Texas A&M
Ohio State
17th-Ranked Men's Tennis Defeats 5th-Ranked Ohio State Before Record Crowd
Mar 10, 2011 | Men's Tennis
March 10, 2011
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Led by senior captain Austin Krajicek, the 17th-ranked Texas A&M men's tennis team upset the 5th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes, 4-0, before a regular-season record crowd of 1,093 at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station late Thursday to run the Aggies' home match winning streak to 26 straight. The school record is 27 straight.
"What a tremendous crowd we had tonight and the guys really fed off of the 12thMan," Aggie head coach Steve Denton said. "Our guys came out ready and the crowd just continued to energize our team."
"It was important to win the doubles point and the clincher came at No. 3 where Alberto (Bautista) and Colin (Hoover) had to come back from a break point and then closed out the match that gave us the doubles point and allowed us to get on top. Then, we won three very close first sets to continue to stay on top of the match and that was key. They (OSU) had to climb the mountain and our guys stayed focused."
Ohio State's No. 8 ranked doubles tandem of Blaz Rola and Chase Buchanan was the first doubles match off at the No. 2 line against A&M's Conor Pollock (2005-09). Pollock, a native of San Antonio, was in attendance at the match on Thursday and teamed with Krajicek in 2007-08 and 2008-09.
The doubles point came down to the No. 3 line with the country's No. 45 doubles team of Aggies Colin Hoover and Alberto Bautista defeating OSU's No. 75 doubles tandem of Balazs Novak and Devin McCarthy, 8-6.
Three of the six first sets in singles went to a tiebreaker with A&M's Krajicek and Dadamo winning 7-6 at No. 1 and No. 2. OSU's Matt Allare, ranked No. 39 in the land, edged Grigorov 7-6 in the other tiebreaker. At the No. 4 line, A&M's Alexis Klegou, ranked No. 80, defeated the Buckeyes' No. 76 Balazs Novak, 7-5. Bautista won his first set 6-4 and Ohio State won the first set at the No. 6 line as No. 95 Nelson Vick beat Niall Angus, 6-3.
"Austin really raised his game at the No. 1 line tonight," Denton explained. Krajicek was the first singles match finished with a 7-6, 6-1 straight sets win. "Austin is a team leader, he works extremely hard. We have had some great players at Texas A&M in the past, and I am be a bit partial, but I feel like he is the best player in our program's history. It was a great night for Austin, a great night for Aggie tennis and a terrific college tennis match between two excellent teams."
Just behind Krajicek, Bautista finished off No. 46 Devin McCarthy, 6-4, 6-3 to put the Aggies up 3-0 in the team match.
At the No. 4 line, Klegou completed another straight sets victory with a 7-5, 6-3 win over the No. 76 player Balazs Novak to clinched the match.
All of the remaining matches were called when the match was determined. At the No. 2 line, OSU's Blaz Rola and A&M's Dadamo had split two sets and Dadamo was up 2-1 in the third set.
Grigorov at the No. 3 line had rallied after dropping the first set tiebreaker, 7-6, and was serving to even his match against No. 39 Allare at 40-15 and up 6-5 in the second set.
At the No. 6 line, Angus had split the first two matches against No. 95 Nelson Vick, 3-6, 6-4 and was up 4-0 and serving 40-0 when the match was called.
"A match like this should give our guys some confidence," Denton said. "Ohio State has beaten us the past couple of times (4-3 in Columbus last spring and 4-3 in the indoor courts in Bryan in 2009).
With the win, the Aggies improve to 12-3 on the season and will now face the No. 6-ranked team in the land, the Illinois Fighting Illini, in a match at the Mitchell Tennis Center beginning at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Illinois defeated A&M earlier this season in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Seattle, Washington.
The Buckeyes lost for only the second time all season, falling to 15-2 on the season. The other loss came at the hands of the No. 1-ranked team in the country, Virginia.
The record crowd of 1,093 edged the previous regular-season mark of 1,089 set against Texas Tech in 2009.
No. 17 TEXAS A&M 4, No. 5 OHIO STATE 0
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center, College Station, TX
Attendance 1,093
Singles
1. No. 38 Austin Krajicek, A&M def. No. 14 Chase Buchanan, OSU--7-6, 6-1
2. No. 55 Jeff Dadamo, A&M vs. No. 4 Blaz Rola, OSU-- DNF
3. Alexey Grigorov, A&M vs. No. 39 Matt Allare, OSU--DNF
4. No. 80 Alexis Klegou, A&M def. No. 76 Balazs Novak, OSU--7-5, 6-3
5. Alberto Bautista, A&M def. No. 46 Devin McCarthy, OSU--6-4, 6-3
6. Niall Angus, A&M vs. No. 95 Nelson Vick-- DNF
Doubles
1. No. 3 Dadamo/Krajicek, A&M def. No. 12 Allare/Peter Kobelt, OSU--8-6
2. No. 8 Rola/Buchanan, OSU def. Junior Ore/Grigorov, A&M --8-6
3. No. 45 Bautista/Colin Hoover def. No. 75 Novak/McCarthy, OSU--8-6
Order of Finish:
Doubles 2, 1, 3 (A&M wins doubles point)
Singles 1,5,4*
*Clinched match
TEAM RECORDS: Texas A&M (12-3), Ohio State (15-2)
Players Mentioned
