May 1, 2010
AUSTIN, Texas - No. 1-ranked and top-seeded Baylor downed No. 4-seed Texas A&M, 4-0, in the semifinals of the Big 12 Women's Tennis Championships today at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center on the University of Texas campus.
The Aggies, who were making their 11th consecutive semifinal appearance, finish the regular season 14-9.
Baylor (26-2), the four-time defending tournament champion, advances to the championship match and will take on No. 2-seed Texas Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Lady Bears got off to a quick start in doubles, taking a 5-0 lead at the No. 1 line and 4-1 leads on the other two courts. A&M made comebacks on all three courts but were unable to overcome the deficit.
"We wanted to come out and be aggressive to start the match in doubles," A&M coach Bobby Kleinecke said. "I thought we did do that, but I don't think we played well. They played aggressive like we knew they would. It is an excellent team. We knew they were not going to give us anything; we were going to have to take whatever we got."
Baylor's Nina Secerbegovic and Jelena Stanivuk defeated Stephanie Davidson (Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas) and Morgan Frank (Oldsmar, Fla.), 8-3, at the No. 2 line, and the 11th-ranked duo of Lenka Broosova and Csilla Borsanyi held off 35th-ranked Elzé Potgieter (Bloemfontein, South Africa) and Nazari Urbina (Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico), 8-4, at the No. 1 position to clinch the doubles point for Baylor.
Carla Lindlar and Taylor Ormond held a 6-4 lead over A&M's Christi Liles (Largo, Fla.) and Sheri Olivier (Topeka, Kan.) at No. 3 when the match was stopped.
"I was pleased with the girls that they kept hanging in there," Kleinecke said. "They didn't hang their heads. They kept fighting. They kept working. We clawed back in and actually made a doubles match of it, but we were so far behind at the beginning that it was just really hard to get back."
In singles, 47th-ranked Urbina notched A&M's only first-set win, downing fifth-ranked Broosova 6-3 at the No. 1 court. Broosova came back to win the second set, but the match went unfinished as the Lady Bears tallied wins at the No. 2, 4 and 5 lines to end the match.
"Nazari had a great first set," Kleinecke said. "In the second set, a lot of that was Lenka picked up her game. Nazari wasn't able to play the game plan she needed to play in order to win it."
Secerbegovic, ranked 19th in the nation in singles, defeated 60th-ranked Potgieter at No. 2 to put Baylor up, 2-0. Stanivuk then closed out a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Liles at No. 5 to put the Lady Bears ahead, 3-0.
Borsanyi clinched the win for Baylor, topping Olivier 7-5, 6-0 at No. 4.
"Singles-wise, it was a good match," Kleinecke said. "At Nos. 4, 5, and 6, we played better than we did yesterday, but (Baylor) is just so deep and so strong that we just didn't have enough firepower."
Frank had split sets with Ormond at No. 3 singles and was on the cusp of a victory at 5-1 in the final set when play was stopped.
"It is unfortunate (Morgan) didn't get the win, up 5-1 in the third, but that's the way the game goes," Kleinecke said.
Karolina Filipiak was leading Davidson, 6-1, 5-4 at No. 6 when Baylor scored its fourth point and play was stopped.
With the regular season completed, the Aggies now await the announcement of the 64-team NCAA Championship field, which will be revealed Tuesday on ESPNews between 4 and 5 p.m. (CT). A&M is hoping to hear its named called for the 11th consecutive year.
"This is a heck of a team, and I feel like we should be in," Kleinecke said. "We have to sit and wait and see what happens, and if we do get in where they send us. Let's hope we get in and we get an opportunity to move into the tournament."
First- and second-round competition will be played May 14-16 at 16 sites. The winners at each of the 16 sites will advance to the final site, the Dan Magill Tennis Complex at the University of Georgia in Athens, Ga. S.
Participants in the 64-player singles tournament and a 32-team doubles championship will be posted on NCAA.org on Wednesday before 5 p.m. (CDT). Those individuals selected will join the final 16 teams May 26 in Athens. The finals for both men's and women's singles and doubles will be played May 31.
No. 1 Baylor 4, No. 37 Texas A&M 0
Big 12 Championships, Semifinals
May 1, 2010
Penick-Allison Tennis Center Austin, Texas
Attendance: n/a
Singles
2. (#19) Nina Secerbegovic (BU) def. (#60) Elzé Potgieter (TAMU), 6-0, 6-2
3. (#101) Morgan Frank (TAMU) vs. (#68) Taylor Ormond (BU), 2-6, 6-1, 5-1, unfinished
4. (#98) Csilla Borsanyi (BU) def. Sheri Olivier (TAMU), 7-5, 6-0
5. Jelena Stanivuk (BU) def. Christi Liles (TAMU), 6-3, 6-2
6. Stephanie Davidson (TAMU) vs. Karolina Filipiak (BU), 1-6, 4-5, unfinished
Doubles (Baylor wins the point)
1. (#11) Borsanyi/Broosova (BU) def. (#35) Potgieter/Urbina (TAMU), 8-4
2. Secerbegovic/Stanivuk (BU) def. Davidson/Frank (TAMU), 8-3
3. Lindlar/Ormond (BU) vs. Liles/Olivier (TAMU), 6-4, unfinished
Order of finish
Doubles: 2, 1
Singles: 2, 5, 4*
*Clinched match
Team records
Texas A&M: 14-9
Baylor: 26-2