March 30, 2011
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The fifth-ranked Texas A&M men's tennis team concludes a five-match road swing with a Wednesday afternoon match against No. 37 Rice in Houston with first serve slated for 1:30 p.m. at the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium.
The No. 5 ranking for Aggie men's tennis is the best of the Steve Denton coaching era and second in school history behind the 2000 and 2001 squads that reached No. 4 in the rankings.
The Aggie road trip started back on Mar. 16 when the Aggies traveled to California and beat the No. 5-ranked Cal Bears. A&M dropped its only outdoor match of the season at No. 11 Pepperdine on Mar. 19 and then beat Oklahoma State and Oklahoma in the state of Oklahoma this past weekend.
The Aggies are 17-4 on the year and 2-0 in Big 12 play. The Rice Owls are 13-4 after beating TCU on Saturday in Houston.
“Rice is always a very tough team to play and especially at home,” Denton said. “We have struggled with them in the past as the matches have always been very close. I expect this match to be no different. The strength of their team is depth. Their lineup and players are interchangeable. They do not have any great players, but they are very solid at every position and that makes them a tough out.”
“Having said that,” Denton explained. “I am excited about the way our team is competing and playing right now. We have gone on the road and have won some tough matches. The Sunday win against Oklahoma was a very good team win. The key for us is we just have to keep on striving to get better with each match.”
A&M beat Rice in a close 4-3 decision in College Station last spring and Rice beat A&M, 4-3, back in 2009 at the Mitchell Tennis Center on the A&M campus.
Also in the updated rankings, senior All-American Austin Krajicek is currently ranked No. 26 in singles followed by senior All-American teammate and doubles partner Jeff Dadamo at No. 45. Alexis Klegou, a junior from France, is ranked No. 87. In doubles, all three Aggie doubles teams are ranked with Dadamo/Krajicek ranked No. 5, sophomore Alberto Bautista and junior Colin Hoover are ranked No. 65 and senior Alexey Grigorov and freshman Junior Ore are ranked No. 87.
Up next for Texas A&M will be a five-match home stand beginning with No. 21 Texas Tech on Friday, Apr. 8. A doubleheader on Sunday, Apr. 10 against No. 39 Nebraska and UT-San Antonio follows and then another twinbill on Wednesday, Apr. 13 against UT-Pan American and No. 31 Tulsa closes out the home stand.
ITA NATIONAL TEAM RANKINGS (as of Tuesday, Mar. 29)
- Virginia
- USC
- Ohio State
- Tennessee
- TEXAS A&M
- California
- Texas
- Pepperdine
- Georgia
- Duke
- Baylor
- Stanford
- Illinois
- Kentucky
- Florida
- UCLA
- North Carolina
- Auburn
- Georgia Tech
- Washington
- Texas Tech
- Michigan
- Notre Dame
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
OTHER RANKED OPPONENTS:
27 Oklahoma
28 Miami
31 Tulsa
32 Mississippi State
34 LSU
37 Rice
39 Nebraska