Texas A&M
Baylor
Aggies Fall To Bears In NCAA Round of 16
May 21, 2010 | Men's Tennis
May 21, 2010
NORCROSS, Ga. - The 10th-seeded and 10th-ranked Texas A&M men's tennis team lost a 4-1 decision to seventh-seeded and eighth-ranked Baylor in the round of 16 of the 2010 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championships held Friday night at the Racquet Club of the South.
The Aggies (25-7) moved indoors after a four and a half hour delay due to rain and inclement weather which pushed all matches late throughout the day at the University of Georgia's Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga. A&M traveled one and a half hours to the Atlanta suburb of Norcross to face the Bears (24-6) for the third time this season. The Aggies had previously won both meetings in Big 12 Conference play in the regular and postseason.
A&M won a dog fight in doubles as the No. 1 and No. 2 lines were decided in tiebreakers. Sophomore Colin Hoover (Victoria, Texas) and freshman Alberto Bautista (McAllen, Texas) cruised to an 8-3 victory over Baylor's Maros Horny and Dominik Mueller at No. 3. The Aggies previously won the doubles point against BU at one and two.
The fifth-ranked All-American tandem of junior Marcus Lunt (San Antonio, Texas) and junior Alexey Grigorov (Moscow, Russia) relinquished only one point in their 7-1 tiebreaker win over Attila Bucko and Jordan Rux at No. 3. Lunt served for the match and tied former All-American Ryan Newport, Mark Weaver and Bernardo Martinez with the school single-season record for most doubles wins with a team-best 24-6 dual record.
"We had a great season and I am proud of this team and what we accomplished," said Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton whose team closed out the season with the second-most wins in school history and back-to-back trips to the Sweet 16. "Obviously, we didn't want it to end like this. It looked hopeful for us after we won the doubles point, but Baylor was just too good tonight. They were more aggressive and a step ahead than we were. We continue to take steps in the right direction. We have a tremendous group of guys coming back next year. Hopefully, this learning experience is going to make us better. We might have played our better tennis a little earlier in the season, because we didn't do as well down the stretch and a few of our guys were not at their best. Baylor got better towards the end of the season."
Baylor, who proved that it's hard to beat a team three times in a season, answered back by winning five out of the six first sets in singles. Newcomer Roberto Maytin defeated Alberto Bautista, 6-1, 6-2, at the No. 5 line to level the match at one-all. The Bears quickly followed with straight-set victories at the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 6 to advance to Sunday's Elite Eight match with second-seeded Tennessee.
"There will be a lot soul searching after a match like this tonight - to figure out what went wrong, what we can do to get better and rise to the occasion at the right moments," Denton said. "We did a lot of great things this year, but ultimately, there is only one team that holds up the prize at the end. We weren't it this year. We just have to figure out a way to get closer to that prize and we will."
(8) BAYLOR 4, (10) TEXAS A&M 1
NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship
Round of 16
May 21, 2010
The Racquet Club of the South
at Norcross, Ga.
SINGLES
No. 1 - (14) Denes Lukacs (Baylor) def. (6) Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M), 6-1, 6-2.
No. 2 - (34) Jordan Rux (Baylor) def. (39) Jeff Dadamo (Texas A&M), 6-3, 6-3.
No. 3 - Alexey Grigorov (Texas A&M) vs. Attila Bucko (Baylor), 6-2, 3-2, DNF.
No. 4 - Alexis Klegou (Texas A&M) vs. Dominik Mueller (Baylor), 6-7 (8), DNF.
No. 5 - Roberto Maytin (Baylor) def. Alberto Bautista (Texas A&M), 6-1, 6-2.
No. 6 - Julian Bley (Baylor) def. Marcus Lunt (Texas A&M), 6-2, 6-1.
DOUBLES
No. 1 - (28) Denes Lukacs-Roberto Maytin (Baylor) def. (5) Jeff Dadamo-Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M), 9-8 (4).
No. 2 - (34) Alexey Grigorov-Marcus Lunt (Texas A&M) def. Attila Bucko-Jordan Rux (Baylor), 9-8 (1).
No. 3 - Alberto Bautista-Colin Hoover (Texas A&M) def. Maros Horny-Dominik Mueller (Baylor), 8-3.
ORDER OF FINISH
Singles: 5, 1, 2, 6*
Doubles: 3, 1, 2
Players Mentioned
