March 30, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - A midweek non-conference doubleheader is up next for the No. 12-ranked Texas A&M men's tennis team as the Aggies play host to UT Arlington and No. 39 Rice on Wednesday, March 31 at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center. First serve between the Aggies and Mavericks is set for noon (CT) followed by the nightcap versus the Owls at 6 p.m. (CT).
The Aggies (13-4, 2-0) look to close out their eight-match homestand on a high note having won the last six-straight against some of the top teams in the country in No. 11 California, Lamar, No. 24 Pepperdine, No. 12 Louisville, No. 19 Oklahoma and No. 44 Oklahoma State. For its recent wave of success, A&M climbed five spots to No. 12 in the latest Campbell/ITA team rankings released on Tuesday. The Aggies are currently on the second-longest winning streak in the Steve Denton Era and are 9-4 versus nationally-ranked opponents this season.
"We obviously have a very difficult day tomorrow with one of the better teams in the Southland Conference in UT Arlington," Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. "It's going to be a bit tricky, because we're going to need to use quite a few players to keep us fresh for both matches. Our second group of guys will have to step up and really help us out tomorrow afternoon against UT Arlington. We will have to play a couple of our first line players in that match as well, because they're too good of a team to not use them."
UT Arlington (4-7) is coming off a 6-1 rout of Lamar on March 29, while Rice (10-8) is riding a four-match win streak that includes a 5-2 victory over TCU on March 28. The Owls played in College Station earlier this season as part of the four-team ITA Men's Tennis Kickoff Weekend tournament field on Jan. 30-31, but did not face the Aggies. A&M leads 28-5 in the all-time series with Rice, but has lost the last two meetings between the two in-state schools.
"The conditions are supposed to be tough tomorrow, because it's going to be pretty windy," said Denton whose Aggies overcame strong winds in a 7-0 blowout of Oklahoma State on Sunday. "Rice is a very good team with six really good players. We've struggled with them in the past and we have to play well against them, in probably some difficult conditions, in order to be successful. This will be a pretty difficult stretch for us, because we are playing seven matches in 12 days. It will really test our guys mentally and physically. The good news is, we've been playing with a lot of confidence, but, the bad news is, we are going to be tested here."
Individually, junior All-American and top player Austin Krajicek (Brandon, Fla.) earned his highest career ranking to date at No. 8 nationally in the ITA singles rankings released on Tuesday. He is the second-highest ranked player from the Big 12 Conference behind sixth-ranked Raony Carvalho of Texas Tech. Krajicek was joined by junior teammate Jeff Dadamo (Tampa, Fla.) at No. 46 and Bruno Rosa of Rice at No. 47.
Sophomore Alexis Klegou (Dunkerque, France) also made his first career debut in the national rankings at No. 121, giving A&M one of the strongest 1-2-3 combinations in the league. Krajicek has defeated nine nationally-ranked foes followed by Dadamo with seven and Klegou with three. The Aggie trio combine for an impressive 30-11 (.732) dual record this year.
Both the Aggies and Owls have a pair of ranked doubles team including Krajicek and Dadamo who moved up to a career-and league-best No. 5 nationally with an 11-5 mark at No. 1 and junior Marcus Lunt (San Antonio, Texas) at No. 37. Rice is paced by No. 58-ranked Isamu Tachibana and Oscar Podlewski and No. 62-ranked Michael Nusslein and Christian Saravia.
The Aggies will have a quick two-day turnaround with their first road trip in close to a month scheduled at No. 37 Nebraska on Friday, April 2 at 3 p.m. (CT) in Lincoln, Neb. A&M is off to a perfect 2-0 start in Big 12 play.
"Playing indoors at Nebraska on Friday will be a difficult match for us," Denton said. "They've had some good results and have continued to get better this season. It will be interesting to see how mentally tough we are this weekend. It's really just about us executing out there and playing with the confidence we've had and everyone competing on each court. If we do that, I feel good about our chances. This is like playing in the NCAA Tournament where there is little time to recover before there is another match. We have two matches on Wednesday and one on Friday with travel in between. Those are some difficult dynamics we're going to have to deal with and I'm hopeful our players will be up to the challenge."
After the Easter weekend, A&M will face UTSA and No. 36 Notre Dame in a doubleheader on Monday, April 5 at noon (CT) and 6 p.m. (CT) respectively followed by No. 11 Baylor on Wednesday, April 7 at 6 p.m. (CT) to round out its seven-match in 12-day stretch.
Live video and live scoring for all home matches will be available on www.AggieAthletics.com. Tickets can be purchased online at: www.12thManFoundation.com or by calling the ticket office at 1-888-99-AGGIE.
Montelongo's Mixed Doubles Challenge...The Montelongo's Fine Jewelry Mixed Doubles Challenge will be held on Wednesday, April 7 at 5 p.m. (CT) at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center. Interested participants should sign up at: www.BrazosValleyTennis.org before Monday, April 5 at midnight. The championship will be played during the break of the Texas A&M men's tennis versus Baylor match. The winning mixed doubles team will receive a maroon Jewel Signature ring valued at $2,800. Participants must have an NTRP of 4.0 or below to enter and be at least 25 years old.
Catch The Coach Denton Radio Show...Listen to the Steve Denton Radio Show live every Monday at 4:15 p.m. (CT) on Chip Howard's SportsTalk broadcast live on KZNE 1150 AM The Zone in College Station. Denton joins Chip Howard for the only college tennis coach's radio show in the nation. Each week, the duo will recap and preview matches for the nationally-ranked Aggies. The weekly radio show airs every Monday from February through the NCAA Championships and can also be heard worldwide on the Internet at: www.KZNE.com.
Where's Wilson Promotion...Wilson, a smiling tennis ball, will be hiding at every home match this season at the Mitchell Tennis Center. One lucky fan who finds him this weekend will receive a prize compliments of Texas A&M University and will be entered into a grand prize contest which will be held during the women's tennis team's Lone Star Showdown match versus rival Texas on April 20. Fans are encouraged to come out to the matches early to increase their chances of being the first person to find Wilson.