Texas A&M
TCU
No. 10 Aggies Sweep Horned Frogs, 7-0
Apr 23, 2010 | Men's Tennis
April 23, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - In its regular-season finale, the 10th-ranked Texas A&M men's tennis team shut out No. 69 and old Southwest Conference rival TCU, 7-0, on Friday night before a crowd of 393 fans at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
The Aggies (21-5) claimed their fourth-straight win and first-ever sweep of the Horned Frogs (9-12) in 43 all-time meetings between the two in-state schools since 1978. They have now won 14 of their last 15 matches of the season heading into postseason play. A&M also posted the second-most home wins in school history with a 17-1 record at the Mitchell Tennis Center since the facility opened in 1999. Both schools were originally slated to play the non-conference match on Feb. 26, but it was cancelled and rescheduled due to inclement weather.
"By playing this match tonight, it worked out to where we could play a week before the Big 12 Championship and get back out there on the horse after a disappointing match on Wednesday night at (third-ranked) Texas," Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. "When Texas plays A&M in anything, there's an emotional letdown afterwards. We played this match pretty close and I had some concerns about how our guys were going to comeback physically and mentally (after just two days between matches). They did a good job tonight of taking care of a very dangerous TCU team."
A&M quickly won the doubles point behind a pair of 8-5 victories by the No. 42-ranked combination of junior Marcus Lunt (San Antonio) as well as freshman Patrick Dean (Dallas, Texas) were both honored prior to the match on Senior Day.
The Aggies kept the momentum going in singles as Grigorov defeated Sören Goritzka in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, at the No. 3 line to sprint out to a commanding 2-0 lead over TCU. Freshman Niall Angus (London, England) followed with an equally impressive performance giving up only two games to Santiago Centeno in a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 5.
Junior Jeff Dadamo (Tampa, Fla.), ranked No. 43 nationally in the latest Campbell/ITA rankings, sealed the A&M victory with a 6-4, 7-5 tally over Marius-Adrian Cirstea at the No. 2 line.
"We had a tough match against Texas on Wednesday," Dadamo said. "This win gives us more momentum and a bit of a jump in our step going into the Big 12 Tournament next week."
Junior All-American and sixth-ranked Austin Krajicek (Brandon, Fla.) held off Emanuel Brighiu in a second-set tiebreaker, 6-3, 7-6 (5), at the top of the lineup, while sophomore John Lewis (Birmingham, Ala.) beat Cameron Nash, 7-6 (1), 6-2, at No. 6 to improve to an undefeated 6-0 on the season. Bautista closed out the match on serve with a 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory over Paul Chappell at the No. 4 line.
A&M will await its final finish in the Big 12 Conference standings after all league matches have been completed on Sunday. The Aggies, who posted a 5-1 league record, are a lock for the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Big 12 Men's Tennis Championship to be held on April 30-May 2 at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center in Austin, Texas. They will face No. 7 seed Oklahoma State on Friday, April 30 in quarterfinal action at noon (CT).
"More than anything, tonight got us out playing again and helped us get the bad taste out of our mouth after the loss to Texas," Denton said. "I feel our guys are capable of doing well, but they just played better than we did that night. We were in a lot of matches, but didn't win any of them. It was a great wake-up call for us. We've been on a big run for a while. We now have the opportunity to refocus and start another streak."
(10) TEXAS A&M 7, (69) TCU 0
April 23, 2010
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
at College Station, Texas
Attendance: 393
SINGLES
No. 1 - (6) Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M) def. Emanuel Brighiu (TCU), 6-3, 7-6 (5).
No. 2 - (43) Jeff Dadamo (Texas A&M) def. Marius-Adrian Cirstea (TCU), 6-4, 7-5.
No. 3 - Alexey Grigorov (Texas A&M) def. Sören Goritzka (TCU), 6-3, 6-2.
No. 4 - Alberto Bautista (Texas A&M) def. Paul Chappell (TCU), 7-6 (3), 6-3.
No. 5 - Niall Angus (Texas A&M) def. Santiago Centeno (TCU), 6-2, 6-0.
No. 6 - John Lewis (Texas A&M) def. Cameron Nash (TCU), 7-6 (1), 6-2.
DOUBLES
No. 1 - (72) Brighiu-Christopher Price (TCU) def. (3) Krajicek-Dadamo (Texas A&M), 9-7.
No. 2 - (42) Grigorov-Marcus Lunt (Texas A&M) def. Chappell-Cirstea (TCU), 8-5.
No. 3 - Bautista-Colin Hoover (Texas A&M) def. Goritzka-Cameron Nash (TCU), 8-5.
ORDER OF FINISH
Singles: 3, 5, 2*, 1, 6, 4
Doubles: 2, 3, 1
Players Mentioned
