Men's Tennis defeats Texas Tech, 4-3

Friday, April 8

College Station, Texas

6:00 PM

Texas A&M

Texas Tech

Apr 08, 2011 | Men's Tennis

By: Texas A&M Athletics

April 8, 2011

COLLEGE STATION, Texas-- Led by a dominating performance by senior captain and All-American Austin Krajicek, the fifth-ranked Texas A&M men's tennis team defeated the No. 19 Texas Tech Red Raiders, 4-3, before 706 fans at the windy George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station on Friday. The win improves the Aggies' record to 19-4 on the year and 3-0 in Big 12 play while Texas Tech falls to 14-7 and 1-2 in league action.

The win improves the Aggies' record-setting home winning streak to 29 straight matches dating back to the beginning of the 2010 season.

Krajicek, from Brandon, Florida, teamed with his doubles partner and All-American Jeff Dadamo, fromTampa, Florida,to put away the Tech duo of Raony Carvalho and Rafael Garcia, 8-3. Krajicek and Dadamo are ranked No. 5 in the land and the Tech duo is ranked No. 26.

At the No. 3 doubles, sophomore Alberto Bautista, from McAllen, Texas, and junior Colin Hoover, from Victoria, Texas, defeated David Gonzalez and Raphael Pfister, 8-3 toclinch the doubles point.Bautista and Hoover areranked No. 65 in doubles.

Freshman Junior Ore from Gaithersburg, Maryland, and senior Alexey Grigorov (Moscow, Russia) made it a clean sweep in double by beating the Red Raider tandem of Gonzalo Escobar and Vitor Manzini, 8-3.

"We got off to a good start in doubles," Aggie head coach Steve Denton said. "The guys served and volleyed well. They were moving and finished well and really did a good job of hitting their returns. When you return well and serve well you have a great chance to win in doubles. You have to execute."

Krajicek, ranked No. 26 in singles, was the first off of the court at No. 1 by defeating No. 20-ranked Escobar, 6-4, 6-2.

The Aggies moved the score to 3-0 right after as Grigorov defeated Garcia by the identical score of 6-4, 6-2 at the No. 3 line.

A&M would clinch the match very soon thereafter at the No. 4 line as Alexis Klegou, from Dunkerque, France, defeated Manzini, 6-3, 6-3. Klegou is ranked No. 87 in singles in the latest ITA rankings.

The Tech players still standing continued to compete and came away with wins at the No. 2 line as No. 23-ranked Raony Carvalho defeated No. 45-ranked Jeff Dadamo, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2). Gabriel Wanderley defeated Colin Hoover at the No. 5 line, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5) and Raphael Pfister won at No. 6 by defeating Alberto Bautista, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.

The No. 2 line was quite a battle as Carvalho was undefeated on the year with an 18-0 mark and the Aggies' Dadamo was 15-1 at the same line.

"Both players are strong," Denton explained. "Jeff did not serve very well tonight and he seemed to be playing catchup the whole evening. The match came down to a couple of crucial points."

Earlier this spring, A&M defeated Texas Tech, 4-1, in the National Team Indoor Championships held in Seattle, Washington.

On this night in College Station, the men's and women's A&M tennis teams competed with the women taking on the Oklahoma Sooners.

"This was good for college tennis and fans were able to come out and watch both of our teams and I thought it was a great family atmosphere," Denton said.

The men's team will return to the courts on Sunday at 12:30 pm to face the Nebraska Cornhuskers at the Mitchell Tennis Center.

#5 Texas A&M 4, #19 Texas Tech 3

Friday, Apr. 8, 2011

George P. Mitchell Tennis Center, College Station, TX

Singles

#1-- (26) Austin Krajicek, A&M def. (20) Gonzalo Escobar, Tech-- 6-4, 6-2

#2-- (23) Raony Carvalho, Tech def. (45) Jeff Dadamo, A&M-- 6-4, 7-6 (7-2)

#3-- Alexey Grigorov, A&M def. Rafael Garcia, Tech-- 6-4, 6-2

#4-- (87) Alexis Klegou, A&M def. Vitor Manzini, Tech-- 6-3, 6-3

#5-- Gabriel Wanderley, Tech def. Colin Hoover, A&M-- 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5)

#6-- Raphael Pfister, Tech def. Alberto Bautista, A&M-- 1-6, 6-4, 6-4

Doubles