COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The 15th-ranked
Texas A&M men’s tennis team eliminated
Binghamton, 4-0, in the first round of
the 2009 NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis
Championship held Friday before a crowd
of 247 fans at the George P. Mitchell
Tennis Center.
The 15th-seeded Aggies improved to 16-8
overall and moved on to the second round
of play for the 12th consecutive year
since 1998. Binghamton, who earned an
NCAA automatic bid as the America East
Conference champion, closed out its
season at 14-8 overall. The Aggies will
face 24th-ranked Arizona (18-5) tomorrow
at 4 p.m. (CT) for a coveted spot in
next week’s round of 16 to be played at
the very same venue beginning on May 14.
The Wildcats advanced with a 4-0 shutout
of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (14-9) in
the first match of the day.
A&M picked up the doubles point with a
pair of 8-2 victories at the No. 2 and
No. 3 lines courtesy of junior Marcus
Lunt (San Antonio, Texas) and sophomore
Wil Spencer (Ponce de Leon, Fla.) and
sophomore Alexey Grigorov (Moscow,
Russia) and freshman Colin Hoover
(Victoria, Texas).
The Aggies kept the momentum going into
singles winning all six first sets.
Their “Big Three” comprised of senior
All-American and No. 17-ranked Conor
Pollock (San Antonio, Texas), sophomore
All-American and No. 47-ranked Austin
Krajicek (Brandon, Fla.) and No.
48-ranked Wil Spencer closed out the
match with straight-set victories at the
top three positions in the lineups.
“We had a good start, good intensity and
energy in the doubles, which we’ve
really been working on,” Texas A&M head
coach Steve Denton said. “We’re going to
need that if we’re going to hang in this
tournament for awhile. It was a solid
first match for us. Obviously, everyone
is a little bit nervous, because it’s
the first match of the NCAA Tournament.
Binghamton’s players fought hard and
were a good first-round test for us. We
had to really fight out there and it was
good preparation for us for tomorrow’s
second round.”
Pollock defeated Binghamton’s Moshe
Levy, 6-2, 6-3, at No. 1 followed by
Krajicek who downed America East Player
of the Year Sven Vloedgraven, 6-2, 6-1,
at No. 2. Spencer clinched the victory
with a 6-1, 6-3 decision over Gilbert
Wong at No. 3.
A&M holds a 2-0 advantage in the
all-time series with Arizona. Both teams
last met each other in the 1993
regular-season opener under legendary
Aggie head coach David Kent. The
Wildcats will be making only their
second all-time NCAA second round
appearance in program history against
versus Aggies.
“We have a great opportunity tomorrow,”
Denton said. “Arizona is playing well
and our players are going to have to
step it up and play. It’s going to be a
really close match, like a lot of our
matches have been this year. They are
pretty good throughout their lineup.
Their biggest strength is that they
compete really hard, so we are going to
have to match that intensity and pick it
up a notch. It’s going to come down to
who plays the big points best and who
wants it more.”
Match Promotions…The Texas A&M men’s
tennis team would like to thank their
fellow A&M students for their support
throughout the season by offering free
admission tickets to the first 100
students on Saturday. Fans will also be
treated to a pre-match tailgate outside
of the tennis complex where free hot
dogs will be grilled (while supplies
last) beginning at 3 p.m.
Ticket Information…Fans can purchase
tickets by calling the 12th Man
Foundation Ticket Center at
1-888-99-AGGIE or by going online at
www.12thManFoundation.com. Ticket prices
range from $12 for all-session reserved
(Stadium Club seating), $7 single day
reserved (Stadium Club seating), $5
single day general admission and $3
single day for students and youth.
(15) TEXAS A&M 4, BINGHAMTON 0
May 8, 2009
2009 NCAA Men’s Tennis First Round
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
at College Station, Texas
Attendance: 247
SINGLES
No. 1 - (#17) Conor Pollock (Texas A&M)
def. Moshe Levy (Binghamton), 6-2, 6-3.
No. 2 - (#47) Austin Krajicek (Texas
A&M) def. Sven Vloedgraven (Binghamton),
6-2, 6-1.
No. 3 - (#48) Wil Spencer (Texas A&M)
def. Gilbert Wong (Binghamton), 6-1,
6-3.
No. 4 - Alexey Grigorov (Texas A&M) vs.
Arnav Jain (Binghamton), DNF
No. 5 - Marcus Lunt (Texas A&M) vs.
Alexandre Haggai (Binghamton), DNF
No. 6 - Austin Klores (Texas A&M) vs.
Rafael Rodrigues (Binghamton), DNF
DOUBLES
No. 1 - (#7) Krajicek-Pollock (Texas
A&M) vs. Vloedgraven-Wong (Binghamton),
DNF
No. 2 - Lunt-Spencer (Texas A&M) def.
Jain-Levy (Binghamton), 8-2.
No. 3 - Grigorov-Hoover (Texas A&M) def.
Haggai-Rodrigues (Binghamton), 8-2.
ORDER OF FINISH:
Doubles: 3, 2
Singles: 1, 2, 3*
