Texas A&M
USC
Men's Tennis Downs Second-Straight Top 10 Opponent In No. 10 USC
Mar 20, 2009 | Men's Tennis
March 19, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Another improbable rally produced another win over a top 10 opponent as the No. 15-ranked Texas A&M men's tennis team downed No. 10 USC, 4-3, Thursday night at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
The Aggies (7-5) trailed the Trojans (12-4) 3-2 with two matches left on the court. Like his teammate Colin Hoover did against No. 7 Illinois on Sunday, sophomore Alexey Grigorov (Moscow, Russia) trailed No. 75 Abdullah Magdas 5-1 in the third set, but turned the tide by winning six-straight games on his way to a 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory to level the team score at 3-3.
Grigorov's win set the stage for senior All-American Conor Pollock (San Antonio, Texas), who rallied from a 3-1, 40-love hole in the third set to beat USC's Jaak Poldma, 5-7, 6-1, 6-4, and clinch the win for the Aggies.
"I didn't think it was possible to top what happened last Sunday, but I'm not sure this wasn't a bigger comeback," Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. "(Alexey) Grigorov was down 5-1 and then won six games in a row to win, and then Conor (Pollock) was trailing 3-1, 40-love before he turned it around. It's just a great team victory. I was proud of the way the guys stayed in there and never quit. That's what has happened in these last couple of matches, our guys just won't quit. It's been a roller coaster ride for us to win these great matches, but that's what it's going to take. We are going to have to have that mentality if we're going to beat these big teams. I think these guys are beginning to believe they can."
The Aggies dropped the doubles point and had to win four out of six singles matches to beat the Trojans. Prior to the heroics from Grigorov and Pollock, the Aggies received clutch wins from sophomore Marcus Lunt (San Antonio, Texas). Krajicek knocked off No. 92-ranked Steve Johnson, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1, at the No. 2 line, while Lunt cruised to a 6-4, 6-2 win over Matt Kecki at No. 4. The Aggies' lone doubles win was a big one with the third-ranked doubles tandem of Pollock and Krajicek taking down USC's sixth-ranked duo of Johnson and Robert Farah, 8-5.
Up next, A&M will close out a four-match homestand and non-conference play with LSU (5-5) on Saturday, March 21 at 1 p.m. (CT). Live statistics will be available for the match between the Aggies and Tigers at: www.AggieAthletics.com.
(15) TEXAS A&M 4, (10) USC 3
March 19, 2009
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center at College Station, Texas
Attendance: 354
SINGLES
No. 1 - (16) Conor Pollock (Texas A&M) def. (101) Jaak Poldma (USC), 5-7, 6-1, 6-4.
No. 2 - (52) Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M) def. (92) Steve Johnson (USC), 6-3, 2-6, 6-1.
No. 3 - Alexey Grigorov (Texas A&M) def. (75) Abdullah Magdas (USC), 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.
No. 4 - Marcus Lunt (Texas A&M) def. Matt Kecki (USC), 6-4, 6-2.
No. 5 - Jason McNaughton (USC) def. Kayvon Karimi (Texas A&M), 6-2, 7-6 (1)
No. 6 - Daniel Nguyen (USC) def. Colin Hoover (Texas A&M), 6-2, 6-3.
DOUBLES
No. 1 - (3) Pollock-Krajicek (Texas A&M) def. (6) Farah-Johnson (USC), 8-5.
No. 2 - Magdas-Nguyen (USC) def. Hoover-Grigorov (Texas A&M), 8-6.
No. 3 - Poldma-Kecki (USC) def. Calon Alpar-Lunt (Texas A&M), 9-7.
ORDER OF FINISH
Doubles: 1, 2, 3
Singles: 6, 4, 5, 2, 3, 1*
Players Mentioned
