Texas A&M
Nebraska
A&M Defeats Nebraska, 5-2
Mar 27, 2009 | Women's Tennis
March 27, 2009
Head Coach Kleinecke
LINCOLN, Neb. - The Texas A&M women's tennis team ran its winning streak to four with a 5-2 victory over the Nebraska Cornhuskers today at the Nebraska Tennis Center indoor courts.
The Aggies improve to 8-6 overall and 4-1 in the Big 12. Nebraska, which won its first 10 matches of the spring season and entered today's contest 9-0 in home matches, suffers its third consecutive loss and drops to 10-3 overall, 2-2 in the Big 12.
"This is a match that we knew was not going to be given to us, and I think the girls did a great job of coming out here and taking care of business," A&M coach Bobby Kleinecke said. "Nebraska has a great team, especially playing indoors where there is no wind. Their balls come so hard at us, it is a different type of game than we usually play. I'm very proud of the way we stepped up."
A&M began the match by winning two of three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead. Freshman Elzé Potgieter (Bloemfontein, South Africa) ran their winning streak to four and improved to 10-2 in dual matches after taking only 40 minutes to dispose of Maria Ring and Wiveca Swarting, 8-4, at the No. 3 line.
Nebraska evened the doubles competition with a win at No. 1. After being tied 3-3 with A&M's Janelle Cuthbertson (Perth, Australia) and Stephanie Davidson (Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas), Jana Albers and Madeleine Geibert won five of the next six games for an 8-4 win, forcing the doubles point to be decided at the No. 2 line.
A&M's Morgan Frank (Oldsmar, Fla.) and Christi Liles (Largo, Fla.) held a 7-4 lead against Jennifer Holmberg and Mary Weatherholt in the deciding match and were in prime position to clinch the point. After holding serve, the Nebraska duo then broke A&M to get within 7-6. The Huskers continued to apply the pressure, fighting off two match points and having opportunities to win the following game before A&M clinched the 8-6 victory.
"A big key to this match was the doubles point," Kleinecke said. "We fell down 2-1 at Nos. 2 and 3, and we made and adjustments and stayed up on the baseline and made them come for their bigger shots. We got the ball back to them a little quicker. That was a big key in the doubles."
Swarting quickly tied the score for the Huskers once singles began, topping Lauren Santacroce (Spring, Texas), 6-3, 6-2, at the No. 4 line.
Cuthbertson regained the lead for A&M and got her first singles win in five matches with a 6-4, 6-1 victory against Holmberg at No. 5. Geibert, however, managed to tie the score for the final time after completing a 6-2, 6-3 win against Potgieter at No. 1.
Frank then put the Aggies ahead, 3-2, and improved to 5-0 in Big 12 matches with a straight-set win at the No. 2 line. After dropping the first game of the match to Weatherholt, Frank won six straight games to take the first set. The second set was on serve at 4-4 before Frank broke Weatherholt to go up 5-4 and then held serve to close out the set and the match.
Liles then clinched the winning point for the Aggies with her third consecutive victory. Liles had dropped the first game in each set against Albers at No. 3, but she quickly took the lead at 2-1 in each set and never trailed again en route to the 6-3, 6-2 victory.
"When I got comfortable was after the last point on Christi's match," Kleinecke said. "I've been doing this long enough that I don't get comfortable. I don't take anything for granted, so you're never comfortable, especially against a team that can come up and get hot and they can hit shots. This isn't a team that is afraid to go for their shots. If they get on, they can rip through some balls, so we needed to make sure we didn't give away any points today. We did a good job of that. We didn't do an unbelievable job of that, but I think we did a good job of that."
Olivier extended her winning streak to four and closed out the match with a 7-5, 6-4 victory against Ashley Finnegan at the No. 6 line.
A&M concludes its two-match conference road swing tomorrow as the Aggies take on Iowa State at 3:30 p.m. at the Ames Racquet and Fitness Center. A&M is 12-0 all-time against the Cyclones.
Live scoring of the match will be available at AggieAthletics.com.
(43) Texas A&M 5, (60) Nebraska 2
March 27, 2009
Nebraska Tennis Center (Indoor Courts)
Lincoln, Neb.
Attendance: n/a
Singles
1. Madeleine Geibert (NU) def. Elzé Potgieter (A&M), 6-2, 6-3
2. (113) Morgan Frank (A&M) def. Mary Weatherholt (NU), 6-1, 6-4
3. Christi Liles (A&M) def. Jana Albers (NU), 6-3, 6-2
4. Wiveca Swarting (NU) def. Lauren Santacroce (A&M), 6-3, 6-0
5. Janelle Cuthbertson (A&M) def. Jennifer Holmberg (NU), 6-4, 6-1
6. Sheri Olivier (A&M) def. Ashley Finnegan (NU), 7-5, 6-4
Doubles (A&M wins the point)
1. Albers/Geibert (NU) def. Cuthbertson/Stephanie Davidson (A&M), 8-4
2. Frank/Liles (A&M) def. Holmberg/Weatherholt (NU), 8-6
3. Olivier/Potgieter (A&M) def. Maria Ring/Swarting (NU), 8-4
Order of finish:
Doubles: 3, 1, 2
Singles: 4, 5, 1, 2, 3*, 6
*Clinched match
Team records:
Texas A&M: 8-6, 4-1 Big 12
Nebraska: 10-3, 2-2 Big 12
Players Mentioned
