Texas A&M
Fresno State
No. 12 Aggie Netters Edged By Fresno State, 4-3
Jan 30, 2010 | Men's Tennis
Jan. 30, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The 12th-ranked Texas A&M men's tennis team was edged by 46th-ranked Fresno State, 4-3, in the opening round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend held Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 345 fans at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
The Aggies (2-1) dropped their first match of the young season braving weather conditions in the low 50's. The Bulldogs (4-0), armed with a pair of ranked doubles teams, won the doubles point courtesy of the No. 36-ranked tandem of Remi Boutillier and Rikus de Villiers, who defeated No. 18-ranked Austin Krajicek (Brandon, Fla.) and Jeff Dadamo (Tampa, Fla.), 8-6, at the No. 1 line, while the No. 20-ranked duo of Taylor Lieby and Mirko Zapletal got past Niall Angus (London, England) and Alexis Klegou (Dunkerque, France), 9-7, at No. 2.
A&M went up 3-2 in the match, after junior Alexey Grigorov (Moscow, Russia), Austin Krajicek and freshman Alberto Bautista (McAllen, Texas) claimed straight-set victories in singles. Grigorov defeated Fresno State's Remi Boutillier, 6-2, 6-4, at No. 4, followed by Krajicek over Mirko Zapletal, 6-3, 7-6 (4), at the top of the lineup, and Bautista over Siddharth Alapati, 6-3, 6-2, at No. 6. Bautista won his third-straight match and Grigorov and Krajicek their second of the season.
The Aggies would drop a pair of tough three-setters in the remaining two matches fought out by Alexis Klegou at No. 2 and Niall Angus at No. 5. Angus, a freshman who joined the team in January, fell to No. 83-ranked David Ayoun of Fresno State, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, for the deciding point.
"It was disappointing that we had chances to try to win the doubles point," Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. "Give Fresno State credit. We had a war with our doubles on court one and two, but then we regrouped and tried to win four singles. We just didn't get it done today. We talked about going in and trying to win the first set in every match, but our guys couldn't hold the lead. We have some new guys, but the conditions were different and weather was a factor. You have to give Fresno State credit though, because their players handled the conditions better than we did, and were more aggressive. Sometimes that's the difference and today it was."
The Aggies will face second-seeded and 24th-ranked Oklahoma State (1-1) on Sunday, Jan. 31 at 1 p.m. (CT) on the stadium courts. The Cowboys lost a 4-1 decision to third-seeded and 34th-ranked Rice (3-0) on Saturday. Fresno State and Rice will also play tomorrow for the right to advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships on Feb. 11-14 in Charlottesville, Va., at 1 p.m. (CT) on the grandstand courts.
(46) FRESNO STATE 4, (12) TEXAS A&M 3
Jan. 30, 2010
ITA Men's Tennis Kick-Off Weekend
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
at College Station, Texas
Attendance: 345
SINGLES
No. 1 - Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M) def. Mirko Zapletal (Fresno State), 6-3, 7-6 (4).
No. 2 - Rikus de Villiers (Fresno State) def. Alexis Klegou (Texas A&M), 6-2, 7-5, 6-4.
No. 3 - Tejesvi Veerepalli (Fresno State) def. (32) Jeff Dadamo (Texas A&M), 6-1, 6-2.
No. 4 - Alexey Grigorov (Texas A&M) def. Remi Boutillier (Fresno State), 6-2, 6-4.
No. 5 - (83) David Ayoun (Fresno State) def. Niall Angus (Texas A&M), 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.
No. 6 - Alberto Bautista (Texas A&M) def. Siddharth Alapati (Fresno State), 6-3, 6-2.
DOUBLES
No. 1 - (36) Boutillier-de Villiers (Fresno State) def. (18) Krajicek-Dadamo (Texas A&M), 8-6.
No. 2 - (20) Leiby-Zapletal (Fresno State) def. Angus-Klegou (Texas A&M), 9-7.
No. 3 - Grigorov-Marcus Lunt (Texas A&M) def. Alapati-Veerepalli (Fresno State), 8-5.
ORDER OF FINISH
Singles: 3, 4, 1, 6, 2, 5*
Doubles: 3, 1, 2
***
(34) RICE 4, (24) OKLAHOMA STATE 1
Jan. 30, 2010
ITA Men's Tennis Kick-Off Weekend
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
at College Station, Texas
Attendance: 345
SINGLES
No. 1 - (15) Oleksandr Nedovyesov (OSU) def. (19) Bruno Rosa (Rice), 6-2, 6-2.
No. 2 - (44) Anton Bobytskyi (OSU) vs. Oscar Podlewski (Rice), DNF.
No. 3 - Michael Nuesslein (Rice) def. Ilija Martinoski (OSU), 6-3, 6-1.
No. 4 - Isamu Tachibana (Rice) def. Aleksey Bessonov (OSU), 6-3, 6-0.
No. 5 - Eric West (OSU) vs. Sam Garforth-Bles (Rice), DNF.
No. 6 - Jonathan Chang (Rice) def. Maximilian Kuhn (OSU), 6-1, 7-6 (5).
DOUBLES
No. 1 - Rosa-Podlewski (Rice) def. (15) Nedovyesov-Bessonov (OSU), 9-8 (9).
No. 2 - Nusslein-Tachibana (Rice) def. (39) Bobytskyi-West (OSU), 9-7.
No. 3 - Kuhn-Martinoski (OSU) def. Garforth-Bles-Polyakov (Fresno State), 9-8 (7).
ORDER OF FINISH
Singles: 1, 4, 3, 6*
Doubles: 2, 3, 1
Players Mentioned
