Texas A&M
Oklahoma
A&M Suffers 4-3 Loss to No. 22 Oklahoma
Apr 08, 2011 | Women's Tennis
April 8, 2011
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Texas A&M women's tennis team suffered its first home loss of the season when No. 22 Oklahoma handed the 33rd-ranked Aggies a 4-3 defeat on a blustery night at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
The Aggies, who entered the match 7-0 at home, fall to 10-6 overall, including 3-3 in Big 12 Conference matches. The Sooners (14-4), who had not topped A&M since 1999, snap a 15-match losing skid against the Aggies and remain tied with Baylor for the conference lead with a 6-1 league mark.
"The Big 12 has gotten a lot better," A&M coach Bobby Kleinecke said. "We are 3-3 and I think we have an excellent team, but we are not playing as well right now. We have to get that swagger back again."
A&M was swept in the doubles competition for the fist time at home and the second time overall this season as Oklahoma jumped out to a 1-0 lead
OU's Mia Lancaster and Whitney Ritchie were first off the court. The Sooner duo jumped out to a 4-0 lead against Morgan Frank and Nazari Urbina en route to an 8-4 victory at the No. 2 line.
The 66th-ranked tandem of Ana-Maria Constantinescu and Alice Radu clinched the point and put the Sooners up, 1-0, breaking away from a 5-5 tie with Janelle Cuthbertson and Christi Liles to win 8-5 at No. 1 doubles.
Tara Eckel and Marie-Pier Huet then completed the sweep by topping Stephanie Davidson and Sheri Olivier, 8-6, at the No. 3 line. It was the first loss for Davidson and Olivier, who entered the match sporting a 7-0 record in dual matches this season, including a 4-0 ledger in Big 12 play.
"The downer to me tonight was the doubles," Kleinecke said. "I just felt like we didn't hit any balls solid. We just didn't play well in the doubles, and we can't give that up like that. We have to make them fight. Give Oklahoma credit. They have a very good team. They are feisty. They fight hard. They don't give up, and they played better tonight.
"We miss-hit too many balls and made too many errors, and they didn't hurt themselves. We just don't play as well at the net. It is easier when it is windy to come to the net, and we just don't play as well there. That is one of the big deals, but they adjusted well and we didn't."
In singles, the Sooners notched straight-set wins at lines 4, 5 and 6 to clinch the match. In a bang-bang finish, Huet posted a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Christi Potgieter at the No. 4 line, and Maria Kalashnikova improved to 6-0 in Big 12 play with a 7-6, 6-0 win over Lauren Santacroce at No. 6 to give Oklahoma a 3-0 lead.
Moments later, Lancaster finished off Davidson, 6-3, 6-2, at No. 5 to clinch the match for the Sooners.
Liles put A&M on the scoreboard, winning three consecutive games to close out a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Ritchie at the No. 3 line.
"Christi Liles was down in the first set, 2-1, and that is a good win for her," Kleinecke said. "She played good, solid tennis and took care of business."
The score went to 4-2 following Frank's 7-6, 6-3 win against Radu at the No. 2 line. It marked Frank's 84th career victory, moving her into sole possession of 10th place in the A&M all-time records for most wins.
"Morgan had been sick this week and fought through another match in Morgan style," Kleinecke added.
Urbina, ranked No. 34, wrapped up the evening with a come-from-behind three-set victory over No. 102 Constantinescu at the No. 1 line. Constantinescu won the first set, 7-6, taking the tiebreaker, 10-8. Urbina evened the match with a 7-5 second-set win to force a super-tiebreaker third set. Urbina trailed, 5-4, before reeling off five consecutive points to win the match.
"Naz had been struggling confidence-wise, and I thought she really stepped up today and had to take this match," Kleinecke said. "That is not an easy thing to do, especially with the wind. She doesn't play as well in the wind. That should give her a lot of confidence moving forward."
The Aggies return to the Mitchell courts on Saturday as they play host to Oklahoma State in another Big 12 match-up. First serve has been changed to 5 p.m. The Cowgirls are 6-12 overall and 2-5 in conference play after falling to No. 25 Texas today in Austin.
Free live video and scoring of the match will be available at AggieAthletics.com.
No. 22 Oklahoma 4, No. 33 Texas A&M 3 Singles
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
Attendance: 706
1. (#34) Nazari Urbina (TAMU) def. (#102) Ana-Marie Constantinescu (OU), 6-7 (8), 7-5, 1-0 (5)
2. Morgan Frank (TAMU) def. Alice Radu (OU), 7-6 (4), 6-3
3. Christi Liles (TAMU) def. Whitney Ritchie (OU), 6-2, 6-3
4. Marie-Pier Huet (OU) def. Christi Potgieter (TAMU), 6-3, 6-4
5. Mia Lancaster (OU) def. Stephanie Davidson (TAMU), 6-3, 6-2
6. Maria Kalashnikova (OU) def. Lauren Santacroce (TAMU), 7-6 (4), 6-0
Doubles (Oklahoma wins the point)
1. (#66) Constantinescu/Radu (OU) def. Cuthbertson/Liles (TAMU), 8-5
2. M. Lancaster/Ritchie (OU) def. Frank/Urbina (TAMU), 8-4
3. Tara Eckel/Huet (OU) def. Davidson/Sheri Olivier (TAMU), 8-6
Order of finish:
Doubles: 2, 1, 3
Singles: 4, 6, 5*, 3, 2, 1
*-clinched match
Team records:
Texas A&M: 10-6, 3-3 Big 12
Oklahoma: 14-4, 6-1 Big 12
Follow A&M on Twitter @AggieTennis.
Players Mentioned
