Texas A&M
Oklahoma
No. 6 Men's Tennis Defeats No. 30 Oklahoma, 5-2
Mar 27, 2011 | Men's Tennis
March 27, 2011
NORMAN, OK--Alexey Grigorov, a senior from Moscow, Russia, clinched the match with a 7-6, 6-4 win at the No. 4 line for the No. 6-ranked Texas A&M men's tennis team as the Aggies defeated the No. 30-ranked Oklahoma Sooners, 5-2, at the Gregg Wadley Indoor Pavilion in Norman, Oklahoma, on Sunday.
The match was originally scheduled to be played outdoors, but with the cold front blowing through the state, the match was changed indoors.
"This was a very good team win against a quality opponent," Aggie head coach Steve Denton said. "The difference in the match came down to a few key points once again as we were able to win five of six tiebreakers. With the last minute change to indoors, our doubles teams started off a little slow but really picked it up and adapted. Those are signs of a veteran, mentally-tough team."
Oklahoma posted the first win in doubles at the No. 2 line, but Texas A&M won the doubles point with victories at No. 1 and No. 3. Seniors Jeff Dadamo and Austin Krajicek won 8-6 to square the doubles and the No. 3 Aggie duo of Alberto Bautista and Colin Hoover defeatedLaurentiu GavrilaandLawrence Formentera, 8-6, to clinch the doubles point.
Dadamo moved the A&M advantage to 2-0 with a hard-fought straight sets win at the No. 2 singles winning 7-6 in tiebreakers on both sets.
"Jeff really played well and seized the momentum in the tiebreakers," Denton said.
OU would narrow the gap to 2-1 as No. 34 Ionut Beleleu defeated No. 23 Austin Krajicek at the No. 1 line, 6-4 and 7-6. The lone tiebreaker won by the Sooners.
Junior Alexis Klegou, had played extremely well on Friday at Oklahoma State, gutted out a 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 victory to give A&M a 3-1 advantage.
"Klegou did not play as well as he did on Friday, but he really gutted out the win at No. 3 coming from a set down and then winning the third set tiebreaker," Denton explained.
The Sooners would narrow the lead top 3-2 asLawrence Formentera defeated sophomore Alberto Bautista, 6-1, 6-1.
With the matches at No. 4 and No. 6 the last two singles matches standing, Grigorov defeated the Sooner who had given the Oklahoma squad a 4-3 win over Texas, the No. 4 team in the country, on Saturday.
"Grigorov was the MVP of the match and really served well and hit his forehand strong and was an excellent competitor today," Denton said. "The OU player had clinched their upset win over Texas on Saturday and was playing with a lot of confidence."
Junior Colin Hoover finished out the match with a 7-6, 6-2 straight sets win at the No. 6 line.
"It was good to get Colin Hoover back into the singles lineup this weekend and I thought he played well today to win his match," Denton said.
The win, A&M's 12 in the last 13 matches, improved the Aggies' overall record to 17-4 and A&M moves to 2-0 in Big 12 play with both victories coming on the road. The Sooners fall to 10-4 and 1-1.
Texas A&M will stay on the road as they travel to Houston for Wednesday match against No. 33 Rice with first serve set for 1:30 p.m.
Final: #6 Texas A&M 5, #30 Oklahoma 2
Doubles:
1. #2 Krajicek/Dadamo (A&M) def. Beleleu/Mihov (OU), 8-6
2. Paval/Siributwong (OU) def. #63 Ore/Grigorov (A&M), 8-3
3. # 53 Bautista/Hoover (A&M) def. Gavrila/Formentera (OU), 8-6
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3
Singles:
1. #34 Ionut Beleleu (OU) def. #23 Austin Krajicek (A&M), 6-4, 7-6(4)
2. #62 Jeff Dadamo (A&M) def. #65 Costin Paval (OU), 7-6(2), 7-6(2)
3. #100 Alexis Klegou (A&M) def. Laurentiu Gavrila (OU), 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(4)
4. Alexey Grigorov (A&M) def. #113 Peerakit Siributwong (OU), 7-6(4), 6-4
5. Lawrence Formentera (OU) def. Alberto Bautista (A&M), 6-1, 6-1
6. Colin Hoover (A&M) def. Tsvetan Mihov (OU), 7-6(4), 6-2
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3, 5, 4*, 6
Players Mentioned
