COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The 11th-ranked Texas A&M men's tennis team opens the 2012 dual match schedule with a Saturday, Jan. 21 twinbill with Louisiana Lafayette at 12 noon and UT-San Antonio at 4:30 p.m. at the Georgia P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station as the Aggies look to extend a school-record 36 match home winning streak.
Under the direction of sixth-year head coach Steve Denton and his top assistant, Bob McKinley, the coaching duo has led Texas A&M to back-to-back Top 10 finishes and three straight Sweet 16 appearances in the NCAA Championships. The next dual match victory will mark the 100th win in Aggie attire for Coach Denton.
"We are very excited about getting back into team competition this weekend," Aggie head coach Steve Denton said. "We have a lot of very talented new faces in the starting lineup and I know our players can't wait to put on the maroon and white and compete for the Aggies. The team has been training really hard and we will be depending on our experienced senior co-captains, Colin Hoover and Alexis Klegou, to lead this team. This weekend's doubleheader against Louisiana Lafayette and UTSA will give our players the opportunity to get their feet wet against quality opponents. This will also allow Coach (Bob) McKinley and myself an opportunity to see where we are and what we need to continue working on with our team."
The Aggies are coming off of a record-setting season when they went 18-5 against NCAA participant foes and finished with a 29-6 dual match record. The previous record was 27 dual match victories set by the 2001 Aggie squad. The 2011 campaign also marked the 18th straight season for Aggie men's tennis to reach the NCAA Championships.
From last year's squad, the Aggies have lost the defending NCAA Doubles Champions in Austin Krajicek and Jeff Dadamo, two All-Americans who have moved on to the professional ranks. Krajicek and Dadamo also played at the No. 1 and No. 2 lines respectively in singles while another graduating senior, Alexey Grigorov, held down the No. 3 singles slot. Four-year letterman Kayvon Karimi also graduated.
Returning to the Aggie lineup in 2012 will be six letterwinners including senior co-captain Alexis Klegou (pronounced CLAY-goo), from Dunkerque, France, who brings a 15 dual match winning streak into 2012. He finished 13-0 at the No. 4 line last spring in dual action and was named the Big 12 Champion at No. 4 singles. He is currently ranked No. 19 in the latest ITA national singles rankings. He brings a 2-0 mark into his senior year at the No. 1 singles slot. He clinched both the Big 12 Championship match against Oklahoma and the NCAA second round match against LSU to send the Aggies to the Sweet 16. Klegou, better known as Gou, posted an overall 21-2 record last spring in dual matches.
Klegou continued to have an impressive summer by playing for Benin's Davis Cup team and then last fall reached the quarterfinals of the ITA All-American Tournament in Tulsa and defeated the No. 2 seed Eric Quigley from Kentucky along the way. Klegou was one of 32 collegiate singles players invited to the fall 2011 USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships held in Flushing, New York.
Another key senior is co-captain Colin Hoover, from Victoria, Texas, who posted a 22-5 record in doubles play in dual matches last spring. Hoover was 12-9 in singles playing at the No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 lines predominantly.
John Lewis, from Birmingham, Alabama, posted a 7-0 singles record in dual matches last spring going 3-0 at the No. 6 line.
Junior Niall Angus from London, England, posted a 12-1 record in singles in dual matches last year including a 6-1 mark at the No. 6 line. He partnered with John Lewis to post a 4-1 record in doubles action. Angus brings a four-match winning streak in both singles and doubles into play in 2012.
Junior Alberto Bautista, from McAllen, Texas, played mainly at the No. 5 and No. 6 lines last spring and posted an overall mark of 13-9 in dual matches including am 8-4 record at the No. 5 line. He was injured and unable to play against Stanford in the NCAA Sweet 16 match. Playing mainly with Hoover at the No. 3 doubles, Bautista posted a 21-5 doubles mark in dual matches last year. The duo posted at 15-match winning streak during the season that included an 8-6 win over Ohio State's No. 75-ranked tandem of Balazs Novak and Devin McCarthy.
Sophomore Junior Ore (pronounced OAR-a), from Gaithersburg, Maryland, broke onto the scene as a true freshman last spring and posted a 10-1 record in singles play in dual matches including the lone singles victory against Stanford at the No. 6 line. He was 3-0 at the No. 4 line, 2-0 and the No. 5 line and 4-1 at the No. 6 position. Ore enters the 2012 spring season ranked No. 104 in singles. He mainly teamed with Grigorov at the No. 2 doubles position and posted a 16-10 dual match record last year.
Two freshmen who redshirted last spring were Jordan Szabo from Bayswater, Victoria, Australia, and Jackson Withrow from Omaha, Nebraska.
Szabo got started last weekend at the Gardnar Mulloy Miami Invitational by winning all three of his singles matches.
Withrow went 2-1 in his first three singles matches last weekend and is coming off of an impressive summer when he teamed with Jack Sock to win the USTA Juniors Doubles National Title at Kalamazoo, Michigan. With the national victory, Withrow and Sock competed at the U.S. Open in New York last fall.
True freshman Jeremy Efferding, from Boca Raton, Florida, is ranked No. 73 in singles entering play this spring. Efferding won four matches in pre-qualifying at the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa last fall. He went 1-1 last weekend in singles matches in Miami.
A true freshman who joined the team in January is Behzad Minavi from Cypress Creek High School in Houston.
The Ragin Cajuns of Louisiana Lafayette will open the 2012 season on Friday (Jan. 20) against Baylor in Waco before stopping in College Station to the face the Aggies on Saturday. The A&M match will be the season opener for the Roadrunners of UT-San Antonio on Saturday afternoon.
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LIVE video and stats will be available at AggieAthletics.com during the
matches.
Gates to the Mitchell Tennis Center will open one hour prior to competition.
STEVE DENTON AGGIE & OVERALL COACHING RECORD
Year                Record (Rank)           Big 12            Post-Season
2006-07Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 13-12Â Â (#31)Â Â Â 1-5 (7th)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Big 12 Quarterfinals/NCAA 2nd Round
2007-08Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 15-12Â Â (#23)Â Â Â 2-4 (5th)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Big 12 Semifinals/NCAA 2nd Round
2008-09Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 17-9Â Â Â Â (#14)Â Â Â 5-1 (2nd)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Big 12 Semifinals/NCAA Round of 16
2009-10Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 25-7Â Â Â Â (#10)Â Â Â 5-1 (2nd)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Big 12 Championship Match/NCAA Round of 16
2010-11Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 29-6Â Â Â Â (#10)Â Â Â 5-1 (2nd)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Big 12 Championships Winner/NCAA Round of 16
A&M Career      99-46                    18-12
A&M/CCÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 64-48
Overall                 163-94