Texas A&M
California
Men's Tennis Upsets No. 11 Golden Bears, 5-2
Mar 12, 2010 | Men's Tennis
March 12, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Texas A&M men's tennis team claimed its third victory over a top-15 ranked opponent over the last two years with a 5-2 upset of No. 11 California Friday night at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
A&M (8-4), ranked No. 28 nationally in the latest Campbell/ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings, snapped a two-match losing streak to the likes of No. 3 Ohio State and No. 12 Illinois last weekend by winning the doubles point convincingly along with four singles matches to claw past the Golden Bears (8-4). The Aggies swept the doubles portion of the match for the sixth time this season behind the clockwork of ninth-ranked Jeff Dadamo (Tampa, Fla.) and All-American Austin Krajicek (Brandon, Fla.) over No. 30-ranked Jonathan Dahan and Pedro Zerbini of Cal, 8-2, at No. 1.
In singles, freshman Alberto Bautista (McAllen, Texas) clinched the match for the Aggies with a straight-set victory over Bozhidar Katsarov, 7-5, 6-0, at the No. 5 line, while sophomore Alexis Klegou (Dunkerque, France) beat his first ranked opponent of the season and career with a 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 73-ranked Jonathan Dahan at No. 3. Also contributing to A&M's victory was No. 33-ranked Jeff Dadamo and junior Alexey Grigorov (Moscow, Russia) who both won their second-consecutive match against back-to-back top-ranked teams in Cal and Ohio State.
Last season, the Aggies upset No. 7 Illinois and No. 10 and eventual national champion USC by 4-3 counts in March. Cal was the third-highest ranked team to fall at the Mitchell Tennis Center behind the Fighting Illini and Trojans in the Steve Denton Era.
"This was our most complete match so far of the year," Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. "Cal has a really great team. For us to beat them 5-2 was a really great effort. Our doubles play was really solid tonight. All three lines, lead by our No. 1 team, played as well as they have the whole year. We were solid at two and three, which gave us the cushion we needed, because it was going to come down to a couple of close matches. I was really excited for (Alexis) Klegou to win a meaningful match for us. It's going to give him a lot of confidence and make him feel more comfortable out there. Overall, it was just a good team effort and a great team win for us."
Up next, the Aggies will host Lamar and Pepperdine in a doubleheader scheduled for Friday, March 19 at noon and 6 p.m. (CT) respectively at the Mitchell Tennis Center.
(28) TEXAS A&M 5, (11) CALIFORNIA 2
March 12, 2010
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
at College Station, Texas
Attendance: 325
SINGLES
No. 1 - (42) Pedro Zerbini (California) def. (16) Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M), 6-4, 6-4.
No. 2 - (33) Jeff Dadamo (Texas A&M) def. (59) Christoffer Konigsfeldt (California), 6-1, 6-1.
No. 3 - Alexis Klegou (Texas A&M) def. (73) Jonathan Dahan (California), 6-4, 6-4.
No. 4 - Alexey Grigorov (Texas A&M) def. Nick Andrews (California), 6-3, 0-6, 6-1.
No. 5 - Alberto Bautista (Texas A&M) def. Bozhidar Katsarov (California), 7-5, 6-0.
No. 6 - Riki McLachlan (California) def. Colin Hoover (Texas A&M), 6-3, 7-6 (4).
DOUBLES
No. 1 - (9) Dadamo-Krajicek (Texas A&M) def. (30) Dahan-Zerbini (California), 8-2.
No. 2 - Grigorov-Bautista (Texas A&M) def. Katsarov-McLachlan (California), 8-5.
No. 3 - Klegou-Marcus Lunt (Texas A&M) def. Andrews-Sky Lovill (California), 8-5.
ORDER OF FINISH
Singles: 3, 4, 1, 5*, 2, 6
Doubles: 1, 2, 3
Players Mentioned
