Feb. 20, 2010
LAS VEGAS - Texas A&M earned its first shutout of the season as the 39th-ranked Aggies defeated No. 41 Fresno State, 7-0, today at the Fertitta Tennis Complex on the UNLV campus in Las Vegas.
With the win, the Aggies win their third consecutive match to improve to 3-2. Fresno State falls to 0-5.
"We really enjoyed today and had a great showing," A&M coach Bobby Kleinecke said. "We had the Las Vegas A&M Club come out, and they did a great job for us and helped pull us through some close matches. I thought the girls really handled a great effort by Fresno State."
After splitting matches at the No. 2 and No. 3 lines, the doubles point came down to the final match, where A&M's Elzé Potgieter and Nazari Urbina pulled away for an 8-5 victory over Renata Kucerkova and Laura Palo at the No. 1 line. Potgieter and Urbina, who are listed No. 52 in the national doubles rankings, held a narrow 6-5 lead before closing out the match by winning back-to-back games, including a service break to clinch the match and give the Aggies a 1-0 lead.
Stephanie Davidson and Sheri Olivier had given the Aggies an early edge, as they were first off the court after methodically pulling away for an 8-4 victory over Olga Kirpicheva and Melissa McQueen at line No. 3. With the win, Davidson remained undefeated in doubles play, improving to 5-0 in dual matches.
Fresno State's Bianca Modoc and Anatasia Petukhova evened the battle for the doubles point, jumping out to a 6-0 lead en route to an 8-3 victory over Morgan Frank and Christi Liles at No. 2. Fresno's achievement was quickly overshadowed as seconds later Potgieter and Urbina completed their point-producing win.
"(Fresno) came out very aggressive in the doubles, and we had to step up and come up with our shots," Kleinecke said. "I thought that was a big key coming away with that doubles point."
Davidson took little time to give A&M a 2-0 lead as she posted a convincing 6-1, 6-1 victory over McQueen at No. 6 singles.
Frank followed with a 6-2, 6-4 win against Kirpicheva at No. 3 to put the Aggies ahead, 3-0.
Urbina, ranked No. 69 in singles, clinched the match-winning point by defeating Pola, 6-1, 7-5, at the No. 2 line.
Potgieter, ranked a career-high No. 33, kept the Bulldogs scoreless and moved into a tie for 10th in the A&M career record books for wins as she defeated Kucerkova, 6-4, 6-2, to post the 82nd singles victory of her career. In addition, Potgieter remained undefeated in dual matches, improving to 5-0 this season.
Liles improved to 3-0 in dual matches with a straight-set 6-4, 6-3 win against Gragera-Cano at No. 5, and Olivier preserved the shutout with a 6-1, 3-6, 1-0 (4) victory over Modoc at No. 4.
"In singles, we started off really strong," Kleinecke said. "I give credit to Fresno. They did not give up. It looked like they were going down, but before it happened they came out and a bunch of their girls started hitting the ball harder and more aggressive and took it to us a little bit. We are going to have to get to where we can finish out those matches."
A&M concludes its three-matches-in-three-days trip tomorrow as the Aggies take on No. 50 UNLV at 10 a.m. (12 p.m. CT). Live scoring of the match will be available at AggieAthletics.com.
(39) Texas A&M 7, (41) Fresno State 0
February 20, 2010
Fertitta Tennis Complex
Las Vegas, Nev.
Attendance: n/a
Singles
1. (#33) Elzé Potgieter (TAMU) def. Renata Kucerkova (FS), 6-4, 6-2
2. (#69) Nazari Urbina (TAMU) def. Laura Pola (FS), 6-1, 7-5
3. Morgan Frank (TAMU) def. Olga Kirpicheva (FS), 6-2, 6-4
4. Sheri Olivier (TAMU) def. Bianca Modoc (FS), 6-1, 3-6, 1-0 (4)
5. Christi Liles (TAMU) def. Julia Gragera-Cano (FS), 6-4, 6-3
6. Stephanie Davidson (TAMU) def. Melissa McQueen (FS), 6-1, 6-1
Doubles (A&M wins the point)
1. (#45) Potgieter/Urbina (TAMU) def. Kucerkova/Pola (FS), 8-5
2. Modoc/Petukhova (FS) def. Frank/Liles (TAMU), 8-3
3. Davidson/Olivier (TAMU) def. Kirpicheva/Melissa McQueen (FS), 8-4
Order of finish
Doubles: 3, 2, 1
Singles: 6, 3, 2*, 1, 5, 4
*Clinched match
Team records
Texas A&M: 3-2
Fresno: 0-5