March 5, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Texas A&M men's tennis team will close out a tough five-match road stretch with a pair of top 30 meetings in the Pacific Northwest over the weekend.
The Aggies (3-4) look to overcome their recent setbacks on the road with dual matches against No. 27 Boise State (7-5) on Friday, March 6 at the Boas Tennis Center in Boise, Idaho, and No. 22 Washington (8-4) on Sunday, March 8 at the Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle, Wash. First serve versus the Broncos and Huskies is scheduled for 2 p.m. (CT) at both indoor venues.
A&M has played away from the friendly confines of the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center since its season opener against Radford on Jan. 25. The Aggies have been on the road for what will be eight-straight matches prior to welcoming an action-packed lineup of top-ranked teams in Ohio State, Illinois, USC and LSU over the spring break holiday in College Station. A&M is looking to rebound from a recent 6-1 road loss to No. 33 Louisville on March 1.
"We really had a tough weekend and it's very important that we bounce back with a lot of energy," Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. "Boise State is a very energetic team. The last time we played each other in College Station, it came down to Austin Krajicek's match for the win. They are a competitive team and will be ready to play us. Coach Patton will have a large crowd on hand who will be ready to cause a ruckus. It's a great opportunity for us to get out and have some success on the road, which we really need right now."
The Aggies return their top three singles players and top doubles combination from the 2008 season in which they tallied a 4-3 result versus BSU and claimed a 5-2 victory over UW at the Mitchell Tennis Center. A&M is paced by the senior leadership of All-American Conor Pollock (San Antonio, Texas) who pairs with sophomore All-American Austin Krajicek (Brandon, Fla.) for a team-best 6-1 doubles record in dual match play this season and a season-high No. 6 national ranking in the latest Campbell/ITA Rankings.
Junior Marcus Lunt (San Antonio, Texas), who returned to college tennis after a two-year Mormon mission, is playing like a seasoned veteran for the Aggies with a current three-match win streak and a team-leading 15-8 overall singles record. Sophomore Wil Spencer (Ponce de Leon, Fla.) climbed 13 spots to No. 22 in the nation this week and is tied with No. 24-ranked Pollock with 14 overall singles victories on the season.
"It will be another close match for us," said Denton on the Huskies. "They are a solid, well-coached Pac-10 team. My goal is to have all of our guys playing at a high level. We haven't been playing consistently, but our guys are aware and attuned to how we played this last week at Notre Dame and Louisville. Hopefully, this weekend will help motivate us to be more successful on the road."
Live statistics and video will be available for the Washington match at: www.gohuskies.com or through a live scoring link at: www.AggieAthletics.com.
Catch The Coach Denton Radio Show On Mondays...Listen to the Steve Denton Radio Show live every Monday at 4:15 p.m. (CT) on Chip Howard's SportsTalk broadcast live on KZNE 1150 AM The Zone in College Station. Denton joins Chip Howard for the only college tennis coach's radio show in the nation. Each week, the duo will recap and preview matches for the nationally-ranked Aggies. The weekly radio show airs every Monday from February through the NCAA Championships and can also be heard worldwide on the Internet at: www.KZNE.com.