April 20, 2010
Box Score |Â
Photo Gallery 
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - No. 19 Texas spoiled Texas A&M's "Senior Night" and earned a point in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown with a 5-2 victory tonight in front of 509 at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
The Longhorns (13-4, 8-1 Big 12) swept the doubles point, but A&M made things interesting by winning the first set on four singles courts and having set point on a fifth court. The Aggies, however, came up short and suffered a loss in their final home match of the season.
Texas' Sarah Lancaster and Caroline Larsson were first off in doubles, leading the entire match in an 8-3 victory over Christi Liles (Largo, Fla.) and Sheri Olivier (Topeka, Kan.) at the No. 3 line.
Amanda Craddock and Krista Damico then clinched the doubles point for the Longhorns, reeling off four consecutive games in an 8-4 victory over Stephanie Davidson (Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas) and Morgan Frank (Oldsmar, Fla.) at No. 2.
In a battle of ranked teams, No. 51 Vanja Corovic and Aeriel Ellis of Texas held off a late charge by 40th-ranked Elzé Potgieter (Bloemfontein, South Africa) and Nazari Urbina (Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico) at the No. 1 position. The Horns built a 7-3 lead before the Aggie duo cut the score to 7-6. Texas then held serve to win 8-6 and complete the sweep.
"I was not happy with the doubles," said Bobby Kleinecke, who was aiming for his 400th career victory in his 25th season as head coach of the Aggies. "I felt like that we started out okay. They got a few breaks early, and then we were playing catch-up. I just didn't feel like we were ready for the balls to come back to us and we were waiting for them to make errors. That is not going to happen at this level, and that was the difference in the doubles point. We just let it slip."
Urbina, ranked No. 49 in singles, quickly evened the score as the freshman took down senior and 63rd-ranked Corovic, 6-3, 6-0 at No. 2 singles. Urbina improved to 9-0 in Big 12 matches, all at No. 2, and 18-2 overall.
"Nazari has been so solid," Kleinecke said. "She is tough to beat because she is so solid. In the singles, I know what Corovic can do in the matches, and I know that she is going to hit a lot of balls, and Nazari just took care of business."
Frank dropped the first three games of her match but fought back and gave the Aggies their only lead, putting A&M up 2-1 with a 7-2 (2), 6-1 victory over 56th-ranked Damico at No. 3.
"Damico really came out fiery and I know (Morgan) fell down in the beginning, but she did what she does best: just keep fighting, keep going and keep putting pressure on you," Kleinecke said. "Morgan is a lot like their Lancaster. You have to beat them, but it is hard to beat them because every ball is coming back."
Lancaster tied the match at 2-2, staving off a set point in the opening frame to top Olivier, 7-5, 6-2 at No. 4. Larsson gave the Longhorns a 3-2 lead with a 6-2, 6-4 win against Liles at No. 6, and Maggie Mello clinched the win for Texas, coming back to defeat Lauren Santacroce (Spring, Texas), 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, at No. 5.
"Lauren wins the first set, and then the second set just went too quick, and she lost so much momentum," Kleinecke said. "She fought back a little bit at the end, but the lead right away, she was down 4-1, that was just too quick.
"We won four first sets and had some set points on another one, but I knew that it wasn't over. We gave away the second sets too easy. We needed to make them work for those second sets a little bit more. But I was a lot more pleased with the energy and the way we played in the singles than the way we played in doubles."
In the last match standing, Ellis, ranked No. 23, dropped her first set to Potgieter, 7-5 at No. 1 singles but came back to win the second set, 6-3. Ellis then had match point at 5-4 in the third set, but Potgieter, a senior who was honored before the match along with senior Christina Amo (Fort Worth, Texas), came back and tied the set at 5-5. Ellis broke to go up, 6-5, and then held serve to win the set, 7-5, and end the match.
"Elzé has been great for us all four years and she has had a lot of special times," Kleinecke said. "This match was one of the better matches she has played when you look at it from start to finish. Yes, she didn't come out on top, but she gave herself a great chance. Ellis just came up with great shots.
"We didn't sit back (in singles). There are some things I thought we could have done a little bit better. I knew Texas was good. When they got on the defensive, they just kind of laid the ball in, and we didn't take advantage of that on all of the courts, and I think that was a difference on some of the singles sets."
A&M (11-8, 6-3 Big 12) completes its regular-season schedule this weekend, playing at Colorado on Friday and at Missouri on Sunday. The match against the Buffaloes begins at 2 p.m. (1 p.m. MT) in Boulder, Colo., and the match at Missouri begins at noon (CT) in Columbia, Mo.
The Aggies then head to Austin for the Big 12 Championships, to be hosted by Texas, April 29-May 2 at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center.
Free live scoring coverage of all A&M home matches is available at AggieAthletics.com.
No. 19 Texas 5, No. 36 Texas A&M 2
April 20, 2010
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
College Station, Texas
Attendance: 509
Singles
1. (#23) Aeriel Ellis (UT) def. (#59) Elzé Potgieter (TAMU), 5-7, 6-3, 7-5
2. (#49) Nazari Urbina (TAMU) def. def. (#63) Vanja Corovic (UT), 6-3, 6-0
3. (#122) Morgan Frank (TAMU) def. (#56) Krista Damico (UT), 7-6 (2), 6-1
4. Sarah Lancaster (UT) def. Sheri Olivier (TAMU), 7-5, 6-2
5. Maggie Mello (UT) def. Lauren Santacroce (TAMU), 4-6, 6-3, 6-1
6. Caroline Larsson (UT) def. Christi Liles (TAMU), 6-2, 6-4
Doubles (Texas wins the point)
1. (#51) Corovic/Ellis (UT) def. (#29) Potgieter/Urbina (TAMU), 8-6
2. Amanda Craddock/Damico (UT) def. Stephanie Davidson/Frank (TAMU), 8-4
3. Lancaster/Larsson (UT) def. Liles/Olivier (TAMU), 8-3
Order of finish
Doubles: 3, 2, 1
Singles: 2, 3, 4, 6, 5*, 1
*Clinched match
Team records
Texas A&M: 11-8, 6-3 Big 12
Texas: 13-4, 8-1