April 15, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - It will be a full-on battle with state bragging rights on the line as the 13th-ranked Texas A&M men's tennis team clashes with No. 14 Texas in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown on Thursday, April 16 at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center. First serve between the two in-state rivals is set for 6 p.m. (CT).
The winner of Thursday's match will earn a full point toward the Lone Star Showdown standings as well as good footing in the Big 12 Conference race heading into postseason tournament play. The Aggies (13-7, 4-1) remain in second place behind an undefeated 5-0 Baylor squad and ahead of the visiting Longhorns (16-4, 3-1). A&M will be the first to close out the regular season as league matches will be contested through April 19. BU and UT have one final meeting versus fourth-place Oklahoma State and last-place Nebraska respectively which will decide the top three seeds in the upcoming Big 12 Men's Tennis Championship on April 24-27 in Norman, Okla.
Match promotions include Dollar Day at the Mitchell Tennis Center with $1 admission as well as $1 hot dogs and sodas available for purchase at the concession stand (while supplies last). The first 300 fans will also receive a free Aggie Tennis water bottle.
Senior All-American and No. 19-ranked Conor Pollock (San Antonio, Texas) will be honored during Senior Night festivities held prior to the match. One of the top 10 greatest players in school history, he currently ranks 18th all-time with 58 career singles victories and tied for 10th all-time with 61 career doubles victories in the A&M record books. Since his arrival in Aggieland in 2006, Pollock has been twice named All-Big 12 in singles and All-Big 12 in doubles. He reached the NCAA Doubles Championship semifinals with teammate Austin Krajicek (Brandon, Fla.) in 2008 as well as earned Big 12 Freshman of the Year honors in 2006. Pollock will take on No. 21-ranked Dimitar Kutrovsky of Texas at the top of the lineup on Thursday.
"In the Big 12, every team has gone 5-2 or 4-3 in every single match," said Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton on the depth of the league from top-to-bottom. "That's how close our conference is. I anticipate it being a close match. They beat us 7-0 earlier in the year at the Texas Cup, where we had some close results, but we didn't have (Alexey) Grigorov. We're playing a lot better since and we're playing at home, but it is still Texas. They are really good and reached the finals of the NCAA Team Championships last year. They have the majority of that team back this year with a few new players in key spots who will present some challenges for us."
A&M currently has three of the top league players by position in No. 54-ranked Wil Spencer (Ponce de Leon, Fla.) with a perfect 5-0 record at No. 3 and freshman Colin Hoover (Victoria, Texas) with a 3-1 mark at No. 6. Pollock and sophomore Alexey Grigorov (Moscow, Russia) hold the second-best marks (3-2) in the Big 12 holding down the No. 1 and No. 4 lines for the Aggies. Texas has one additional ranked player in No. 60 Ed Corrie who shared Big 12 Freshman and Newcomer of the Year honors with Krajicek a year ago.
"This match will come down to us playing the key points well, being aggressive and how well we do in the doubles," said Denton whose Aggies have lost the doubles point in five of their last six matches. "We're a strong team at the top and so are they. We are top heavy at this point and they are a little bit stronger on paper and have had better results down low. We are going to have to win a match or two down low and do well in the doubles."
In doubles, Krajicek and Pollock are ranked eighth nationally followed by Texas' ranked tandems of Ed Corrie and Kellen Damico at No. 27 and Dimitar Kutrovsky and Josh Zavala at No. 36. A&M's top doubles combination is 24-8 overall and 16-4 in dual matches this season, but Texas holds a 39-10 advantage in the all-time series including a six-match win streak against the Aggies. A&M previously fell 7-0 to the Longhorns in the Texas Cup which was a neutral non-conference match played indoors on Feb. 6 in Houston.
"It's always a huge match," said Denton, a former All-American at Texas and UT Hall of Honor inductee. "Like our series with Baylor, it hasn't really been a rivalry since I've been here, because they've been winning. It will become more of a rivalry when we start having some success against them. It would be great if that could happen on Senior Night for Conor Pollock. We will have to be ready to play."
Live scoring and video from the Texas match will be available on www.AggieAthletics.com.
State Farm Lone Star Showdown Scoreboard...The Longhorns currently lead 8.5 to four points in the latest State Farm Lone Star Showdown standings with A&M's points earned by soccer (0.5), men's cross country (1.0), men's basketball (0.5), women's basketball (1.0) and women's indoor track and field (1.0). For complete results, log onto www.lonestarshowdown.net.
Big 12 Tennis Championships Up Next...The 2009 Big 12 Men's and Women's Tennis Championships will be held on April 24-27 at the Headington Family Tennis Center on the campus of host Oklahoma. The men's quarterfinals will begin on Friday, April 25 with the championship rounds to be played on Sunday, April 27. For ticket information, please visit www.big12sports.com or www.soonersports.com.