April 5, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Fighting Irish men’s tennis team was defeated by 12th-ranked Texas A&M at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas on Monday night, 6-1, dropping their record to 11-9 on the season. Blas Moros (Boca Raton, Fla./Pine Crest School) earned the lone Irish point on the night.
Doubles action got underway with Texas A&M grabbing the first match as the tandem of Alberto Bautista and Alexey Grigorov defeated Tyler Davis (Nashville, Tenn./Father Ryan H.S) and Niall Fitzgerald (Wicklow, Ireland/Blackrock College). With the match tied at three games apiece, the Aggies captured five of the next six games to win the match, 8-4.
Texas A&M was able to secure the doubles point over the Irish at No. 1 doubles as the eighth-ranked team of Austin Krajicek and Jeff Dadamo knocked off Stephen Havens (Cincinnati, Ohio/Hill Christian School) and Casey Watt (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland), 8-6. The two teams traded games up to 5-5 before the Aggies captured three of the final four games to pull away for the victory.
Notre Dame was unable to avoid the doubles sweep as the Texas A&M pairing of Alexis Klegou and Marcus Lunt held off the Irish team of David Anderson (Sandwich, Mass./Sandwich) and Daniel Stahl (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman), 8-7 (8-4). Notre Dame was able to pull the tiebreaker even at 4-4 but was never able to get a lead at any point as the Aggies closed out the match winning each of the final four points.
The Irish continued to struggle as singles action got going. Watt, the 29th-ranked player nationally, was defeated in straight sets by the eighth ranked Krajicek of the Aggies, 6-2, 6-2 to give Texas A&M an early 2-0 advantage on the match.
The deficit swelled to 3-0 as Texas A&M and No. 46 ranked Dadamo defeated Havens of the Irish in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1 at two singles. The loss for Havens brought an end to his two match winning streak and dropped him to 0-11 on the season against nationally ranked foes.
The Aggies closed out the match victory at five singles when Grigorov finished off a straight sets decision over Anderson, 6-3, 6-3. It marks only the second time on the year that Anderson has been defeated in straight sets, with the only other time coming against Remi Boutiller of Fresno State.
Texas A&M would go on to secure the next two points and move the margin to 6-0 over the Irish. The 121st-ranked Klegou of the Aggies finished off 91st-ranked Stahl of the Irish in straight sets at three singles, 6-3, 6-4 just before Bautista was able to close out Samuel Keeton (Kansas City, Mo./The Pembroke Hill School), 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) at four singles.
Notre Dame was able to get out of town avoiding the sweep, however, as Moros was able to notch a straight set decision over Colin Hoover of the Aggies, 7-6, 6-3 at No. 6 singles. The victory gives Moros seven consecutive wins on the dual season (six at No. 6 singles and one at No. 5).
The Irish have a quick turnaround as they return home to play host to the second ranked Ohio State Buckeyes at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 7 in Notre Dame, Ind. Weather permitting, the match will be played at the Courtney Tennis Center. Otherwise, the match will take place inside the Eck Tennis Pavilion. Live stats of Wednesday’s match will be available on UND.com, where a complete recap of the contest will also be posted.
Notes The brief all-time series between Texas A&M and Notre Dame sits at 4-3 in favor of the Aggies… Stephen Havens was named the BIG EAST Men’s Tennis Player of the Week on March 31 … The Irish have faced a ranked opponent in 14 of their 20 matches (the Campbell/ITA rankings slot the top-75 teams) … Notre Dame’s win over Middle Tennessee State University (4-2) in the opening round of the 2010 Blue Gray tournament marked the 700th career win for head coach Bobby Bayliss (now 703-306-1/41 seasons) … Sam Keeton is 11-2 in 2010 dual season singles play.
#12 Texas A&M 6, #36 Notre Dame 1Apr 05, 2010 at College Station, TexasSingles competition
1. #8 Austin Krajicek (TAMU) def. #29 Casey Watt (ND) 6-2, 6-22. #46 Jeff Dadamo (TAMU) def. Stephen Havens (ND) 6-4, 6-13. #121 Alexis Kelgou (TAMU) def. #91 Daniel Stahl (ND) 6-3, 6-44. Alexey Grigorov (TAMU) def. David Anderson (ND) 6-3, 6-35. Alberto Bautista (TAMU) def. Samuel Keeton (ND) 6-3, 7-6 (7-5)6. Blas Moros (ND) def. Colin Hoover (TAMU) 7-6 (7-2), 6-3
Doubles competition
1. #5 Austin Krajicek/Jeff Dadamo (TAMU) def. Stephen Havens/Casey Watt (ND) 8-62. Alexey Grigorov/Alberto Bautista (TAMU) def. Niall Fitzgerald/Tyler Davis (ND) 8-43. Alexis Kelgou/Marcus Lunt (TAMU) def. David Anderson/Daniel Stahl (ND) 8-7 (7-4)
Match Notes
Notre Dame 11-9; National ranking #36Texas A&M 18-4; National ranking #12Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (1,2,4,3,5,6)
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