The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas A&M
No. 18 Men's Tennis falls to Texas A&M, 4-2 in Big 12 quarterfinals
04.27.2012 | Men's Tennis
April 27, 2012
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Fourth-seeded Texas (16-9) collected singles wins from Daniel Whitehead and Sudanwa Sitaram, but fifth-seeded Texas A&M (13-13) emerged with a 4-2 victory over the Horns Friday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the 2012 Big 12 Championship.
Texas and Texas A&M split the first two matches before the teams engaged in a tight match at No. 3 doubles to decide the doubles point. The Aggies' Junior Ore and Jackson Withrow led off with an 8-3 win at the first slot over the Horns' 36th-ranked duo of Chris Camillone and David Holiner. Texas' junior tandem of Ben Chen and Daniel Whitehead responded with a convincing win at second doubles, where they dealt A&M's Niall Angus and John Lewis an 8-2 defeat.
At No. 3 doubles, with the two teams on-serve and A&M leading 6-5, the Aggies' Colin Hoover and Alexis Klegou broke the serve of UT's Soren Hess-Olesen and Jacoby Lewis to assume a 7-5 lead. The Aggies held serve in the final game to close out the match, 8-5 and win the doubles point.
UT's Sitaram raced out to a 6-0 first-set win at third singles over the Aggies' Hoover. Sitaram closed out the win with a 6-3 second-set victory to even the match at one point apiece. The Aggies struck back at first singles, where Klegou dealt UT's Hess-Olesen a 6-3, 6-1 defeat to claim a 2-1 A&M lead.
UT evened the match with a win at second singles from Whitehead. The Texas junior broke A&M's Ore to even the first set at four before holding serve and breaking Ore once more to take the set, 6-4. Whitehead broke Ore late in the second set and took the set, 6-4 to win the match and even the team score at two.
The Aggies' Withrow put A&M in the lead once again, as he posted a 6-3, 6-3 win over UT's Lloyd Glasspool. At fifth singles, A&M's Lewis took the first set in a tiebreaker off of UT's Chen, 7-6(2). Chen broke Lewis in the second set to tie the set at four, but Lewis broke Chen in the following game to take a 5-4 second-set lead. Lewis held serve in the next game to win the match, 6-4 and close out the 4-2 victory for the Aggies. The final match at fourth singles was suspended.
The NCAA will announce its selections to the NCAA Championship on Tuesday, May 1 at 4:30 p.m. CT on NCAA.com.
POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Michael Center
"We played four matches this year (against Texas A&M), and the team that won the doubles point won
all four matches. We were not very good today at No. 1 doubles. They got on us and they just put us
away. We have been inconsistent at No. 3 doubles, and we really struggled to hold serve again today. I
think we broke twice and still got beat 8-5. In the singles, to win at Nos. 2 and 3, with those guys the way
we did in straight sets and then not to be able to get another point, honestly, is a little disappointing.
I give them credit. They did a good job, but we have to play better in some spots if we want to win
another match this year."
2012 Big 12 Championship - Quarterfinals
(5) Texas A&M 4, (4) Texas 2
Doubles - Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3
1 #47 Junior Ore/Jackson Withrow (A&M) def. #36 Chris Camillone/David Holiner (UT) - 8-3
2 #78 Ben Chen/Daniel Whitehead (UT) def. Niall Angus/John Lewis (A&M) - 8-2
3 Colin Hoover/Alexis Klegou (A&M) def. Soren Hess-Olesen/Jacoby Lewis (UT) - 8-5
Singles - Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2, 6, 5
1 #34 Alexis Klegou (A&M) def. #70 Soren Hess-Olesen (UT) - 6-3, 6-1
2 #101 Daniel Whitehead (UT) def. Junior Ore (A&M) - 6-4, 6-4
3 Sudanwa Sitaram (UT) def. Colin Hoover (A&M) - 6-0, 6-3
4 David Holiner (UT) vs. Jeremy Efferding (A&M) - 3-6, 6-0, 0-2, susp.
5 John Lewis (A&M) def. Ben Chen (UT) - 7-6 (2), 6-4
6 Jackson Withrow (A&M) def. Lloyd Glasspool (UT) - 6-3, 6-3
