Feb. 19, 2010
LAS VEGAS - Texas A&M notched its second consecutive 6-1 victory today, sweeping all three doubles matches and winning five of six singles matches to defeat the University of San Diego at the Fertitta Tennis Complex on the UNLV campus in Las Vegas.
Despite using a totally revamped doubles lineup, the Aggies began the match by taking early leads on all three courts en route to identical 8-2 wins at every line.
"I thought during the doubles of this match that we really dictated right from the start," A&M coach Bobby Kleinecke said. "That was three different teams out there for us, and I really liked the feel that we had with it. I felt like that was a good decision, and we took charge of those matches."
Morgan Frank (Oldsmar, Fla.) and Christi Liles (Largo, Fla.) were first off after disposing of Laura Claus and Alexandra Demidova at No. 2 doubles.
Elzé Potgieter (Bloemfontein, South Africa) and Nazari Urbina (Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico) then clinched the doubles point, closing out their match by reeling off five consecutive games to defeat Juliette Coupez and Maja Sujica at the No. 1 line.
Stephanie Davidson (Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas) and Sheri Olivier (Topeka, Kan.) ran off six consecutive games to break away from a 2-2 tie with Justine Perl and Marite Raygada to win at the No. 3 line and complete the sweep for the Aggies.
"No. 3 doubles stood out to me as being the most feisty, and I loved the energy that we showed," Kleinecke said. "Everybody seemed to enjoy the doubles that we put out there today."
Once singles began, the Aggies found themselves trailing on five of six courts. The situation was only temporary, as A&M eventually regained the momentum. Frank spearheaded the turnaround, coming back from a 3-2 first-set deficit to win 6-3, 6-1 against Sujica at the No. 3 line to give the Aggies a 2-0 lead.
Potgieter, ranked a career-high No. 33, had held the lead throughout the first set against Coupez at No. 1 but found herself trailing, 4-1, in the second set. Potgieter then reeled off five unanswered games to earn the straight-set victory and improve to 4-0 in dual matches. In addition, it marked Potgieter's 81st career victory, moving her within one win of tying for the 10th most career wins in A&M history.
USD (4-4) got its only point at No. 5 singles, where Demidova topped Davidson, 6-2, 6-2, to cut the Aggies' lead to 3-1.
Urbina, ranked No. 69 and playing No. 2 singles for the first time, then clinched the win for the Aggies, who even their record at 2-2. The freshman trailed Claus, 3-2, in the opening set but then won four straight games to take the set. Urbina then raced to a 6-2 second-set win to put A&M ahead, 4-1.
Liles improved to 2-0 in dual matches with a victory against Raygada at No. 6. It was the second consecutive match Liles dropped her first set but came back to win the second set and then take the 10-point super tiebreaker to post the win.
Olivier capped the day for the Aggies with a hard fought 7-6, 6-3 victory over Lise Marbach at the No. 4 line. Olivier trailed 6-5 in the first set but came back to knot the score at 6-6 and force a tiebreaker. The tiebreaker was tied at 3-3 when Olivier scored four unanswered points to win the set.
Olivier carried the momentum into the second set, never trailing en rout to the straight-set win.
"We got into the singles, and I really think we were still kind of thinking that this is going to be easy like the doubles was," Kleinecke said. "We started out down in five of the six singles matches. USD did exactly what we thought they would: they came out and put a lot of balls in play; they fight very hard; they never give up.
"They are good players, and it really showed our character to have to come back in those and win five of those six singles matches."
A&M plays its second of three matches in three days tomorrow as the Aggies take on No. 41 Fresno State at 10 a.m. (12 p.m. CT). The Bulldogs, who boast the No. 6-ranked singles player in the nation in Anastasia Petukhova, are 0-4 after falling to UNLV earlier today.
Live scoring of the match will be available at AggieAthletics.com.
(39) Texas A&M 6, (56) San Diego 1
February 19, 2010
Fertitta Tennis Complex
Las Vegas, Nev.
Attendance: n/a
Singles
1. (#33) Elzé Potgieter (TAMU) def. Juliette Coupez (USD), 6-4, 6-4
2. (#69) Nazari Urbina (TAMU) def. Laura Claus (USD), 6-3, 6-2
3. Morgan Frank (TAMU) def. Maja Sujica (USD), 6-3, 6-1
4. Sheri Olivier (TAMU) def. Lise Marbach (USD), 7-6 (3), 6-3
5. Alexandra Demidova (USD) def. Stephanie Davidson (TAMU), 6-2, 6-2
6. Christi Liles (TAMU) def. Marite Raygada (USD), 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (3)
Doubles (A&M wins the point)
1. (#45) Potgieter/Urbina (TAMU) def. Coupez/Sujica (USD), 8-2
2. Frank/Liles (TAMU) def. Claus/Demidova (USD), 8-2
3. Davidson/Olivier (TAMU) def. Justine Perl/Raygada (USD), 8-2
Order of finish
Doubles: 2, 1, 3
Singles: 3, 1, 5, 2*, 6, 4
*Clinched match
Team records
Texas A&M: 2-2
USD: 4-4