April 25, 2010
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Texas A&M women's tennis team overcame a 3-1 deficit to post a dramatic 4-3 victory over Missouri in both teams' regular season finale today at the Green Tennis Center indoor courts.
With the team score knotted at 3-3, A&M's Christi Liles (Largo, Fla.) rallied in the last match standing to defeat Andrea Lewis, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3, at No. 5 singles to clinch the win for the Aggies. Liles' victory followed must-have wins by Elzé Potgieter (Bloemfontein, South Africa) at No. 1 and Stephanie Davidson (Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas) at No. 6 that kept the Aggies in contention and set up Liles' heroics.
A&M, playing its second consecutive match with assistant Bobby Kleinecke tended to a family emergency, improves to 13-8 overall and finishes 8-3 in the Big 12. The Aggies will be the No. 4 seed and will have a first-round bye at the Big 12 Championships, which run April 29-May 2, at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center in Austin.
Missouri (6-6, 1-10 Big 12) began the match winning two of three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead. Davidson and Morgan Frank (Oldsmar, Fla.) gave A&M the early edge, coming back from a 4-1 deficit against Sofia Ayala and Jamie Mera at the No. 2 line to tie the score at 6-all. Missouri held serve to go up, 7-6, but A&M won the next three games to win the match.
It was Missouri that made the comeback on the other two courts to clinch the point. Liles and Sheri Olivier (Topeka, Kan.) built a 5-3 advantage against Kristen Bleakley and Lewis at No. 3, but the Tigers rallied, winning five consecutive games win the match.
The deciding doubles match went to a tiebreaker. Potgieter and Lauren Santacroce (Spring, Texas) were playing together for the first time in their careers, while Nazari Urbina (Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico), Potgieter's usual partner and the Aggies' No. 2 singles player, sat out the match to comply with the NCAA's competition limits. The makeshift A&M duo came back from a 5-2 deficit and built a 7-5 lead against Kaitlyn Ritchie and Mallory Weber at the No. 1 line, but the Tigers answered by reeling off three games to go up, 8-7. A&M countered by winning the next game to even the match and force the tiebreaker.
A&M scored the first three points of the tiebreaker, but Missouri won seven of the next eight points to win the match and put the Tigers up, 1-0.
Missouri took a 2-0 lead at the start of singles as Weber downed Frank, 6-2, 6-3 at the No. 2 line. Olivier, who had never in her career played higher than No. 4 singles until today, then got a crucial 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory against Mera at the No. 3 line to cut the margin to 2-1.
Maria Christensen then gave the Tigers a 3-1 lead. She dropped her first set to Santacroce at the No. 4 position but posted second- and third-set wins to take the match, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
The outcome was looking bleak for the Aggies, as Potgieter and Liles had both dropped first sets and Potgieter trailed her second set, 4-2 and 5-4. But Potgieter and Liles continued to slowly chip away, while Davidson kept the pressure on her opponent to shift the momentum and eventually carry the Aggies to victory.
Potgieter finished off Ritchie, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, to put A&M within 3-2. It was Potgieter's 89th career victory, putting her in sole possession of seventh place in the A&M singles records.
Davidson knotted the score with a 7-5, 6-2 win against Bleakley to tie the match at 3-3. Meanwhile, Liles and Lewis were tied at 3-3 in the third set before Liles broke away, winning the next three games to secure the win for A&M.
It was A&M's eighth consecutive victory against the Tigers, who fall to 1-16 in the all-time series against the Aggies.
No. 36 Texas A&M 4, Missouri 3
April 25, 2010
Green Tennis Center (Indoor - 4 courts)
Columbia, Mo.
Attendance: n/a
Singles
2. Mallory Weber (MU) def. (#122) Morgan Frank (TAMU), 6-2, 6-3
3. Sheri Olivier (TAMU) def. Jamie Mera (MU), 7-6 (4), 6-3
4. Maria Christensen (MU) def. Lauren Santacroce (TAMU), 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
5. Christi Liles (TAMU) def. Andrea Lewis (MU), 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3
6. Stephanie Davidson (TAMU) def. Kristen Bleakley (MU), 7-5, 6-2
Doubles (Missouri wins the point)
1. Ritchie/Weber (MU) def. Potgieter/Santacroce (TAMU), 9-8 (4)
2. Davidson/Frank (TAMU) def. Sofia Ayala/Mera (MU), 9-7
3. Bleakley/Lewis (MU) def. Liles/Olivier (TAMU), 8-5
Order of finish
Doubles: 2, 3, 1
Singles: 2, 3, 4, 1, 6, 5*
*Clinched match
Team records
Texas A&M: 13-8, 8-3 Big 12
Missouri: 6-6, 1-10 Big 12