COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Texas A&M men's tennis team is ranked No. 11 in the first poll of the 2012 spring season by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA).
The Aggies finished the 2010-11 season with a school-record 29-6 dual match record, a Big 12 Championship trophy and ended the year ranked No. 10 in the country for the second consecutive season.
“We are very excited to begin the 2012 season with our preseason training beginning this Friday (Jan. 6),” Aggie head coach Steve Denton said. “Considering we lost our top three players from last year's Top 10 team, and to still be ranked No. 11 in the preseason by our peers shows the respect and momentum that our young players earned this past fall. Now, we have to go back to work to continue to build upon that momentum.”
The Aggies lost the 2011 NCAA doubles champion duo of Austin Krajicek and Jeff Dadamo as well as 2011 senior Alexey Grigorov who played at the No. 3 singles line.
Krajicek and Dadamo have started playing on the professional tour and Krajicek just upset the No. 1 seed, Ze Zhang, 6-2, 6-4 in the first round of the FURI-BENZ Cup being played in China.
Leading the way for Texas A&M this spring will be senior Alexis Klegou (pronounced CLAY-goo) from Dunkerque, France. Klegou was one of 32 singles players in the country selected to play in the prestigious 2011 USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships in Flushing, New York, last fall. Earlier in the fall of 2011, Klegou defeated the No. 2 seed and the country's No. 3-ranked player in Eric Quigley from Kentucky in the ITA All-American Tennis Championships held in Tulsa. Klegou played at the No. 4 line last spring for the Aggies and the 6-2 righthander posted an overall mark of 21-2 in dual matches last spring which included a 13-0 mark at the No. 4 line. He brings a 15-match winning streak into dual play this spring. Klegou was ranked No. 42 in singles play at the beginning of the fall and with the most recent rankings released today, he is ranked No. 19 in the country in singles.
Other Aggies ranked in singles action are freshman Jeremy Efferding, from Boca Raton, Florida, who is ranked No. 73 in the recent poll and sophomore Junior Ore (pronounced OAR-a), from Gaithersburg, Maryland, is ranked No. 104. Ore was ranked No. 114 in the fall rankings.
A nice mixture of experience with seniors Colin Hoover (Victoria, Texas) and John Lewis (Birmingham, Alabama) joining Klegou as the elder statesmen of the squad. Juniors Niall Angus (London, England) and Alberto Bautista (McAllen, Texas) were key contributors to the lineup last year and will be counted on to provide leadership.
Along with the sophomore Ore, Efferding a true freshman is joined by two redshirt freshmen, Jordan Szabo (Bayswater, Victoria, Australia) and Jackson Withrow (Omaha, Nebraska).
The Aggies open the 2012 spring season with a doubleheader on Saturday, Jan. 21 against Louisiana Lafayette with first serve set for 12 noon followed by a match with UTSA beginning at 4:30 p.m. at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center where the Aggies have a school-record 36-match home winning streak in place. The last loss at home came against Fresno State on Jan. 30, 2010.
| ITA Top 25 Rankings | |||
| Rank | School | '10-'11 Final Rank | Average |
| 1 | Southern California | 1 | 1.03 |
| 2 | Virginia | 2 | 2.00 |
| 3 | Ohio State | 3 | 3.13 |
| 4 | Georgia | 5 | 4.17 |
| 5 | Baylor | 6 | 6.47 |
| 6 | Stanford | 7 | 6.50 |
| 7 | Kentucky | 8 | 6.93 |
| 8 | Florida | 9 | 8.67 |
| 9 | UCLA | 11 | 10.37 |
| 10 | Duke | 12 | 11.03 |
| 11 | Texas A&M | 10 | 11.17 |
| 12 | Pepperdine | 15 | 13.27 |
| 13 | Tennessee | 4 | 13.90 |
| 14 | California | 14 | 13.97 |
| 15 | Georgia Tech | 13 | 16.20 |
| 16 | Mississippi State | 20 | 16.93 |
| 17 | Illinois | 17 | 17.30 |
| 18 | Oklahoma | 22 | 18.03 |
| 19 | Texas | 16 | 18.13 |
| 20 | North Carolina | 18 | 18.17 |
| 21 | Auburn | 19 | 19.83 |
| 22 | Texas Tech | 21 | 20.13 |
| 23 | Tulsa | 26 | 23.87 |
| 24 | Mississippi | 28 | 24.20 |
| 25 | Minnesota | 23 | 24.60 |