No. 7 Aggie Men's Tennis Drops 4-3 Thriller to No. 11 Pepperdine On The Road

Saturday, March 19

Malibu, Calif.

4:00 PM

Texas A&M

Pepperdine

Mar 20, 2011 | Men's Tennis

By: Texas A&M Athletics

March 20, 2011

MALIBU, CA - A classic collegiate tennis battle took approximately 4.5 hours to finish and 11th-ranked Pepperdine edged 7th-ranked Texas A&M, 4-3, in Malibu, California, on Saturday at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.

"This was a very close match with Pepperdine winning a couple of key points to earn the win," Aggie head coach Steve Denton said. "Give Pepperdine credit, they had a lot of positive energy and both teams fought to the end. When we lost the doubles point that put us behind the eight ball and we faced that adversity for the first time in a while."

Texas A&M has won the doubles point in 15 of the 19 matches thus far this spring.

"In singles, both teams split the first sets and we had a little momentum with Austin (Krajicek) and Jeff (Dadamo) winning in straight sets to put us up 2-1," Denton explained. "They came back to tie the match by winning at No. 3. Grigi (Alexey Grigorov) came back to force a third set and that match was very close. Niall (Angus) had some momentum early but could not hold on and Pepperdine clinched the match at No. 5 just as Klegou was winning his match at No. 4."

The Waves won the doubles point in the deciding match at No. 1 as Alex Llompart and Finn Tearney teamed up to edge the nation's No. 2 doubles team of A&M All-Americans Austin Krajicek and Jeff Dadamo, 9-8 with a 7-3 tiebreaker.

The Aggies had won 10 straight dual matches including three straight against Top 6 competition (Ohio State, Illinois and Cal) and the most recent victory was Wednesday at California where A&M won, 6-1.

"Our guys have been road tested," Denton stated. "We will get back and prepare to open Big 12 play next week as we go on the road against Oklahoma State and Oklahoma."

The Pepperdine Waves improve to 14-3 with two of their three losses coming on the road against USC and Duke.

Texas A&M falls to 15-4 and opens Big 12 play on the road next Friday at Stillwater against Oklahoma State and follows with a Sunday match at Norman against #32 Oklahoma.

No. 11 PEPPERDINE 4, No. 7 TEXAS A&M 3

Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center, Malibu, CA

Singles

1. No. 23 Austin Krajicek, A&M def. No. 49 Finn Tearney, Pep--6-3, 6-2

2. No. 62 Jeff Dadamo, A&M def. No. 17 Sebastian Fanselow, Pep-- 6-3, 6-4

3. No. 66 Alex Llompart, Pep def. Alexey Grigorov, A&M -- 6-3, 1-6, 6-4

4. No. 100 Alexis Klegou, A&M def. Alfredo Moreno, Pep--3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (10-8)

5. Mousheg Hovhannisyan, Pep def. Alberto Bautista, A&M --7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (4-7), 6-2

6. David Sofaer, Pep def. Niall Angus, A&M - 3-6, 7-5, 6-3

Doubles

1. Alex Llompart/Finn Tearney (PEP) def. #2 Austin Krajicek/Jeff Dadamo (TAM) 9-8 (7-3)

2. Sebastian Fanselow/Jenson Turner (PEP) def. #63 Junior Ore/Alexey Grigorov (TAM) 8-4