April 24, 2009
NORMAN, Okla. - The Texas A&M women's tennis team opened the Big 12 Championships with a 4-1 quarterfinal victory against No. 6 seed Oklahoma State today at the Headington Family Tennis Center on the University of Oklahoma campus.
With the win, the No. 3 seed Aggies (14-9) advance to the semifinals for the fifth consecutive year and will be pitted against rival and No. 2 seed Texas Saturday at 3 p.m.
"We are excited to play Texas. It is a match we've been looking for since the first of March when we played them the last time," A&M coach Bobby Kleinecke said. "A&M and Texas, you don't need to say any more."
The Aggies won the doubles point and picked up four straight-set singles victories in blustery conditions to win their eighth consecutive match in the series with OSU and improve to 16-9 all-time against the Cowgirls, who finish the season 13-12 overall.
"It was a really hard day to play with the wind," Kleinecke said. "I don't think anybody came out and played their best tennis but you did what you had to do. We wanted to come away with the doubles point, which we did."
Janelle Cuthbertson and Christi Liles gave the Aggies the early advantage in doubles, jumping out to a 5-1 lead against JoAnne Karaitiana and Nataliya Shatkovskaya at the No. 1 line en route to an 8-3 victory.
Sheri Oliver and Elzé Potgieter then clinched the point and extended their winning streak to six after holding off Oleksandra Belova and Maryna Tkachenko, 8-6, at No. 3. A&M's Stephanie Davidson and Morgan Frank were leading 7-4 and were at match point against Alisa Buslaieva and Iryna Khatsko at No. 2 when the match was halted.
"I thought we did a good job at No. 1 doubles," Kleinecke said. "We had lost (at No. 1) to them during the year, so it was a good job for us to come away and win that. It really helped us out, especially the easy way they did it.
"At No. 3 doubles having to fight through and be down a little bit and then even and then take away the 8-6, that set the tone for the match."
In singles, Potgieter gave the Aggies a 2-0 lead with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Karaitiana at the No. 1 line. Karaitiana had jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the opening set, but Potgieter won the next five games to win the set. Karaitiana also held a narrow 3-2 lead in the second set before Potgieter reeled off four straight games to close out the match.
Olivier put the Aggies ahead, 3-0, with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Buslaieva at No. 6. The two were on serve at 4-4 before Olivier broke Buslaieva and then held serve to take the first set. Buslaieva won the first game of the second set, but Olivier responded by winning six consecutive games.
Khatsko posted the Cowgirls' only point, downing Liles, 6-3, 6-4 at No. 3 just seconds before Frank finished off Shatkovskaya, 6-3, 6-2, at No. 2.
A&M's Lauren Santacroce was at match point at the No. 5 line when play was halted. Cuthbertson, who dropped her first-set tiebreaker, also was leading Tkachenko, 2-1, in the second set when the match was clinched.
"In the singles, I thought OSU played a very good match," Kleinecke said. "They did it the last time we played them, too. They came out and played really well in the singles, jumped up to leads at No. 1, 3 and 5. I commend them for their fight."
A&M, which won its only Big 12 tournament title when the event was held at the University of Oklahoma in 2004, advances to the semifinals for the fifth consecutive year and the eighth time since the championship was first held in 1997.
Texas (15-6), which topped A&M, 6-1, in the conference regular season opener on March 7 in Austin, Texas, earned a berth in the semifinals for the 13th consecutive year by defeating Texas Tech, 4-0, earlier in the day.
Live scoring of the match will be available at AggieAthletics.com.
Texas A&M 4, Oklahoma State 1
April 24, 2009
Headington Family Tennis Center
Norman, Okla.
Singles
1. (107) Elzé Potgieter (A&M) def. JoAnne Karaitiana (OSU), 6-3, 6-3
2. (114) Morgan Frank (A&M) def. Nataliya Shatkovskaya (OSU), 6-3, 6-2
3. Iryna Khatsko (OSU) def. Christi Liles (A&M), 6-3, 6-4
4. Janelle Cuthbertson (118) vs. Maryna Tkachenko (OSU), 6-7 (5), 2-1 DNF
5. Lauren Santacroce (A&M) vs. Oleksandra Belova (OSU), 6-4, 5-4 DNF
6. Sheri Olivier (A&M) def. Alisa Buslaieva (OSU), 6-4, 6-1
Doubles (A&M wins the point)
1. Cuthbertson/Liles (A&M) def. Karaitiana/Shatkovskaya (OSU), 8-3
2. Stephanie Davidson/Frank (A&M) vs. Buslaieva/Khatsko (OSU), 7-4 DNF
3. Olivier/Potgieter (A&M) def. Belova/Tkachenko (OSU), 8-6
Order of finish:
Doubles: 1, 3
Singles: 1, 6, 3, 2*
*Clinched match
Team records:
Texas A&M: 14-9
Oklahoma State: 13-12
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.