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AGGIES
REACH NCAA SWEET 16 WITH 4-0 SHUTOUT OF
ARIZONA
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Senior
All-American Conor Pollock (pronounced
PAUL-luck) delivered two service aces in
the deciding match to lead the
15th-ranked Texas A&M men’s tennis team
to its first Sweet 16 appearance since
2005 with a 4-0 shutout of 24th-ranked
Arizona in the second round of the 2009
NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis
Championship held Saturday before a
crowd of 262 fans at the George P.
Mitchell Tennis Center.
Pollock, A&M’s top player from San
Antonio, Texas, kept the crowd on their
toes as he closed out his third match
point with an ace down the middle of the
court to seal a 6-2, 6-4 victory over
No. 61-ranked Jay Goldman of Arizona at
the No. 1 line. Goldman had fought back
to two deuce points on Pollock’s serve,
but it wasn’t enough as the Wildcats
(18-6) led in only one of six singles
matches after dropping the doubles point
to the Aggies (17-8). It marked the
11th-ranked opponent to fall victim to
the three-time All-Big 12 and No.
17-ranked Pollock this season. He is
currently tied for 16th all-time with 62
career singles victories and tied for
ninth all-time with 64 career doubles
victories in the school record books.
“I just tried to play one point at a
time,” said Pollock who also had two
additional aces in the second-set
finale. “My adrenaline was pumping a
little bit with the fans behind me. It
was a fitting way for us to enter the
Sweet 16. We haven’t been to the Sweet
16 (since 2005), so it’s a first for
this team and a first for me in my four
years here in Aggieland. We are going to
be very dangerous for Ole Miss on
Thursday and I’m excited about our
chances.”
Junior Marcus Lunt (San Antonio, Texas)
and sophomore Alexey Grigorov (Moscow,
Russia) set-up Pollock’s match-clincher
with straight-set victories at the No. 5
and No. 4 lines respectively. Lunt
dispatched Arizona’s Pat Metham, 6-2,
6-3, while Grigorov held off Ravid Hazi,
6-3, 7-5.
The Aggies claimed the doubles point for
the third time in four-straight matches
with help from the seventh-ranked duo of
Conor Pollock and sophomore All-American
Austin Krajicek (Brandon, Fla.) at No. 1
and Marcus Lunt and sophomore Wil
Spencer (Ponce de Leon, Fla.) at No. 2.
Krajicek and Pollock improved to 27-8
overall this season with an 8-3 decision
over Andres Arango and Ravid Hazi, while
Lunt and Spencer defeated Jay Goldman
and Pat Metham, 8-4.
“Winning the doubles point put us ahead
and took the pressure off of us today,”
Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said.
“We won all of the first sets in
singles, so our players got off to a
good start and kept the pressure on them
(Arizona). They never let them get back
into the matches today which I thought
was key. We are pleased with the way our
guys are playing right now. We’ve been
able to be competitive in every single
line.
“That’s a key in the NCAA Tournament
where you don’t really have any holes
and you know that you can win at any
line. That has been a big plus for us
this year and has allowed us to play
against some really good teams and hold
our own against them.”
A&M advances to its eighth all-time NCAA
Sweet 16 appearance and first since 2005
when the team tournament was last held
at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
in College Station. The Aggies will face
second-seeded and second-ranked
Mississippi (26-3) in the round of 16 on
Thursday, May 14 at 6 p.m. (CT). A&M and
Ole Miss have not met each other since
2003 with the Aggies holding a 3-1
advantage in the all-time series with
the Rebels.
“I classify this weekend as taking that
next step and that’s what we had to do,”
said Denton whose Aggies have now
matched seasons in which A&M greats
Shuon Madden, Lester Cook, Ryan Newport,
Mark Weaver and Grant Connell led their
teams to the Sweet 16. “We’ve been
playing good, solid tennis and as this
tournament goes on, we are going to have
to play better. Obviously, the
competition is going to step-up from
here in terms of level. I’m pleased with
the way our guys played today and I know
we are going to come out and compete
hard. We have great chemistry. I’m
really looking forward to Thursday’s
tournament and I think it’s going to be
exciting.”
NCAA Championships 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.
All-session ticket prices (all 12 days
of the Championship) range from $103 for
Stadium Club seating, $78 for adult
general admission and $35 for youth
general admission. Individual day
tickets range from $12 for single day
reserved (Stadium Club seating), $10
single day general admission and $4
single day admission for students and
youth.
(15) TEXAS A&M 4, (24) ARIZONA 0
May 9, 2009
2009 NCAA Men’s Tennis Second Round
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
at College Station, Texas
Attendance: 262
SINGLES
No. 1 - (#17) Conor Pollock (Texas A&M)
def. (#61) Jay Goldman (Arizona), 6-2,
6-4.
No. 2 - (#47) Austin Krajicek (Texas
A&M) def. Andres Arango (Arizona), 7-6
(4), 5-3 DNF
No. 3 - (#48) Wil Spencer (Texas A&M)
vs. Andres Carrasco (Arizona), 6-2, 6-5
DNF
No. 4 - Alexey Grigorov (Texas A&M) def.
Ravid Hazi (Arizona), 6-3, 7-5.
No. 5 - Marcus Lunt (Texas A&M) def. Pat
Metham (Arizona), 6-2, 6-3.
No. 6 - Colin Hoover (Texas A&M) vs.
Jason Zafiros (Arizona), 6-3, 5-7, 0-1
DNF
DOUBLES (Texas A&M wins the doubles
point)
No. 1 - (#7) Krajicek-Pollock (Texas
A&M) def. Arango-Hazi (Arizona), 8-3.
No. 2 - Lunt-Spencer (Texas A&M) def.
Goldman-Metham (Arizona), 8-4.
No. 3 - Grigorov-Hoover (Texas A&M) vs.
Carrasco-VanderMerwe (Arizona), 4-7 DNF
ORDER OF FINISH:
Doubles: 1, 2
Singles: 5, 4, 1*
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