May 26, 2011
STANFORD, CA - The senior All-American doubles team of Austin Krajicek and Jeff Dadamo defeated Virginia's Alex Domijan and Jarmere Jenkins, 6-4, 6-3, to advance to the Round of 16 in the NCAA Doubles Championship being conducted at the Taube Family Tennis Center at Stanford.
Krajicek (CRY-check) and Dadamo (duh-DOM-oh) have already earned All-America honors for the second consecutive year by being seeded third in the NCAA Championships. The Aggie dynamic duo broke the Cavalier tandem to go up 5-4 in the first set and then served to close out 6-4. In the second set, A&M broke the initial game and held serve throughout before breaking again to close out the set, 6-3.
"The boys really played solid today," Aggie head coach Steve Denton said. "They took care of their serve all day and did not drop a service game. They were aggressive at the net and just played very well."
Krajicek, the Big 12 Player of the Year and the all-time Aggie leader in doubles victories with 108 wins, advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals as a sophomore and reached the NCAA semifinals as a freshman with former teammate Conor Pollock.
Dadamo, who was the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year in 2010 and earned the 2011 Big 12 Most Outstanding Player in leading the Aggies to the 2011 Big 12 Championships title, teamed with Krajicek to win the USTA/ITA National Doubles Indoor title last fall.
The Texas A&M tandem will face Auburn's top doubles team of Daniel Cochrane and Tim Puetz who are ranked No. 12 in the latest ITA rankings. Auburn defeated Fresno State, 7-5, 7-6 (7-2) earlier on Thursday and the time of the match is still to be determined.
"We know Cochrane and Puetz will be a tough match," Denton said. "Cochrane is new and has played well at the net, while Puetz faced Jeff (Dadamo) in the singles Round of 32 last year in the NCAA's and Puetz is a good all-around player. They are a tough SEC team and when you reach the Round of 16 there are no easy draws."
In singles action, the defending NCAA Singles Champion, Bradley Klahn from Stanford, playing on his home court was a tall order for Aggie All-American Austin Krajicek and Klahn won the match, 6-1, 6-4. Klahn was able to break Krajicek's serve to go up 5-4 in the second set and then served out the match.
"You have to give credit to Bradley Klahn, the defending NCAA Singles Champion playing on his home court and with the home crowd," Aggie head coach Steve Denton said. "He played very well, served well, and moved well and hit his forehands extremely well."
"Overall, when they talk about the luck of the draw we did not have it in the NCAA Championships," Denton explained. "Facing the host team Stanford in the Round of 16, then to have Jeff and Austin face possibly the two hottest players in the country right now, the defending NCAA Singles Champion (Klahn) at home, and the No. 1-ranked player (Steve Johnson) in the country who has not lost in dual match competition this spring, the road does not get much tougher than that. I am proud of the guys."