May 14, 2010
CORAL GABLES, Fla. - The Texas A&M women's tennis team saw its season come to a disappointing end today as the Aggies fell to No. 26 South Florida, 4-2, in the first round of the NCAA Championships at the Neil Schiff Tennis Stadium on the University of Miami campus.
A&M, making its 11th consecutive and 16th overall NCAA appearance, ends the season 14-10. The Bulls improve to 12-8 and advance to the second round to face No. 11 seed Miami, with the winner of that match advancing to the Round of 16 to be played at the University of Georgia's Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga., beginning May 20.
A&M had suffered a 4-3 loss to the Bulls earlier this season, but unlike that meeting the Aggies came out and won the doubles point to take the 1-0 lead.
A&M's Christi Liles (Largo, Fla.) and Sheri Olivier (Topeka, Kan.) went on a three-game run to break away from a 5-5 tie and close out an 8-5 victory over Natalia Guevara and Jessica Zok at the No. 3 line.
USF evened the race for the doubles point as the 16th-ranked duo of Melissa Koning and Irene Rehberger knocked off A&M's 34th-ranked tandem of Elzé Potgieter (Bloemfontein, South Africa) and Nazari Urbina (Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico), 8-4, at No. 1.
Stephanie Davidson (Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas) and Morgan Frank (Oldsmar, Fla.) clinched the point for A&M, jumping out to a 4-1 lead against Janette Bejlkova and Lauren Shumate and holding off the USF duo to win 8-4, giving A&M a 1-0 lead heading into singles.
"I was pleased that we came out this time and won the doubles point," A&M coach Bobby Kleinecke said. "Last time we lost the doubles point despite having match points. Coming in today and getting that doubles point I thought started us off right. I felt like we were in good shape."
But things didn't look so good for the Aggies at the start of the singles competition as A&M lost the first set on four courts. USF tied the score at 1-1 with Koning coming back from a 5-1 first-set deficit against 56th-ranked Potgieter to win, 7-5, 6-2, at the No. 2 line.
The Bulls then quickly took a 3-1 lead as Guevara finished off Davidson, 6-2, 6-0, at No. 6, and Bejlkova following with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Olivier at No. 4.
"We knew that the way the year has gone, we needed to compete at No. 1, 2 and 3 and hope something good happened at 4, 5 and 6," Kleinecke said. "Dealing with the injuries we have had all year, that is the situation we are given. It is part of sports. You deal with that and try to make the most of it.
"Unfortunately at No. 2 we were up 5-1 in the first set and then just kind of fell apart and won only a couple of more games after that. That was probably the difference in the match."
Urbina put A&M within 3-2 with a straight-set victory over 43rd-ranked Rehberger at No. 1. Urbina, ranked No. 51 in singles, dropped the first three games of the match but then won six straight to take the first set, 6-3. Tied 3-3 in the second set, Urbina reeled off three consecutive games to win the set, 6-3, and extend her winning streak to nine matches.
Urbina improved to 32-5 overall, the fourth most wins in a single season in A&M school history. She also improved to 9-3 against ranked opponents.
"Nazari came back and really played well and beat a great player today," Kleinecke said. "That is a great win for her, and it is a good way for her to go into the NCAA Singles Championships with some confidence. (Rehberger) is a girl that has been up there pretty high at different times in her career, so I was very pleased that Nazari got that win and got it in straight sets."
It was still up in the air which team would advance to the second round as the No. 3 and No. 5 courts had both split sets. Liles had dropped her first set to Zok, 6-1, at No. 5 but came back to take the second set, 7-5.
Frank had raced to a 6-1 first-set win against Ecaterina Vasenina at No. 3 but was unable to complete a straight-set win as Vasenina pulled out a 6-4 second set win.
Frank had a 5-2 third-set lead when Zok finished off Liles, 6-1 in the third set to end the match.
"I was proud of Christi for fighting after losing the first set pretty bad, coming back to win the second set," Kleinecke said. "She was down 4-2 in the second set and came back and fought and made a match of it but just wasn't able to pull it out in the third."
Although the season is over for the Aggies, Potgieter and Urbina will represent the Aggies at the NCAA Singles Championships. They also are alternates for the NCAA Doubles Championships. It is the first time A&M has sent two players to the singles championships, and Urbina is the first A&M freshman to compete in singles.
Sixty-four singles players and 32 doubles teams will compete May 26-31 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga. This is the first year A&M has been represented in the individual championships since 2007, when Anna Lubinsky competed in singles and Sarah Foster and Tiffany Clifford competed in doubles.
No. 26 South Florida 4, No. 35 Texas A&M 2
NCAA Championships, First Round
May 13, 2010
Neil Schiff Tennis Stadium, Coral Gables, Fla.
Attendance: 209
Singles
1. (#51) Nazari Urbina (TAMU) def. (#43) Irene Rehberger (USF), 6-3, 6-3
2. Melissa Koning (USF) def. (#56) Elzé Potgieter (TAMU), 7-5, 6-2
3. (#109) Morgan Frank (TAMU) vs. Ecaterina Vasenina (USF), 6-1, 4-6, 5-2, unfinished
4. Janet Bejlkova (USF) def. Sheri Olivier (TAMU), 6-3, 6-1
5. Jessica Zok (USF) def. Christi Liles (TAMU), 6-1, 5-7, 6-1
6. Natalie Guevara (USF) def. Stephanie Davidson (TAMU), 6-2, 6-0
Doubles (A&M wins the point)
1. (#16) Koning/Rehberger (USF) def. (#34) Potgieter/Urbina (TAMU), 8-4
2. Davidson/Frank (TAMU) def. Bejlkova/Lauren Shumate (USF), 8-4
3. Liles/Olivier (TAMU) def. Guevara/Zok (USF), 8-5
Order of finish
Doubles: 3, 1, 2
Singles: 2, 6, 4, 1, 5*
*Clinched match
Team records
Texas A&M: 14-10
South Florida: 12-7