Texas A&M
Rice
No. 12 Men's Tennis Holds Off Rice, 4-3
Mar 31, 2010 | Men's Tennis
March 31, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The 12th-ranked Texas A&M men's tennis team won four out of six singles matches to hold off No. 39 Rice, 4-3, on Wednesday night at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
The Aggies' (15-4) eighth-straight victory didn't come as easy as their previous seven in their current winning stretch against the likes of top teams in Cal, Pepperdine, Louisville, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. In fact, the Owls (10-9) had come into Wednesday's contest on a four-match win streak of their own and had won the last two meetings between the regional rivals in the all-time series.
For the first time in seven matches, A&M dropped the doubles point despite an 8-4 victory by the top doubles combination of fifth-ranked Austin Krajicek (Brandon, Fla.) and Jeff Dadamo (Tampa, Fla.) who rolled past No. 62-ranked Michael Nusslein and Christian Saravia for their eighth consecutive win at the No. 1 line for the Aggies. They are currently 13-5 on the season in dual match play.
"After losing a disappointing doubles point, I was really pleased with how our guys battled back tonight in singles," Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. "We didn't give them another point until close to the end of the match, when we had already clinched it. That is what this team has been doing all season long. We've been fighting hard, staying out there and keeping the pressure on the other team."
No. 46-ranked Jeff Dadamo quickly made headway for A&M, allowing only two games to Michael Nusslein of Rice in a 6-1, 6-1 straight-set victory at No. 2 singles to tie the match at one-all. Freshman Alberto Bautista (McAllen, Texas) defeated Isamu Tachibana, 6-4, 6-4, at the No. 5 line, while No. 121-ranked sophomore Alexis Klegou (Dunkerque, France) topped Oscar Podlewski, 7-5, 6-4, at No. 3, to leave the deciding point in the hands of three remaining Aggies on courts one, four and six.
For the second-straight match, junior Alexey Grigorov (Moscow, Russia) answered the call and clinched the match victory for the Aggies winning his third consecutive outing in a second-set tiebreaker, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3), over Sam Garforth-Bles. Grigorov currently boasts a team-leading seven-match win streak with a 12-4 mark playing primarily at No. 4 singles.
"It's really positive for us to come out and win a lot of these matches, especially for Alberto (Bautista) and Alexey (Grigorov)," said Denton whose Aggies had only given up two points or less to their opponents in the last seven matches prior to Rice. "It was an overall good team effort tonight. It's great for our confidence that we can lose the doubles point on occasion - and be able to come back and get four singles matches against a quality team like Rice."
A&M had previously lost a pair of close 4-3 decisions to the Owls during the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons.
The Aggies will return to Big 12 Conference action this weekend traveling to No. 37 Nebraska (12-6, 0-0) for a Friday, April 2 dual match scheduled for 3 p.m. (CT) in Lincoln, Neb. Live statistics will be available at www.huskers.com.
(12) TEXAS A&M 4, (39) RICE 3
March 31, 2010
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
at College Station, Texas
Attendance: 345
SINGLES
No. 1 - (47) Bruno Rosa (Rice) def. (8) Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M), 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (6).
No. 2 - (46) Jeff Dadamo (Texas A&M) def. Michael Nusslein (Rice), 6-1, 6-1.
No. 3 - (121) Alexis Klegou (Texas A&M) def. Oscar Podlewski (Rice), 7-5, 6-4.
No. 4 - Alexey Grigorov (Texas A&M) def. Sam Garforth-Bles (Rice), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3).
No. 5 - Alberto Bautista (Texas A&M) def. Isamu Tachibana (Rice), 6-4, 6-4.
No. 6 - Christian Saravia (Rice) def. Niall Angus (Texas A&M), 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
DOUBLES
No. 1 - (5) Krajicek-Dadamo (Texas A&M) def. (62) Nusslein-Saravia (Rice), 8-4.
No. 2 - (58) Tachibana-Rosa (Rice) def. Grigorov-Bautista (Texas A&M), 8-6.
No. 3 - Podlewski-Denis Polyakov (Rice) def. Klegou-Marcus Lunt (Texas A&M), 8-6.
ORDER OF FINISH
Singles: 2, 5, 3, 4*, 6, 1
Doubles: 3, 1, 2
Players Mentioned
