Texas A&M
DePaul
Aggie Women's Tennis Blanks DePaul, 4-0
Apr 03, 2011 | Women's Tennis
April 3, 2011
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Texas A&M women's tennis team faced DePaul for the first time in program history and promptly handed the Blue Demons a 4-0 defeat today at the Eck Tennis Pavilion indoor courts on the University of Notre Dame campus.
With the win, the Aggies improve to 10-5. DePaul falls to 10-9 with all nine losses coming against ranked opponents, including five against opponents that have been ranked in the top 31 at the time of competition.
A&M's Anna Blagodarova and Tiffany Clifford for fourth place in the A&M all-time records with 93 career doubles victories.
Morgan Frank (Oldsmar, Fla.) and Nazari Urbina (Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico) then secured the doubles point for the Aggies with an 8-5 victory over Kelsey Lawson and Selma Salkovic at the No. 2 line. The A&M pair had trailed 5-3 before reeling off five consecutive games to win the match.
Due to time constraints, the teams had agreed prior to the start to follow the NCAA tournament format, and once the doubles point was decided, the match at No. 1 doubles was stopped and no winner was declared.
Janelle Cuthbertson (Perth, Australia) and Christi Liles (Largo, Fla.) had been caught up in a close-knit battle with 75th-ranked Gia McKnight and Katarina Milinkovic and trailed 8-7 when the match was stopped.
Frank quickly gave the Aggies a 2-0 lead when singles began, racing to a 6-3, 6-0 victory over McKnight at the No. 2 line. With the win, Frank improved to 83-27 in her singles career, moving her into a tie for 10th place in the A&M career records with former Aggie All-American Jessica Roland (2001-04).
Lauren Santacroce soon put A&M ahead, 3-0 with a straight-set win at No. 6. Tied with Gustafson, 1-1 in the first set, Santacroce did not drop another game in the match, winning 11 consecutive games to close out a 6-1, 6-0 victory.
Davidson went three sets before clinching the match-winning point for the Aggies. She jumped out to a 4-0 lead against Salkovic in the first set and went on to win it, 6-1. Salkovic, however, got up a break in the second set and went on to win 6-4 to even the match at a set apiece. Davidson then cruised to a 6-0 thrashing in the third set to clinch the winning point for the Aggies.
The other three matches in progress were stopped. Urbina, ranked 34th in the nation in singles, had dropped her first set, 6-3, to Milinkovic but was leading 5-2 in the second set at the No. 1 line.
After winning her first set against Lawson, 6-2, at the No. 3 line, Liles dropped the second set, 6-3. Lawson held a narrow 4-3 lead in the third set when the match was halted.
Christi Potgieter (Petrusville, South Africa) returned to the lineup for the first time after missing the previous five matches with a thumb injury. She dropped her first set, 6-3, to Raymond at the No. 4 line and had come back from a three-game deficit to get within 4-3 when play was stopped.
The match against DePaul concluded a four-match road swing for the Aggies, who return home to the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center and Big 12 play Friday, April 8 against 22nd-ranked Oklahoma at 6 p.m.
Free live video and scoring of the match will be available at AggieAthletics.com.
No. 32 Texas A&M 4, DePaul 0 Singles
Eck Tennis Pavilion (Indoor)
Notre Dame, Ind.
1. (#34) Nazari Urbina (TAMU) vs. Katarina Milinkovic (DU), 3-6, 5-3 unfinished
2. Morgan Frank (TAMU) def. Gia McKnight (DU), 6-3, 6-0
3. Christi Liles (TAMU) vs. Kelsey Lawson (DU), 6-2, 3-6, 3-4 unfinished
4. Christi Potgieter (TAMU) vs. Christiana Raymond (DU), 3-6 3-4 unfinished
5. Stephanie Davidson (TAMU) def. Selma Salkovic (DU), 6-1, 4-6, 6-0
6. Lauren Santacroce (TAMU) def. Cali Gustafson (DU), 6-1, 6-0
Doubles (A&M wins the point)
1. Cuthbertson/Liles (TAMU) vs. McKnight/Milinkovic (DU), 7-8, unfinished
2. Frank/Urbina (TAMU) def. Lawson/Salkovic (DU), 8-5
3. Davidson/Sheri Olivier (TAMU) def. Gustafson/Raymond (DU), 8-4
Order of finish:
Doubles: 3,2
Singles: 2,6, 5*
*-clinched match
Team records:
Texas A&M: 10-5
DePaul: 10-9
Follow A&M on Twitter @AggieTennis.
Players Mentioned
