April 25, 2009
NORMAN, Okla. - No. 3 seed Texas A&M put up a strong fight but came up short in a disappointing 4-2 loss to No. 2 seed Texas in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tennis Championships today at the Headington Family Tennis Center on the University of Oklahoma campus.
"We are not satisfied," A&M coach Bobby Kleinecke said. "This was not a match that we came in to play close and lose. It came down to the wire. The difference in this match is that (Texas) stepped up at the right times. They stepped up when the match was on the line and we didn't."
The Longhorns, ranked No. 32 in the Campbell's/ITA College Tennis rankings, improve to 16-6 and advance to the tournament final for the sixth consecutive year. They will take on top-seed and three-time reigning champion Baylor on Sunday.
The Aggies, who won the Big 12 tournament title when the event was last held at Oklahoma in 2004, drop to 14-10 and now await the announcement of the 64-team NCAA Championship on Tuesday to see if their season continues.
Texas began the match by winning the first two doubles matches to be completed to take a 1-0 lead. Amanda Craddock and Krista Damico jumped out to a 5-0 lead against A&M's Stephanie Davidson and Morgan Frank at No. 2 doubles and went on to win the match, 8-3.
Texas clinched the point at the No. 1 line, where 39th-ranked Vanja Corovic and Marija Milic pulled away from a 5-5 tie to top Janelle Cuthbertson and Christi Liles, 8-5 and clinch the point.
The No. 3 match between A&M's Sheri Oliver and Elzé Potgieter and the Longhorns' Stephanie Davison and Caroline Larsson was knotted at 7-all when the match was halted.
"A big key was I really felt like we needed to win this doubles point," Kleinecke said. "I felt like the momentum needed to start our way."
Although the Aggies dropped the doubles point, they came out and won the first set on four of six singles courts. Lauren Santacroce completed a 7-5, 6-0 straight-set victory over Craddock at the No. 5 line, and Frank followed with a 6-2, 6-3 win against Damico at No. 2 to give A&M a 2-1 lead.
Maggie Mello knotted the score at 2-2 with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Cuthbertson at No. 4. It was the last match that would be decided in straight sets, as back-and-forth three setters would decide all three remaining matches.
Olivier had won a first-set tiebreaker against Sarah Lancaster at No. 6. The Aggie freshman had jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the tiebreaker, but Lancaster got back within 6-5 before Olivier closed out the set.
Olivier was up, 4-3 and at game point in the second when Lancaster began her comeback. The Longhorn held on to even the set at 4-4 and then won the next two games to win the set and force a third set. Lancaster then won the first five games of the final set en route to a 6-1 win to put Texas ahead, 3-2.
Larsson would clinch the match at the No. 3 line. She took the first set against Liles, 6-2, but in the second set, it was Liles who won four consecutive games to cap a 6-3 win and force a third set. Lancaster built a 4-1 lead in the final set, but Liles battled back to close within 4-3. Larsson then won the next two games to close out the match and clinch the winning point for the Longhorns.
Corovic held a narrow 3-2 lead over Potgieter in a third-set tiebreaker at No. 1 singles when the match was decided. Potgieter had won the first set, 6-2, but Corovic won the second set, 6-4, to force the tiebreaker.
The match was much closer than the regular season match-up, which Texas won, 6-1, in Austin, Texas on March 7, but that brought little comfort to Kleinecke.
"We were right there today," he said. "We were close, but close isn't good enough. No matter how you look at it, we can't be satisfied with that. Yes, it is better than the last time we played them, but so what. We've got to get tougher. We've got to get meaner.
"The positive part is that we did lay it all out there today. We just need to take this and run and take it to the NCAA tournament."
The NCAA Championship field will be announced Tuesday, April 28 on ESPNEWS. The announcement for both the men's and women's brackets will air at approximately 4:20 p.m. (CDT).
(32) Texas 4, (35) Texas A&M 2
Big 12 Tennis Championships - Semifinals
April 25, 2009
Headington Family Tennis Center
Norman, Okla.
Singles
1. (107) Elzé Potgieter (A&M) vs. (116) Vanja Corovic (UT), 6-2, 4-6, 6-6 (2-3) DNF
2. (114) Morgan Frank (A&M) def. Krista Damico (UT), 6-2, 6-3
3. Caroline Larsson (UT) def. Christi Liles (A&M), 6-2, 3-6 6-3
4. Maggie Mello (UT) def. Janelle Cuthbertson (A&M), 6-2, 6-4
5. Lauren Santacroce (A&M) def. Amanda Craddock (UT), 7-5, 6-0
6. Sarah Lancaster (UT) def. Sheri Olivier (A&M), 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1
Doubles (Texas wins the point)
1. Corovic/Marija Milic (UT) def. Cuthbertson/Liles (A&M), 8-5
2. Craddock/Damico (UT) def. Stephanie Davidson/Frank (A&M), 8-3
3. Olivier/Potgieter (A&M) vs. Stephanie Davison/Larsson (UT), 7-7 DNF
Order of finish:
Doubles: 2, 1
Singles: 5, 2, 4, 6, 3*
*Clinched match
Team records:
Texas A&M: 14-10
Texas: 16-6
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.