Texas A&M
Ohio State
No. 5 Ohio State Edges No. 18 Texas A&M, 4-3
Mar 13, 2009 | Men's Tennis
March 13, 2009
Post Game Audio [mp3]:
Head Coach Denton
BRYAN, Texas - Texas A&M's upset bid against No. 5 Ohio State (16-1) came up short as the Buckeyes won the third set in the last match standing to edge the 18th-ranked Aggies, 4-3, tonight on the indoor courts at the City of Bryan Tennis Center.
"In the end they were just a little bit better," A&M coach Steve Denton said. "I think it comes down to they have been in these situations more than these guys have, and they believed.
"We played well tonight. We played with a lot of energy. This is in my opinion one of the top three or four teams in the country. This is more on their surface than our surface and for us to play them this close, this shows just how good we are and how good we can be down the stretch when we get to Big 12 and NCAA tournaments."
The doubles matches were tightly contested across the board, but A&M prevailed and became only the second team to be able to win the crucial point against Ohio State this season.
"We have been winning a lot of doubles points, and I am hopeful we can keep that going because I am confident that we've got a really, really good singles lineup," Denton said. "If we are solid in the doubles, then we are going to win a lot of matches here in the next couple of months."
At the No. 1 line, sixth-ranked Conor Pollock were knotted at 7-7 with OSU's Justin Kronauge and Matt Allare. A&M broke serve to take an 8-7 lead and then held to win the match, 9-7, and improve to 9-1 in dual matches.
A tiebreaker decided the match at the No. 2 line after A&M's Alexey Grigorov and Colin Hoover battled OSU's Bryan Koniecko and Shuhei Uzawa to an 8-8 tie. OSU built a 6-4 lead in the tiebreaker, but the Aggie duo reeled off four consecutive points to win the match and clinch the doubles point.
With the point already determined, play was suspended at the No. 3 line, where the 43rd-ranked tandem of Steven Moneke and Balazs Novak had taken an 8-7 lead against A&M's Marcus Lunt and Wil Spencer.
"We had to have that [doubles point], because the strength in their team is their singles," Denton said. "They have six really good singles players, and I felt we had to win the doubles to give ourselves a legitimate chance.
"We were down three match points at No. 1 and won. At No. 2, we were down 6-4 in the tiebreaker and won that. And at No. 3, we had match points and didn't win and were looking like maybe we were going to lose 9-7, so it's a crazy game. It comes down to a couple of points. Especially in the eight-game pro set of doubles, it is a bit of a crapshoot. It is a lot of pressure on these guys to know how significant that point is and for the matches to come down to one or two shots. But that is tennis and that is really doubles, execution under pressure. I was really proud of the way our guys executed there."
A&M would hold a 3-1 lead after the first three singles matches were completed. Krajicek posted the highest ranked win in his career, defeating fourth-ranked Moneke, 6-4, 6-3 at No. 2 singles to put A&M up, 2-0. It was Moneke's first loss in dual match play this season after opening the spring 14-0.
No. 20 Kronauge put the Buckeyes on the board, coming back to defeat 22nd-ranked Spencer, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, at the No. 3 line, but Pollock put the Aggies up, 3-1, defeating sixth-ranked and 2008 ITA national indoor champion Koniecko, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, at No. 1 singles. It marked the second highest ranked victory for Pollock, whose best win came against then No. 2 Moneke at the 2007 ITA National Indoor Championships.
"[Koniecko] in my opinion is one of the top two indoor tennis players in the country, and for Conor to come back and win that match after losing a heartbreaking first set really shows that he is really maturing as a tennis player," Denton said.
"Austin Krajicek beating the No. 6 player in the country at No. 2 shows that he's really gone a long way there to improve his game as well. I'm real pleased with both of them. They obviously played great in doubles. I think that this team is really just going to get better."
Unfortunately for the Aggies, Pollock's point would be the last one A&M could muster. Novak, ranked No. 71, topped Lunt, 6-4, 6-4, at the No. 5 position to put OSU within 3-2. Then in a hotly contested three-setter, Allare held off Grigorov 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 6-3, to tie the score at 3-3 with only the No. 6 line to be determined.
Uzawa, ranked No. 100, took the first set against Kayvon Karimi, 6-4, but Karimi came back to take the second set, 6-3. The score was tied at 2-all in the third set before Uzawa ran off four straight games to win the match and clinch the victory for the Buckeyes.
"Down the stretch we lost three three-set matches that we could have won," Denton said. "We had our chances. As it turned out, we were in all the matches. There was really only one match that was a straight-set win for them. Everybody else, we are in with a chance, and that is all you can hope for in a match like this against a really good team is you put yourself in a position to win. We haven't been in that situation enough yet. They were able to come through in a couple of close matches. They are really good fighters and battle tested, and our guys are getting to that point. I'd sure like to play them again."
The Aggies (5-5) return to the courts Sunday, facing their second consecutive top-10 opponent as they play host to No. 7 Illinois. First serve is slated for noon at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
(5) OHIO STATE 4 (18) TEXAS A&M, 3
March 13, 2009
City of Bryan (Indoor) Tennis Center
Bryan, Texas
SINGLES
No. 1 - (24) Conor Pollock (Texas A&M) def. (6) Bryan Koniecko (Ohio State), 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
No. 2 - (107) Marcus Lunt (Texas A&M), 6-4, 6-4
No. 6 - (100) Shuhei Uzawa (Ohio State) def. Kayvon Karimi (Texas A&M), 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
DOUBLES
No. 1 - (6) Krajicek-Pollock (Texas A&M) def. Allare-Kronauge (Ohio State), 9-7
No. 2 - Grigorov-Colin Hoover (Texas A&M) def. Koniecko/Uzawa (Ohio State), 9-8 (6)
No. 3 - Lunt-Spencer (Texas A&M) vs. (43) Moneke/Novak (Ohio State), 7-8 (unfinished)
ORDER OF FINISH
Doubles: 1, 2
Singles: 2, 3, 1, 5, 4, 6*
Players Mentioned
