The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas A&M
No. 14 Men's Tennis falls to No. 9 Texas A&M, 4-0 in Big 12 semifinals
04.30.2011 | Men's Tennis
April 30, 2011
WACO, Texas -
Third-seeded Texas (18-8) surrendered the doubles point and three singles matches in a 4-0 defeat to second-seeded Texas A&M (26-5) Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the 2011 Big 12 Championships at the Baylor Tennis Center. Texas A&M advances to Sunday's championship match and will meet either top-seeded Baylor or fifth-seeded Oklahoma.Texas A&M took two of three doubles matches to nail down the doubles point, though the Longhorns struck first at second doubles. UT's Ben Chen and Kellen Damico broke Texas A&M's Junior Ore and Alexey Grigorov to take a 3-1 lead and remained in control en route to an 8-3 win. At third doubles, the Aggies' Colin Hoover and Alberto Bautista opened up a 3-0 lead on UT's Daniel Whitehead and Chris Camillone before closing out the Texas tandem, 8-2.
At first doubles, UT's Ed Corrie and Vasko Mladenov broke A&M's Austin Krajicek and Jeff Dadamo to assume a 3-1 lead. A&M broke and held serve, and UT held serve to assume a 4-3 lead. But, the Aggies took control from there and claimed the next five games to win the match, 8-4 and clinch the doubles point.
Texas A&M extended its lead to 2-0 when UT's Chen retired due to an injury at third singles, where he trailed the Aggies' Grigorov by one set and 4-1 in the second set. The Aggies' 18th-ranked Krajicek took the first set off UT's Damico at first singles, 6-2 and broke Damico in the decisive game of the second set to win, 6-4 and push Texas A&M's lead to 3-0.
At second singles, A&M's 36th-ranked Dadamo held on for a 6-4 opening-set win over UT's 33rd-ranked Corrie. Corrie held a 3-2 lead in the second set before Dadamo held serve and broke Corrie to assume a 4-3 lead. Dadamo held serve the rest of the way to preserve a 6-4 second-set win and give the Aggies their fourth and match-clinching point. The remaining three matches at the fourth, fifth and sixth positions were suspended.
The NCAA Championships selection show will air Tuesday, May 3 at 4:30 p.m. Central at NCAA.com.
2011 Big 12 Championships - Semifinals
#9 Texas A&M 4, #14 Texas 0
Doubles - Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1
1 #4 Krajicek/Dadamo (TAMU) def. Corrie/Mladenov (UT) - 8-4
2 Chen/Damico (UT) def. #61 Ore/Grigorov (TAMU) - 8-3
3 #90 Hoover/Bautista (TAMU) def. Camillone/Whitehead (UT) - 8-2
Singles - Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2
1 #18 Austin Krajicek (TAMU) def. #45 Kellen Damico (UT) - 6-2, 6-3
2 #36 Jeff Dadamo (TAMU) def. #33 Ed Corrie (UT) - 6-4, 6-4
3 Alexey Grigorov (TAMU) def. Ben Chen (UT) - 6-1, 4-1, ret.
4 #89 Alexis Klegou (TAMU) vs. Vasko Mladenov (UT) - 7-6 (5), 3-1, susp.
5 Alberto Bautista (TAMU) vs. Daniel Whitehead (UT) - 6-3, 5-5, susp.
6 Colin Hoover (TAMU) vs. Sudanwa Sitaram (UT) - 7-6 (7), 1-4, susp.
POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Michael Center
"Once again, we couldn't score a point against them at the top. We played well at No. 2 doubles, and I thought we had some chances at No. 1 (doubles), but they just outplayed us. Texas A&M is a very good team. They have great senior leadership, and they are solid all the way through. For us to win against them right now, we've got to take advantage of opportunities, and we didn't do it. I give the Aggies a lot of credit. We've got a lot of work to do to get ready for the NCAA Tournament."
