No. 17 Men's Tennis Hosts No. 5 Ohio State/Krajicek Nears Doubles Record
Mar 09, 2011 | Men's Tennis
March 9, 2011
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Led by the All-American doubles tandem of Austin Krajicek and Jeff Dadamo, the 17th-ranked Texas A&M men's tennis team will face the 5th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes in a dual match at 6 p.m. Thursday, Mar. 10 at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
Krajicek, (pronounced CRY-check) a senior from Brandon, Florida, brings a career Aggie doubles record of 90-33 into the Ohio State match. The all-time doubles leader in school history is none other than Conor Pollock with 91 wins. Pollock, the four-year Aggie letterman from San Antonio, teamed with Krajicek in 2007-08 and 2008-09. The past two years Krajicek has played mainly with Jeff Dadamo (pronounced da-DOM-oh) (Tampa, FL). The Aggie doubles duo has been ranked as high as No. 1 in the country in the Campbell/ITA rankings and is currently ranked No. 3 with an 8-2 record this spring in dual matches.
"Austin will go down as one of the best Aggie tennis players, if not the best in our history," Aggie head coach Steve Denton said. "He has had a remarkable career here in Aggieland. Not many people know that he is just 20 years old (date of birth 6/16/90) and Austin has been a great ambassador, not only for men's tennis, but for the entire University."
Texas A&M has won 25 straight matches, second longest in school history, in the friendly confines of the Mitchell Tennis Center and stands at 11-3 on the spring season. The Buckeyes of Ohio State are 15-1 with the lone loss coming against top-ranked Virginia (4-1) in the semifinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships held in Seattle. The Buckeyes defeated Texas Tech and Texas to advance to the semifinals in Seattle. The Buckeyes reached the quarterfinals of the 2010 NCAA Championships held in Georgia last year before losing to eventual national champion USC.
Last spring, Ohio State edged A&M, 4-3, in Columbus. In 2009, the Buckeyes came to Texas and the match was moved to the indoor courts in Bryan and Ohio State won another close match, 4-3.
Tennis fans in general should love to come to the Mitchell Tennis Center this week as the Aggies host 5th-ranked Ohio State on Thursday and then 6th-ranked Illinois on Saturday at 1 p.m. Between those three teams, 13 individuals are ranked among the country's top 95 singles players. Seven of the top 75 doubles teams will also be in action.
"We are looking forward to hosting two of the top teams in the country in Ohio State and Illinois," Denton explained. "It is a great opportunity for our team and for tennis fans in this area. The 12th Man will be treated to high quality tennis at the Mitchell Tennis Center this week. If you are a tennis fan these are a couple of matches you do not want to miss!"
The first 200 Aggie students will receive free backpacks and pizza, while any fans wearing a 2011 Relay for Life t-shirt will be admitted free of charge. Kids in the 8th grade and younger will be admitted free and the Junior Aggie Club will be at the complex with food, drinks and activities for the kids including inflatable slides and the women's tennis team will be on hand to sign autographs.
The top crowd this season was 616 fans who attended the Jan. 29 match against Mississippi State for the ITA Kick-Off. The best regular-season mark was 1,089 against Texas Tech in 2009. The all-time record is 2,339 who squeezed into the Mitchell Tennis Center for an NCAA Round of 16 match against Georgia in 2002.
General admission tickets are $7 for adults and $4 for youth and the gates open at the Mitchell Tennis Center one hour prior to first serve.
TEXAS A&M ALL-TIME DOUBLES RECORDS
Conor Pollock, 2005-09 91-40
Austin Krajicek, 2008-2011 90-33 (thru 3/6/11)
Ryan Newport, 1999-2003 86-28
Shuon Madden, 1997-2001 84-28
Dumitru Caradima, 1997-2001 83-27
TOP 10 ATTENDANCE MARKS AT GEORGE P. MITCHELL TENNIS CENTER
- 2,339 Georgia (#) May 18, 2002
- 1,820 Baylor (#) May 21, 2005
- 1,316 Ole Miss (#) May 14, 2009
- 1,130 Texas (*) Apr. 27, 2002
- 1,089 Texas Tech Apr. 3, 2009
- 1,030 Texas Apr. 23, 2005
- 1,022 Baylor (*) Apr. 28, 2002
- 1,007 Texas Apr. 14, 2001
- 1,003 Texas Tech Apr. 9, 2005
- 946 USC Feb. 5, 2005
#NCAA Championships
*Big 12 Championships
Campbell/ITA Rankings (May 8)
Singles
No. 4 Blaz Rola, Ohio State
No. 6 Dennis Nevolo, Illinois
No. 14 Chase Buchanan, Ohio State
No. 38 Austin Krajicek, Texas A&M
No. 39 Matt Allare, Ohio State
No. 46 Devin McCarthy, Ohio State
No. 55 Jeff Dadamo, Texas A&M
No. 62 Johnny Hamui, Illinois
No. 63 Peter Kobelt, Ohio State
No. 65 Abe Souza, Illinois
No. 76 Balazs Novak, Ohio State
No. 80 Alexis Klegou, Texas A&M
No. 95 Nelson Vick, Ohio State
Doubles
No. 3 Jeff Dadamo/Austin Krajicek, Texas A&M
No. 8 Chase Buchanan/Blaz Rola, Ohio State
No. 12 Matt Allare/Peter Kobelt, Ohio State
No. 32 Dennis Nevolo, Illinois
No. 45 Alberto Bautista/Colin Hoover, Texas A&M
No. 60 Johnny Hamui/Abe Souza, Illinois
No. 75 Balazs Novak/Devin McCarthy, Ohio State
Players Mentioned
