Texas A&M
Notre Dame
No. 12 Aggies Defeat Fighting Irish, 6-1
Apr 05, 2010 | Men's Tennis
April 5, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The 12th-ranked Texas A&M men's tennis team defeated No. 36 Notre Dame, 6-1, to avenge two previous losses in the all-time series on Monday night before a crowd of 401 fans at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
The Aggies (18-4) are off to their best start in the Steve Denton Era. A&M swept the doubles point and won five of six singles matches to extend their win streak to 11 consecutive matches.
"It was a good effort for us today after a tough match at Nebraska," said Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton whose Aggies also beat UTSA, 4-0, on Monday afternoon. "I thought our guys really responded well by coming back home and taking care of these two matches. Our front line guys showed up tonight and played well against Notre Dame. They are more comfortable and relaxed on the court. They just believe in themselves right now."
Junior Alexey Grigorov (Moscow, Russia) topped David Anderson in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, to seal A&M's first victory in the last three meetings with the Fighting Irish (11-9). He is currently on a team-best 10-match winning streak with a 15-4 dual mark. Grigorov has clinched three out of the last six matches for the Aggies at the No. 4 line. Notre Dame edged A&M, 4-3, a year ago in South Bend, Ind.
Eighth-ranked junior All-American Austin Krajicek (Brandon, Fla.) picked up his 11th victory over a nationally-ranked opponent with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over No. 29-ranked Casey Watt at the top of the lineup, while No. 46-ranked Jeff Dadamo (Tampa, Fla.) followed with a 6-4, 6-1 decision over Stephen Havens to give A&M a 3-0 lead prior to Grigorov's match clincher.
No. 121-ranked sophomore Alexis Klegou (Dunkerque, France) and freshman Alberto Bautista (McAllen, Texas) also contributed to the winning effort. Klegou beat No. 91-ranked Daniel Stahl, 6-3, 6-4, at the No. 3 line, while Bautista got past Samuel Keeton in a second-set tiebreaker, 6-3, 7-6 (5), at No. 5.
The Aggies, who are an undefeated 3-0 in league play and tied for first place, will return to Big 12 Conference action hosting No. 11 Baylor (16-3, 0-0) on Wednesday, April 7 at 6 p.m. (CT) at the Mitchell Tennis Center.
"We haven't beaten Baylor (since 2006)," Denton said. "We are slowly playing better against top teams in the country. This team is certainly capable of doing so. We are hungry right now. We took a big hit early in the season by losing to Fresno State (in the ITA Kickoff Weekend). It was tough on our confidence not to be able to go to the National Indoors to play all these top teams. Now, we have a chance to play against them and we are looking forward to the remainder of our conference schedule.
"We have three really tough matches in a row starting with Baylor on Wednesday night. I know they are going to come in here fired up. They have been playing well, so let's put on our gloves and see what happens. They recently beat UCLA and Stanford, who are two top 10 teams. We are playing some good tennis right now and I like our chances."
(12) TEXAS A&M 6, (36) NOTRE DAME 1
April 5, 2010
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
at College Station, Texas
Attendance: 401
SINGLES
No. 1 - (8) Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M) def. (29) Casey Watt (Notre Dame), 6-2, 6-2.
No. 2 - (46) Jeff Dadamo (Texas A&M) def. Stephen Havens (Notre Dame), 6-4, 6-1.
No. 3 - (121) Alexis Klegou (Texas A&M) def. (91) Daniel Stahl (Notre Dame), 6-3, 6-4.
No. 4 - Alexey Grigorov (Texas A&M) def. David Anderson (Notre Dame), 6-3, 6-3.
No. 5 - Alberto Bautista (Texas A&M) def. Samuel Keeton (Notre Dame), 6-3, 7-6 (5).
No. 6 - Blas Moore (Notre Dame) def. Colin Hoover (Texas A&M), 7-6 (2), 6-3.
DOUBLES
No. 1 - (5) Krajicek-Dadamo (Texas A&M) def. Watt-Havens (Notre Dame), 8-6.
No. 2 - Grigorov-Bautista (Texas A&M) def. Niall Fitzgerald-Tyler Davis (Notre Dame), 8-4.
No. 3 - Klegou-Marcus Lunt (Texas A&M) def. Stahl-Anderson (Notre Dame), 8-7 (4).
ORDER OF FINISH
Singles: 1, 2, 4*, 3, 5, 6
Doubles: 2, 1, 3
Players Mentioned
