April 17, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Texas A&M women's tennis team suffered a disappointing 5-2 setback to No. 49 Nebraska in front of 385 today at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
The Huskers, who entered the match a half game behind the Aggies and in fourth place in the Big 12 Conference, won the doubles point and went on to win four singles matches to improve to 18-4 overall and 7-2 in league play.
The 34th-ranked Aggies slip to 11-7, 6-2.
"I give credit to Nebraska," said a disappointed A&M coach Bobby Kleinecke, who was going for his 400th career victory in his 25th season at the helm of the Aggies. "They beat us at the net. They beat us at the baseline. They played well enough to win, and we didn't. We lost to a better team today. I don't know if it would be that way every time, but (Nebraska) was definitely the better team today."
Nebraska took the early lead by winning a hard-fought doubles point that was decided in a tiebreaker in the last match standing. The doubles competition began with A&M's 29th-ranked duo of Elzé Potgieter (Bloemfontein, South Africa) and Nazari Urbina (Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico) cruising to an 8-2 victory over Madeleine Geibert and Stephanie Weinstein at the No. 1 line, but the Huskers would pull away late on the other two courts to get the point.
No. 3 doubles was on serve at 7-6 before Nebraska's Jennifer Holmberg and Mary Weatherholt broke Christi Liles (Largo, Fla.) and Sheri Olivier (Topeka, Kan.) to get the win.
The crucial point came down to the No. 2 line, where Wiveca Swarting and Janine Weinreich fought off a match point against A&M's Stephanie Davidson (Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas) and Morgan Frank (Oldsmar, Fla.) to knot the score at 8-8 and force the decisive tiebreaker. A&M scored the first point, but Nebraska reeled off four unanswered points and led the rest of the way en route to a 7-3 win and a 1-0 lead.
"The doubles point was a factor in the match, there is no doubt about that," Kleinecke said. "Doubles is important to us, but I knew Nebraska had good doubles teams. Both teams had opportunities to close out on the doubles and neither team closed it out when they had the first opportunity. Nebraska did the second time.
"They were better doubles players than we were. We scrapped, but they were better doubles players. That is the bottom line to the match."
Weinreich put the Huskers ahead, 2-0, to begin singles with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Liles at the No. 5 spot before Frank gave A&M its first point with a 6-3, 6-2 win against Swarting at No. 3.
Holmberg's 6-2, 6-0 win against Davidson at No. 6 put the Huskers ahead, 3-1, but Urbina kept the Aggies alive and improved to 8-0 in Big 12 matches with a win at the No. 2 line. Urbina won five consecutive games on her way to winning the first set, 6-2, against Geibert but had to come from behind to take the second set. Geibert had built a 4-2 lead before Urbina won four straight games to pull off the straight-set win and put the Aggies within 3-2.
It would be the final point for the Aggies, as Weinstein clinched the win for the Huskers, coming back after dropping the first set to defeat Olivier, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 at No. 4.
Weatherholt, ranked No. 87, then capped the match for Nebraska with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 victory over 65th-ranked Potgieter at the No. 1 line.
The Aggies play their final home match of the season on Tuesday as they play host to No. 20 Texas (12-4, 8-1 Big 12) in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown. First serve is slated for 5:30 p.m. at the Mitchell Tennis Center. Potgieter and Christina Amo (Fort Worth, Texas), A&M's two seniors, will be honored prior to the match.
"It is going to be a gut check for us," Kleinecke said. "We're under the gun and it is going to depend on how we respond. We better be mentally tough, and if we are not, it is going to be a problem."
The match will be a "Maroon Out" match, and any A&M student wearing maroon will be admitted free. In addition, the final "Where's Wilson" grand prize contest will be held during the intermission.
Free live video and scoring coverage of all A&M home matches is available at AggieAthletics.com.
No. 49 Nebraska 5, No. 34 Texas A&M 2
April 17, 2010
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
College Station, Texas
Attendance: 385
Singles
1. (#87) Mary Weatherholt (NU) def. (#65) Elzé Potgieter (TAMU), 7-5, 3-6, 6-2
2. (#72) Nazari Urbina (TAMU) def. Madeleine Geibert (NU), 6-2, 6-4
3. (#109) Morgan Frank (TAMU) def. Wiveca Swarting (NU), 6-3, 6-2
4. Stefanie Weinstein (NU) def. Sheri Olivier (TAMU), 2-6, 6-4, 6-1
5. Janine Weinreich (NU) def. Christi Liles (TAMU), 6-3, 6-1
6. Jennifer Holmberg (NU) def. Stephanie Davidson (TAMU), 6-2, 6-0
Doubles (Nebraska wins the point)
1. (#29) Potgieter/Urbina (TAMU) def. Geibert/Weinstein (NU), 8-2
2. Swarting/Weinreich (NU) def. Davidson/Frank (TAMU), 9-8 (3)
3. Holmberg/Weatherholt (NU) def. Liles/Olivier (TAMU), 8-6
Order of finish
Doubles: 1, 3, 2
Singles: 5, 3, 6, 2, 4*, 1
*Clinched match
Team records
Texas A&M: 11-7, 6-2 Big 12
Nebraska: 18-4, 7-2 Big 12