Texas A&M
Oklahoma
No. 14 Aggies Beat Oklahoma In Big 12 Opener, 5-2
Mar 28, 2009 | Men's Tennis
March 28, 2009
NORMAN, Okla. - In its Big 12 Conference season opener, the 14th-ranked Texas A&M men's tennis team beat No. 41 Oklahoma, 5-2, in a lengthy five-hour road match held Friday night at the Gregg Wadley Indoor Tennis Pavilion.
The Aggies (9-5) picked up their fourth-straight victory of the season and gained the advantage early by claiming the doubles point over the Sooners (9-6). The third-ranked doubles tandem of senior All-American Conor Pollock (San Antonio, Texas) and sophomore All-American Marcus Lunt (San Antonio, Texas) and sophomore Wil Spencer (Ponce de Leon, Fla.) finished off the doubles point with an 8-2 decision over Oklahoma's George Chanturia and Blake Boswell at No. 3.
In singles action, top player and No. 16-ranked Pollock defeated No. 94-ranked Andrei Daescu in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4, as did reigning Big 12 Player of the Week and No. 52-ranked Krajicek over David Pultr, 7-6, 6-4, to clinch the match at the No. 2 line for the Aggies. Krajicek is currently on a team-best six-match win streak and is 10-4 on the season in dual match play. Spencer, ranked 30th nationally who missed the last three matches due to an unexpected death in the family, also contributed to the final team tally in his return with a 6-2, 7-5 result over OU's Adveyev at No. 3.
"I thought we came out with a lot of energy in the doubles and we were able to take it to them," Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. "Our top three guys played well tonight in singles. Conor (Pollock) played a solid match at No. 1 and it was obviously great to have Wil (Spencer) back in the lineup. Austin (Krajicek) kind of struggled in his first set, but turned it on in the second. We've had some instances this year, where we were not able to secure that fourth match point, but we were able to do that with straight-set wins tonight."
The Aggies improve to 21-2 versus OU and have now won the last two matches in the all-time series. Freshman Colin Hoover (Victoria, Texas) rounded out A&M's singles victories on the night by defeating Blake Boswell, 7-5, 6-1, at the No. 6 line.
"It was a great start to the Big 12 season," Denton said. "We still have a lot of good teams ahead of us, but I am very pleased to get a victory on the road like this and win it pretty decisively."
A&M continues on its conference-opening weekend with its next stop at No. 29 Oklahoma State on Sunday, March 29. The match location and time is still to be determined if weather conditions are not favorable in Stillwater, Okla. For now, the match will be played indoors at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center at 2 p.m. (CT) on the University of Tulsa campus in Tulsa, Okla.
(14) TEXAS A&M 5, (41) OKLAHOMA 2
March 27, 2009
Gregg Wadley Indoor Tennis Pavilion
at Norman, Okla.
SINGLES
No. 1 - (16) Conor Pollock (Texas A&M) def. (94) Andrei Daescu (OU), 6-1, 6-4.
No. 2 - (52) Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M) def. David Pultr (OU), 7-6, 6-4.
No. 3 - (30) Wil Spencer (Texas A&M) def. Sergey Adveyev (OU), 6-2, 7-5.
No. 4 - Ionut Beleleu (OU) def. Alexey Grigorov (Texas A&M), 6-4, 6-4.
No. 5 - George Chanturia (OU) def. Marcus Lunt (Texas A&M), 6-4, 6-7 (3), 1-0 (5).
No. 6 - Colin Hoover (Texas A&M) def. Blake Boswell (OU), 7-5, 6-1.
DOUBLES
No. 1 - (3) Krajicek-Pollock (Texas A&M) def. Avdeyev-Beleleu (OU), 8-3.
No. 2 - Daescu-Pultr (OU) def. Grigorov-Hoover (Texas A&M), 8-5.
No. 3 - Spencer-Lunt (Texas A&M) def. Chanturia-Boswell (OU), 8-2.
ORDER OF FINISH
Doubles: 1, 3, 2
Singles: 1, 3, 2*, 4, 6, 5
Players Mentioned
