Texas A&M
California
No. 7 A&M Knocks Off No. 5 Cal, 6-1, for 10th Consecutive Win
Mar 16, 2011 | Men's Tennis
March 16, 2011
BERKELEY, Calif. - For the third time in six days, No. 7 Texas A&M knocked off a team ranked six or above by defeating No. 5 California, 6-1, today at the Hellman Tennis Complex.
It was the 10th consecutive win for Aggies (15-3), who also defeated No. 5 Ohio State and No. 6 Illinois last weekend in College Station.
California, which entered the match riding a five-match winning streak -- including wins against No. 4 Duke, No. 5 UCLA and No. 13 Pepperdine -- falls to 8-4.
"This was a very good result for us, especially considering that we came out here on Sunday night after two really emotional wins against some great teams, and then it rains on us for two and a half days," A&M head coach Steve Denton said. "We didn't really get to get on the courts much and then the sun breaks out today, and all of a sudden a couple of hours before the match we are playing. Our guys just competed really well, and I'm really proud of them."
The Aggies got off to a fast start, winning all three doubles matches to jump out to a 1-0 lead. It was A&M's 15th time to win the point in 18 matches.
A&M's 53rd-ranked team of Alberto Bautista and Colin Hoover built a 5-1 lead against brothers Ben and Riki McLachlan and went on to win 8-2 at the No. 3 line.
Second ranked Jeff Dadamo and Austin Krajicek then clinched the point with an 8-5 victory over 21st-ranked Nick Andrews and Christoffer Konigsfeldt at the No. 1 position. Alexey Grigorov and Junior Ore completed the sweep, breaking away from a 6-6 tie to win 8-6 against Tommie Murphy and Pedro Zerbini at No. 2.
"We started out well in the doubles," Denton said. "Alberto and Hoover played very well at No. 3 doubles beating a great team, and then from there we kept the momentum by winning the doubles point and then winning five of out of the six first sets in singles to keep the pressure on."
A&M went on to tally four straight-set singles victories and another win that was decided in the 10-point super-tiebreaker third set to run away with the victory.
Dadamo, ranked No. 62 in singles, put the Aggies up, 2-0, by defeating No. 69 Carlos Cueto at the No. 2 line. No. 15 Zerbini, however, put the Bears within 2-1 after topping 23rd-ranked Krajicek, 6-3, 6-4 at the No. 1 court. It would be Cal's only win.
Niall Angus gave A&M a 3-1 lead with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Bozhidar Katsarov at the No. 6 line, and Bautista followed shortly thereafter with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Ben McLachlan at the No. 5 line to clinch the victory for the Aggies.
At the No. 4 line, No. 100 Alexis Klegou and Andrews went into tiebreakers in both sets, which Klegou won by identical 7-6 (3) scores to put A&M ahead 5-1.
Grigorov ended the match with a ranked win against No. 119 Konigsfeldt at No. 3. Grigorov won the first set, 6-2, but Konigsfeldt overcame a 5-2 deficit in the second set to force a tiebreaker, which he won, 7-5. With the team victor already determined, the two played what turned into a marathon super tiebreaker. The players fought off a combined 10 match points before Grigorov prevailed, 18-16.
"Obviously we are playing well," Denton said. "We have had three wins against teams that were no lower than No. 6 in the country over the last week, so obviously we are on a roll and the guys are feeling good about themselves. What is happening is that we are having a total team effort. Everyone is competing well and playing well at the same time, and that is the key to success. Earlier in the year I felt like only a couple of guys were playing well. We weren't getting enough guys playing well. Right now, we are getting guys to play well, and even if they are not quite at their best, they are competing so well and giving us a chance to win some close matches.
"(Winning on the road) is one of the things since I've been here that we have not done as well as I had hoped. We have the win streak at home, but the really good championship teams can win big matches on the road. At least for today we were able to do that, and I'm really proud of the guys for how they handled the situation."
The Aggies will once again be tested and will be aiming for another highly ranked road win on Saturday as they take on No. 11 Pepperdine on Saturday at the Ralph-Straus Tennis Center in Malibu. First serve is slated for 2 p.m. (4 p.m. Central).
"They are a really good team," Denton said about the Waves. "They have beaten some really good teams over the last week or two. They beat Duke and they lost a tough one to Cal Berkeley, 4-3. They are a very energetic team that plays really well at home, so it is a huge challenge for us. I know that we will have our work cut out for us again, and hopefully the guys will stay focused and keep feeding off the confidence that we have built up over this run where we have played our best tennis of the season so far."
Following the trip out west, the Aggies will open Big 12 Conference play next weekend as they travel to Oklahoma State on Friday Mar. 25 and then visit Oklahoma on Sunday, Mar. 27.
No. 7 Texas A&M 6, No. 5 California 1 Singles
Hellman Tennis Complex
Berkeley, California
1. (#15) Pedro Zerbini (CAL) def. (#23) Austin Krajicek, (TAMU), 6-3, 6-4
2. (#62) Jeff Dadamo (TAMU) def. (#69) Carlos Cueto (CAL), 6-2, 6-2
3. Alexey Grigorov (TAMU) def. (#119) Christoffer Konigsfeldt (CAL), 6-2, 6-7 (5), 1-0 (16)
4. (#100) Alexis Klegou (TAMU) def. Nick Andrews (CAL), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3)
5. Alberto Bautista (TAMU) def. Ben McLachlan (CAL), 6-4, 6-4
6. Niall Angus (TAMU) def. Bozhidar Katsarov (CAL), 6-4, 6-1
Doubles (A&M wins the point)
1. (#2) Dadamo/Krajicek (TAMU) def. (#21) Andrews/Konigsfeldt (CAL), 8-5
2. (#63) Grigorov/Junior Ore (TAMU) def. Tommie Murphy/Zerbini (CAL), 8-6
3. (#53) Bautista/Colin Hoover (TAMU) def. B. McLachlan/Riki McLachlan (CAL), 8-2
Order of finish:
Doubles: 3, 1, 2
Singles: 2, 1, 6, 5*, 4, 3
*-clinched match
Team records:
No. 7 Texas A&M: 15-3
No. 5 California: 8-4
Follow A&M on Twitter @AggieTennis.
Players Mentioned
