn't get any easier. The next batches we've got, we are traveling to Duke and Wake Forest. Both of them are going to be very tough matches for us, so we have to be ready to play every single one."

(23) LSU 4, (27) Texas A&M 3
February 8, 2009
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center/City of Bryan (Indoor) Tennis Center
College Station, Texas
Attendance: 392

Singles
1. No. 5 Megan Falcon (LSU) def. Elzé Potgieter (TAMU), 6-1, 6-4
2. Morgan Frank (TAMU) def. Mykala Hedberg (LSU), 6-1, 6-2
3. Nicole Kantor (LSU) def. Christi Liles (TAMU), 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
4. Whitney Wolf (LSU) def. Lauren Santacroce (TAMU), 5-7, 6-4, 6-0
5. Sheri Olivier (TAMU) def. Hannah Robinson (LSU), 6-3, 6-2
6. Nicole Smith (LSU) def. Stephanie Davidson (TAMU), 6-4, 6-3

Doubles (A&M wins the point)
1. Falcon/Hedberg (LSU) def. Janelle Cuthbertson/Liles (TAMU), 8-4
2. Davidson/Frank (TAMU) def. Robinson/Wolf (LSU), 8-4
3. Olivier/Potgieter (TAMU) def. Kantor/Staten Spencer (LSU), 8-5

Order of finish:
Doubles: 2, 1, 3
Singles: 2, 5, 1, 6, 4, 3*
*Clinched match

Team records:
Texas A&M: 3-2
LSU: 5-1

2009 NCAA Tennis Championships: Texas A&M will host the 2009 NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Tennis Championships, May 14-25, at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas. Tickets can be purchased online at 12ManFoundation.com or by calling 1-888-99-AGGIE.