Texas A&M
Oklahoma
Aggies Top Sooners In Big 12 Opener, 5-2
Mar 26, 2010 | Men's Tennis
March 26, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The 17th-ranked Texas A&M men's tennis team won its fifth straight with a 5-2 victory over No. 19 Oklahoma in its Big 12 Conference opener held Friday night before the 10th-largest crowd in school history with 907 fans in attendance at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
The Aggies (12-4, 1-0) are off to their best start in the Steve Denton Era and handed the Sooners (12-3, 0-1) only their third loss of the season. OU was just five days removed from having its 10-match win streak snapped by league foe Texas Tech in the finals of the Blue-Gray National Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Ala.
Solid play from its veterans and winning the doubles point, gave A&M momentum heading into singles. The ninth-ranked tandem of junior All-American Austin Krajicek (Brandon, Fla.) and junior Jeff Dadamo (Tampa, Fla.) defeated Andrei Daescu and Costin Pavel, 8-3, at the top of the order to even the playing field at 1-1. Junior Alexey Grigorov (Moscow, Russia) and freshman Alberto Bautista (McAllen, Texas) clinched the doubles point by gaining a service break at seven-all and Bautista serving out the match at 40-love and slamming the return volley for a 9-7 victory over OU's Ionut Beleleu and David Pultr at the No. 2 line.
"I felt that the doubles point was huge," Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. "We had lost at No. 3, won at No. 1 and were down 5-2 at No. 2. Our guys just found a way. They broke serve to stay within one break and I thought we got more aggressive and they got a little bit more passive as a result of that. The 12th Man and the big crowd we had out here tonight really helped us in the match. It was a huge uplift and momentum changer for our team to win the doubles point, especially after it looked like we were going to lose it. Being able to turn that around, gave us a lot of confidence and energy going into singles."
The Aggies struggled early in singles picking up only three of the first six sets against the Sooners. OU's Lawrence Formentera beat Alberto Bautista in straight sets at the No. 5 line, 6-0, 6-4, to tie up the match at one-all. A&M countered with four-straight wins from its top four players. Sophomore Alexis Klegou (Dunkerque, France) won his fourth-straight match with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over No. 70-ranked Costin Paval at No. 3 followed by Alexey Grigorov who served up an ace to close out his second-set tiebreaker versus David Pultr, 6-2, 7-6 (3), at No. 4.
No. 21-ranked Austin Krajicek, a two-time All-Big 12 singles and doubles standout, knocked off No. 20-ranked Andrei Daescu, 6-3, 6-4, at the No. 1 line to improve to a team-leading 11-2 on the season. He broke Daescu's serve in the final game of the second set, where both players rallied and Krajicek brushed a drop shot at the net to clinch the match victory for the Aggies. No. 30-ranked Jeff Dadamo added the final point of the night by winning a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, three-setter over No. 83-ranked Ionut Beleleu at No. 2.
"This was a good team win for us," Denton said. "Klegou played a guy who had only lost one or two matches the whole year and played awesome tonight. Krajicek really excelled out there. Dadamo had a slow start, but did a great job of coming back. Grigorov played really well in the first set, did a good job of holding his serve all the way through the second set and played a solid tiebreaker. This was definitely a very good Oklahoma team that has already had a lot of success this year. It's really good for us to get off to a good start in the Big 12, especially playing a team as good as we did tonight and playing the way we did. I was really pleased with our guys."
Up next, the Aggies will host No. 44 Oklahoma State (6-7, 0-1) on Sunday, March 28 at 1 p.m. (CT). The Cowboys lost a 6-1 decision in their league opener at fourth-ranked Texas on Friday night in Austin.
(17) TEXAS A&M 5, (19) OKLAHOMA 2
March 26, 2010
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
at College Station, Texas
Attendance: 907
SINGLES
No. 1 - (21) Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M) def. (20) Andrei Daescu (Oklahoma), 6-3, 6-4.
No. 2 - (30) Jeff Dadamo (Texas A&M) def. (83) Ionut Beleleu (Oklahoma), 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
No. 3 - Alexis Klegou (Texas A&M) def. (70) Costin Paval (Oklahoma), 6-2, 6-2.
No. 4 - Alexey Grigorov (Texas A&M) def. David Pultr (Oklahoma), 6-2, 7-6 (3).
No. 5 - Lawrence Formentera (Oklahoma) def. Alberto Bautista (Texas A&M), 6-0, 6-4.
No. 6 - George Chanturia (Oklahoma) def. Niall Angus (Texas A&M), 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.
DOUBLES
No. 1 - (9) Dadamo-Krajicek (Texas A&M) def. Daescu-Paval (Oklahoma), 8-3.
No. 2 - Grigorov-Bautista (Texas A&M) def. Beleleu-Pultr (Oklahoma), 9-7.
No. 3 - Blake Boswell-Formentara (Oklahoma) def. Klegou-Marcus Lunt (Texas A&M), 8-1.
ORDER OF FINISH
Singles: 5, 3, 4, 1*, 2, 6
Doubles: 1, 3, 2
Players Mentioned
