Friday Tennis Twinbill Includes Top 20 Men's Matchup
Apr 08, 2011 | Men's Tennis
April 8, 2011
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - A great event at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center will take place on Friday, Apr. 8 as the No. 5-ranked Texas A&M men's tennis team takes on No. 19-ranked Texas Tech at 6 p.m. in a Big 12 Conference showdown and the No. 33-ranked Aggie women's tennis team faces No. 20-ranked Oklahoma at the same time. The tennis twinbill is being dubbed Dollar Day as admission is only $1 and sodas and popcorn are also only one dollar. Gates open at 5 p.m.
The Aggie men look to extend a school-record winning streak of 28 matches dating back to the start of the 2010 spring season and hope to break the regular-season attendance record established by the 1,093 fans who attended the Aggies' win over then No. 5-ranked, and currently No. 3-ranked Ohio State.
"We are very excited about being back home and having the chance to play in front of the 12thMan," Aggie men's tennis coach Steve Denton said. "We've been on the road for almost a month with our last home match coming on Mar. 12. The guys have been playing well on the road, and we will need to continue to play well against a Top 20 team like Texas Tech."
The Aggies are 18-4 and 2-0 in Big 12 play and the Red Raiders are 14-6 and 1-1 in league play. These two teams faced each other in the ITA National Indoor Championships earlier this spring in Seattle with A&M coming out on top, 4-1.
"We won the overall match earlier this spring, but Texas Tech always gives us a stern test," Denton explained. "(Gonzalo) Esobar beat Austin (Krajicek) in the last match indoors and he is a very good player. (Raony) Carvalho is a great ball striker and is undefeated this season. Jeff has only lost one match this spring and is playing his best tennis since being in Aggieland. There will be some great tennis played as these top players really go for their shots and all of the lines will feature some terrific tennis."
Last spring in Lubbock, Tech won the doubles point and A&M had to win four singles matches to win the overall match. Senior captain Marcus Lunt won his match at No. 6 followed by Alexey Grigorov at the No. 4 line with Dadamo facing Escobar at the No. 2 line and winning, 6-4, 6-2. That set up Krajicek against Carvalho at the No. 1 line and Krajicek clinched the match with a 6-4, 6-3 victory.
Krajicek, a senior All-American from Brandon, Florida, has won a record 97 doubles matches in his Aggie career entering play this weekend. Krajicek teams with his fellow senior All-American Jeff Dadamo, from Tampa, Florida, to play at the No. 1 doubles and is currently ranked No. 5 in the country in the latest ITA rankings. The Tech duo of Carvalho and Rafael Garcia are ranked No. 26. The Red Raider doubles team of Escobar and Vitor Manzini are ranked No. 46. The Aggies No. 2 line of senior Grigorov, from Moscow, Russia, and freshman Junior Ore, from Gaithersburg, Maryland, are ranked No. 87 while the No. 3 line of junior Colin Hoover, from Victoria, Texas, and sophomore Alberto Bautista, from McAllen, Texas, are ranked No. 65.
After facing Texas Tech, which returns the majority of its lineup from the NCAA second round club from last spring, the Aggies will face another test in the No. 37-ranked University of Nebraska squad at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, Apr. 10. The Aggies edged the Cornhuskers, who also return the majority of their squad, last spring, 4-3, in Lincoln. The Aggies will close out the weekend on Sunday with a 6 p.m. match against UT-San Antonio.
GEORGE P. MITCHELL TENNIS CENTER SCHEDULE (Apr. 8-10)
FRIDAY, Apr. 8
6 pm #5 Aggie men vs. #19 Texas Tech
#33 Aggie women vs. #22 Oklahoma
SATURDAY, Apr. 9
5 pm #33 Aggie women vs. Oklahoma State
SUNDAY, Apr. 10
12:30 pm #5 Aggie men vs. #37 Nebraska
6 pm #5 Aggie men vs. UT-San Antonio
TEXAS A&M ALL-TIME DOUBLES RECORDS
Austin Krajicek, 2008-2011 97-34 (thru 4/7/11)
Conor Pollock, 2005-09 91-40
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
1.2,339 Georgia (#) May 18, 2002
2.1,820 Baylor (#) May 21, 2005
3.1,316 Ole Miss (#) May 14, 2009
4.1,130 Texas (*) Apr. 27, 2002
5.1,093 Ohio State Mar. 10, 2011
6.1,089 Texas TechApr. 3, 2009
7.1,030 TexasApr. 23, 2005
8.1,022 Baylor (*)Apr. 28, 2002
9.1,007 Texas Apr. 14, 2001
10.1,003 Texas TechApr. 9, 2005
#NCAA Championships
*Big 12 Championships
Campbell/ITA Rankings (Apr. 5)
Singles
No. 20 Gonzalo Escobar, Texas Tech
No. 23 Raony Carvalho, Texas Tech
No. 26 Austin Krajicek, Texas A&M
No.45 Jeff Dadamo, Texas A&M
No. 87 Alexis Klegou, Texas A&M
Doubles
No. 5 Jeff Dadamo/Austin Krajicek, Texas A&M
No. 26 Raony Carhalho/Rafael Garcia, Texas Tech
No. 46 Gonzalo Escobar/Vitor Manzini, Texas Tech
No. 65 Alberto Bautista/Colin Hoover, Texas A&M
No. 87 Alexey Grigorov/Junior Ore, Texas A&M
Players Mentioned
