Texas A&M
Texas
Aggies Fall in Conference Opener
Mar 12, 2011 | Women's Tennis
March 12, 2011
AUSTIN, Texas - Texas A&M's 19th-ranked Nazari Urbina knocked off 16th-ranked Aeriel Ellis of Texas at the No. 1 singles position, but it would be the only point the Aggies would garner as they fell to the 24th-ranked Longhorns, 6-1, in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center.
The loss snapped A&M's five-match winning streak and dropped the No. 27 Aggies to 6-3 overall and 0-1 in Big 12 Conference play. Texas, also playing its conference opener, improves to 6-4 overall, including 4-0 in home matches.
Texas pulled away in all three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead. The Longhorns then carried the momentum into singles and put A&M into a hole by winning the first set on all six courts.
"I felt like we started off well in the doubles and were right there, even," A&M coach Bobby Kleinecke said. "We were a little up at No. 3, even at 2 and a little down at No. 1. At one point they jumped ahead, and the whole momentum of the match went with them right there."
In a match-up between ranked doubles team, Texas' 51st-ranked duo of Amanda Craddock and Cierra Gaytan-Leach were up a break at 3-2 and then won the next three games against No. 69 Janelle Cuthbertson and Christi Liles. The Longhorns went on to win, 8-4.
Texas clinched the point at the No. 2 line, where Krista Damico and Ellis broke away from a 3-3 tie to defeat Morgan Frank and Urbina, 8-4.
Juliana Gajic and Maggie Mello completed the sweep for the Horns, getting a break to go up 7-5 and then holding serve to notch the 8-5 victory against Stephanie Davidson and Christi Potgieter. The loss ended the Aggie tandem's six-match winning streak.
The Longhorns got straight-set wins on five of six singles courts. Damico put Texas ahead, 2-0, with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Frank at No. 2 singles. It was Frank's first loss in six matches.
Craddock followed with a 6-3, 6-0 win against Potgieter at No. 4, and Mello then clinched the win for the Longhorns after defeating Liles, 6-1, 6-4 at No. 3. Liles' loss snapped a five-match winning streak.
Caroline Larsson won her first set against Davidson, 6-2, at the No. 6 line. The second set was tied at 4-4 before Larsson won the next two games to complete the match, ending Davidson's four-match winning streak and putting the Horns up, 5-0.
Ellis had won her first set against Urbina, 6-2, but Urbina rallied from a 4-2 second-set deficit to take a 6-5 lead. Ellis won the next game to force a tiebreaker, which Urbina won, 7-5. With the team winner already determined, they played a super tiebreaker. Urbina won the first three points and went on to win, 10-4, to put the Aggies on the scoreboard, 6-1.
Gajic then ended the match by finishing off Cuthbertson at the No. 5 line. Gajic won a 7-4 tiebreaker in the first set and then took the second set, 6-4.
"The disappointing thing in the singles is that we only played about four sets when it came down to it," Kleinecke said. "Nazari played the second set, Janelle played a full match and Stephanie played a set, and that is what it amounted to.
"You have to give Texas credit. They came out and made the shots and took care of it. We just need to make them play more balls. We have shown a lot more fight in other matches, and I was disappointed in that sense that we just didn't make them play enough balls."
The Aggies continue Big 12 action next weekend as they play host to Colorado and Missouri, Friday and Sunday, respectively, at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center, where the Aggies are 5-0 this season. The match against the Buffaloes, playing their last match against A&M as a member of the Big 12, begins at 6 p.m., and first serve against the Tigers is slated for noon.
"We have to come back and be ready to go," Kleinecke said. "We can't let today's match destroy what we've gained. This team is a fighting team. They are going to bounce back, and I'm confident about that. We just have to lick our wounds and be ready to go for the next match and turn this back around again."
Free live video and scoring of all A&M homes matches are available at AggieAthletics.com. In addition, get updates on Twitter @AggieTennis.
No. 24 Texas 6, No. 27 Texas A&M 1 Singles
Penick-Allison Tennis Center
Austin, Texas
1. (#19) Nazari Urbina (TAMU) def. (#16) Aeriel Ellis (UT), 2-6, 7-6 (5), 1-0 (4)
2. Krista Damico (UT) def. Morgan Frank (TAMU), 6-3, 6-1
3. Maggie Mello (UT) def. Christi Liles (TAMU), 6-1, 6-4
4. Amanda Craddock (UT) def. Christi Potgieter (TAMU), 6-3, 6-0
5. Juliana Gajic (UT) def. Janelle Cuthbertson (TAMU), 7-6 (4), 6-4
6. Caroline Larsson (UT) def. Stephanie Davidson (TAMU), 6-2, 6-4
Doubles (UT wins the point)
1. (#51) Craddock/Cierra Gaytan-Leach (UT) def. (#69) Cuthbertson/Liles (TAMU), 8-4
2. Damico/Ellis (UT) def. Frank/Urbina (TAMU), 8-4
3. Gajic/Mello (UT) def. Davidson/Potgieter (TAMU), 8-5
Order of finish:
Doubles: 1, 2, 3
Singles: 2, 4, 3*, 6, 1, 5
*-clinched match
Team records:
Texas A&M: (6-3, 0-1 Big 12)
Texas (6-4, 1-0 Big 12)
Follow A&M on Twitter @AggieTennis.
Players Mentioned
