Feb. 19, 2011
SEATTLE, WA-- The 9th-seeded Texas A&M men's tennis team fell to 8th-seeded Illinois, 4-1,in the opening round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships being held in Seattle, Washington. The match ended around 1:45 am central time.
The Aggies opened with the doubles point as freshman Junior Ore and senior Alexey Grigorov bestedHoh and Roth, 8-3. Illinois duo of Abdelnour and Nevolo edgedthe Aggietandem of Alberto Bautista and Colin Hoover, 8-6. Thetop-rankedAggie duo of Austin Krajicek and Jeff Dadamo defeated Johnny Hamui and Abe Souza, 9-7, to give the doubles point to Texas A&M.
"There were a lot of close matches and we had momentum with doubles point," Aggie head coach Steve Denton said. "We had opportunities during the match to seize momentum and to put matches away and we let them hang around and it comes back to bite you. This was like an NCAA Round of 16 match and when you have the chance, you have to close out and finish. I think we are capable, but we are not getting the job done right now. Give credit to Illinois, they are playing with a lot of confidence and played the bigger points better than us."
The Aggies will face host Washington at 8 pm(CENTRAL) on Saturday. The top-seeded Virginia Cavaliers defeated Washington, 4-1.
No. 8 Illinois 4, No. 9 Texas A&M 1
1 #29 Austin Krajicek (A&M) vs. #8 Dennis Nevolo (Ill) - 5-7, 6-3 DNF
2 #49 Jeff Dadamo (A&M) vs.#33 Johnny Hamui (Ill) - 3-6, 7-5 DNF
3 KU Singh (Ill) def. #121 Alexis Klegou (A&M)- 6-4, 6-3
4 #65 Abe Souza (Ill) def Alexey Grigorov (A&M) - 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
5Steven Hoe (Ill) def. Colin Hoover (A&M) - 7-5, 6-2
6 Bruno Abdelnour (Ill) def. Junior Ore (A&M) - 2-6, 7-5, 6-2
DOUBLES
1 #1 Krajicek/Dadamo (A&M) def. Souza/Hamui (Ill) -- 9-7
2 Ore/Grigorov (A&M) def. Roth/Hoh (Ill) -- 8-3
3 Abdelnour/Nevolo (Ill) def. Hoover/Bautista (A&M) -- 8-6
Order of finish:
Doubles 2, 3, 1 (pt A&M)
Singles 3, 5, 4, 6*
*Clinched match.
TEAM RECORDS:Texas A&M (5-2),Illinois (6-2)
DNF-- did not finish