10th-Ranked Aggie Men's Tennis Hosts Troy and St. Edwards

Feb. 11, 2011

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The 10th-ranked Texas A&M men's tennis team (3-1) will host a doubleheader on Sunday, Feb. 13 with the Troy Trojans (0-5) up first at 12 noon followed by the St. Edward's Hilltoppers (1-1) at 4 p.m. at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
               
The Aggies most recent match was a 4-3 nail biter loss indoors against No. 5 ranked Texas in Houston on Friday, Feb. 4. Next action for the Aggies after Sunday's matches will be the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, Feb. 18-21, in Seattle, Washington.
               
"This is another great opportunity for our guys to compete before we head to Seattle," Aggie head coach Steve Denton said. "We have been working on some specifics with a few of the guys and this will give us a chance to evaluate their progress in those areas. Troy and St. Edward's are solid programs and playing the doubleheader will allow us the chance to get some other guys matches and to keep them dialed in. We are always evaluating, but it is great to get opportunities against other competition."
               
Troy, the defending Sun Belt Conference champions, is currently ranked No. 65 in the latest ITA rankings and has opened the season with five straight matches against ranked competition such as Alabama, Auburn and Florida State and the Trojans will face No. 38 Miami on Saturday before coming to Aggieland.
               
St. Edward's, No. 15 in the Division II ITA rankings, is coming off of an exciting 5-4 win over Trinity University on Thursday and a local product, Mick Walter from A&M Consolidated, returns home for his senior season. Walter and teammate Ned Boone (London, England) are ranked No. 18 in Division II doubles rankings, posted a win at No. 1 doubles line against Trinity and then Boone posted a win at the No. 1 line and Walter picked up a straight sets win at the No. 2 line. St. Edward's lost an earlier match to UT-San Antonio, 6-1.
               
The Aggies return 12 letter winners from last year's 25-7 team, the second-most wins in school history, and the team advanced to the NCAA round of 16 and ended the year ranked No. 10, the highest finish by A&M men's tennis since the 2001 squad was ranked No. 7.
               
The All-American doubles duo of Austin Krajicek (Brandon, FL) and Jeff Dadamo (Tampa, FL) is undefeated this spring season and both are undefeated at the No. 1 and No. 2 lines thus far. Krajicek and Dadamo won the fall doubles national championship at the 2010 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships held in Flushing, New York. The duo is currently ranked No. 1 in the country. In singles play, Krajicek is ranked No. 23 while Dadamo is ranked No. 54.
               
In addition to the senior duo, the doubles team of junior Colin Hoover (Victoria, TX) and sophomore Alberto Bautista (McAllen, TX) is ranked No. 32, while sophomore Niall Angus (London, England) and senior teammate Alexey Grigorov (Moscow, Russia) are No. 49.
               
In singles, in addition to Krajicek and Dadamo, Hoover is at No. 95 and junior Alexis Klegou (Dunkerque, France) at No. 106.
               
Other returning lettermen include senior leaders Calon Alpar (Austin, TX) and Kayvon Karimi (Dallas, TX), junior letterman John Lewis (Birmingham, AL) and sophomore lettermen Beau Blackshear (Brentwood, TN) and Austin Klores (Franklin, TX). Freshman Daniel Brown (Montgomery, TX) played in the fall for the Aggies and three new freshmen faces joined the A&M ranks in January Junior Ore (Gaithersburg, MD), Jordan Szabo (Victoria, Australia) and Jackson Withrow (Omaha, NE).

LIVE video and stats will be available at AggieAthletics.com during the matches.