March 3, 2011
COLLEGE STATION, TX--The 18th-ranked Texas A&M men's tennis team (9-3) heads north this weekend to take on the 24th-ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, on Friday and then a Sunday dual match with Wisconsin in Madison. Both venues hold fond memories for the Aggie coaching staff.
"This is a very important trip for our team," Aggie head coach Steve Denton said. "We have gotten some momentum here at home and we need to play well in these indoor chances. We are 1-3 indoors this spring after our Seattle trip (ITA National Team Indoor Championships). I think we are a better team than that record indicates. We just have to show it on the court. Our team should expect both Notre Dame and Wisconsin to play very well this weekend at home and these will be tough road matches."
Last year, the Aggies beat Wisconin (5-2) and Notre Dame (6-1) in College Station. The year before, the Fighting Irish defeated A&M, 4-3, in South Bend. This will probably be the Aggies' last indoor appearance of the regular season.
"Last year at the end of the season we were on a roll and our NCAA Round of 16 match against Baylor was moved indoors," Denton explained. "Our team did not respond that well. This is the great thing about sports, you can learn from your mistakes and when you get another chance, you have the chance to respond differently."
Notre Dame brings an 8-6 record into the 5 p.m. (CENTRAL) Friday match at Eck Tennis Pavilion. Last weekend, the Fighting Irish went 1-2 in a tournament in Montgomery, Alabama, defeating Penn State (4-0) but dropping matches to No. 15 Pepperdine (4-0) and No. 19 Texas Tech (4-0).
The Badgers of Wisconsin are 4-5 and will host a doubleheader on Friday against Green Bay and Northern Illinois at Nielsen Stadium before facing A&M on Sunday with the match starting at 1 p.m. (CENTRAL).
"Nielsen Stadium is a great indoor tennis venue that has stood the test of time," Denton explained. "There are a lot of fond memories for myself and Coach (Bob) McKinley. We both played the National Indoor Championships at this facility (Denton with Texas and McKinley at Trinity)."
Nielsen Stadium is named in honor of Arthur C. Nielsen, the founder of the TV ratings.
"When Coach McKinley played at Trinity ('72 graduate of Trinity) the NCAA's were held at Notre Dame," Denton said. "The format was different than it is today. Four players were in the singles and doubles draw and points were awarded to the teams by the rounds that each individual player advanced. Coach McKinley had beaten Jimmy Connors from UCLA 18 times in a row when the two matched up in the 1971 quarterfinals. Coach McKinley was serving for the match at 5-4 in the third but Connors rallied to take the set 9-7. Connors won the tournament and UCLA won the team championship and Trinity finished second."
The Aggies will return home next week to face one of the most daunting tasks in school history as the program welcomes the nation's No. 3 and No. 4-ranked squads. The Ohio State Buckeyes (No. 3) come to Aggieland on Thursday, Mar. 10 for a 6 p.m. match and then the Fighting Illini from the University of Illinois (No. 4) will face the Aggies on Saturday, Mar. 12 with a 1 p.m. match at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.