March 9, 2011
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Texas A&M women's tennis team rallied in singles to defeat No. 75 Wake Forest, 4-3, tonight at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
It was the fifth consecutive win for the Aggies, who improve to 6-2 overall - all against ranked opponents -- and 5-0 in home matches. Wake Forest falls to 4-6.
A&M lost the doubles point for only the third time this season, but for the first time the Aggies were able to overcome the deficit and win the match.
"That's good information for us to know that we can lose the doubles point and still win the match," A&M head coach Bobby Kleinecke said. "It is not easy to do. You have to believe in yourself, you have to have all six positions competing, and you can't give any of them away.
A&M's Stephanie Davidson (Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas) and partner Christi Potgieter (Petrusville, South Africa) continued their winning ways in doubles, winning their sixth consecutive match at the No. 3 line. It wasn't enough as A&M came up on the short end of the score on the other two courts and dropped its first doubles point in five matches.
Davidson and Potgieter held a 5-3 lead when they reeled off three consecutive games to defeat Brigita Bercyte and Ryann Cutillo, 8-3. It was the seventh straight doubles win overall for Davidson, who needs one more win to move into a tie for seventh in the A&M all-time records with 88 career victories.
At the No. 1 line, 69th-ranked Janelle Cuthbertson (Perth, Australia) and Christi Liles (Largo, Fla.) were up, 7-5, against the Demon Deacons' 17th-ranked duo of Kayla Duncan and Kathryn Talbert but were unable to hold the lead. Wake Forest won the next four games to snatch the win at the No. 1 line.
In a bang-bang finish, Emilee Malvehy and Martina Pavelec then quickly clinched the point for the Demon Deacons, overcoming a 6-4 deficit to complete an 8-6 come-from-behind victory against A&M's Morgan Frank (Oldsmar, Fla.) and Nazari Urbina (Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico) at the No. 2 line. It was the first loss for the Aggie duo, which entered the contest 6-0 in dual matches.
"I was a little disappointed in the doubles," Kleinecke said. "We were up two games at No. 1 and two games at No. 2 and ended up losing both of them. For the doubles point, we can't let those things slip away from us, but I think it is a good learning experience for us. It's great when you can learn and still not lose the match."
Davidson put A&M on the scoreboard with her fourth consecutive singles victory. The Aggie senior opened singles play by losing her first three games but then got on track to defeat Anna Mydlowska, 6-3, 6-3, at the No. 6 line.
"Stephanie worried me a little bit when she was down 3-0 in the first set," Kleinecke said, "but she fought back and took care of it, winning six straight games to win that first set."
Liles then gave the Aggies a 2-1 lead with a 6-4, 6-4 win against 118th-ranked Malvehy at the No. 3 line. It was the fifth consecutive win for Liles, who also picked up her fourth ranked win in her four-year career.
"That was a good match for Christi," Kleinecke said. "She had played Malvehy at Wake Forest two years ago and lost to her, so that was a good match for her. And to win in straight sets, she has been doing really well and we'll just take it and keep trying to get better and better. That is our goal."
Potgieter also got a 6-4, 6-4 straight-set victory, defeating former TCU standout Duncan at the No. 4 line to put A&M up, 3-1. Minutes later, Frank finished off a 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 win against Talbert at No. 2 to clinch the win for A&M. It was Frank's fifth consecutive win.
In a battle of ranked players, 45th-ranked Pavelec ended No. 19 Urbina's six-match winning streak with a 6-2, 6-4 victory at the No. 1 line to put the Demon Deacons within 4-2.
At the No. 5 line, Cuthbertson came up short in a loss to Cutillo to end the match. Cuthbertson trailed, 5-1 in the first set but came back to tie it and then force a tiebreaker. Cutillo won the first three points in the tiebreaker and held off Cuthbertson, 7-4, to win the set. Cutillo then took the second set, 6-3.
"Good teams have solid play down low, and we have really turned it on," Kleinecke said. "When you take a look at where we are winning the matches, winning in straight sets at 3, 4 and 6, that's a great way to go, because our 1 and 2 can play with anyone. And I have to praise Janelle for fighting through. She was down 5-1 in the first set and found a way to hang in there, and that is going to help us later in the year. She just kept competing and trying to give herself that chance. That one set lasted longer than two of the singles matches.
"For us to win three matches in straight sets showed a lot of heart and confidence on our part, and you have to have that. I was very pleased with the singles. And even though we lost two of the singles in straight sets, I don't feel like we gave them away. I felt like we made them earn those matches, and their girls played very well to win those in straight sets."
The match against the Demon Deacons concluded A&M's six-match home stand and was the Aggies' final tune-up for Big 12 Conference play, which begins Saturday at rival Texas. The State Farm Lone Star Showdown match against the 24th-ranked Longhorns begins at noon at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center in Austin.
"It's early in the year to play Texas, but we are on a high right now," Kleinecke said. "On paper, they would be the team to win, but we are playing with a lot of heart and a lot of fight and anything can happen. We just have to make sure we are going for our shots."
Live scoring of the match will be available at AggieAthletics.com.
No. 27 Texas A&M 4, No. 75 Wake Forest 3
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
Attendance: 365
Singles
1. Martina Pavelec (WF) def. (#19) Nazari Urbina (TAMU), 6-2, 6-4
2. Morgan Frank (TAMU) def. Kathryn Talbert (WF), 6-3, 2-6, 6-2
3. Christi Liles (TAMU) def. Emilee Malvehy (WF), 6-4, 6-4
4. Christi Potgieter (TAMU) def. Kayla Duncan (WF), 6-4, 6-4
5. Ryann Cutillo (WF) def. Janelle Cuthbertson (TAMU), 7-6 (4), 6-3
6. Stephanie Davidson (TAMU) def. Anna Mydlowska (WF), 6-3, 6-3
Doubles (Wake Forest wins the point)
1. Duncan/Talbert (WF) def. (#69) Cuthbertson/Liles (TAMU), 9-7
2. Malvehy/Pavelec (WF) def. Frank/Urbina (TAMU), 8-6
3. Davidson/Potgieter (TAMU) def. Brigita Bercyte/Cutillo (WF), 8-3
Order of finish:
Doubles: 3, 1, 2
Singles: 6, 3, 4, 2*, 1, 5
*-clinched match
Team records:
Texas A&M: (6-2)
Wake Forest: (4-6)
Follow A&M on Twitter @AggieTennis.