The Texas A&M men’s tennis team earned a No. 9 overall seed in the 2011 NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships which will begin with 16 campus sites hosting first and second round matchups. The Aggies will serve as a host to Alcorn State in the first round while the other match will feature LSU against Indiana, the NCAA announced on Tuesday.
Texas A&M, earned the automatic bid for the Big 12 Conference by virtue of the Big 12 Championship title from last weekend in Waco, will face Southwestern Athletic Conference champion Alcorn State at 2 p.m. on Friday, Mar. 13 at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station. The other first round match is between at-large teams LSU from the SEC and Indiana from the Big 10 at 11 a.m. on Friday, Mar. 13. The winners of the two first round matches will face each other at 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 14 for the right to advance to the Round of 16 at the NCAA Championships hosted by Stanford in Palo Alto, California, beginning May 19.
“We’re excited about hosting, and especially so with the women’s team also hosting, it should be a great weekend of collegiate tennis,” Aggie men’s head coach Steve Denton said. “The guys have worked hard and hopefully we are peaking at the right time. Seniors help win championships and they know you can’t take anyone lightly. If you don’t play well, you’re out.”
The Aggies had three seniors in the lineup – Austin Krajicek, Jeff Dadamo and Alexey Grigorov, last weekend as A&M won its first Big 12 Championships title since 2001. A&M swept Oklahoma State, Texas and Oklahoma without dropping a point on its way to the championship crown. Along the way, the Aggies won the doubles point in each match and followed by winning every first set of every match with the exception of one set.
The NCAA appearance is the 19th overall for Texas A&M men’s tennis and is the 18th consecutive invitation dating back to 1994. The previous NCAA appearance came in 1985. In 1999, the NCAA went to the current 64-team format. A&M has been seeded as high as No. 7 in both 2000 and 2001. This marks the third straight year for A&M to host the men’s first and second rounds.
The 2011 Aggie squad has tied the school record for wins in a season with a 27-5 record. That matches the record established by the 2001 A&M team that hosted first and second round matches in College Station and then advanced to the Elite Eight at the NCAA Championships hosted by Georgia.
The 2011 A&M team has continued a 34-match home winning streak at the Mitchell Tennis Center dating back to Jan. 30, 2010.
Tickets for the 2011 NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships can be purchased online at AggieAthletics.com or 12thManFoundation.com and click on tickets. Orders may also be placed by calling the toll-free number, 1-888-99-AGGIE (888-992-4443) or locally at 1-979-845-2311. All session reserved seats in the stadium club are $12 each. The single day general admission tickets are $5 each. Students and youth are $3 for general admission and children under the age of two are admitted free of charge.
TEXAS A&M MEN’S TENNIS NCAA HISTORY: 19 times (18 straight)
2011 (9th seed)– Host 1st and 2nd rounds: Alcorn State, LSU & Indiana
2010 (10th seed)– Host 1st and 2nd rounds: Beat Prairie View A&M (4-0); beat Ole Miss (4-2)
Lost in Round of 16 to #7 Baylor (4-1) (Georgia)
2009 (15th seed)– Host 1st and 2nd rounds: Beat Binghamton (4-0); beat Arizona (4-0)
Lost in Round of 16 to #2 Ole Miss (4-1) (College Station)
2008– Beat SMU (4-1); lost to host #9 Baylor (4-2)
2007– Beat Rice (4-2); lost to host #3 Baylor (4-0)
2006 – (16th seed)– Host 1st and 2nd rounds: Beat UTA (4-0); lost to Notre Dame (4-2)
2005 – (16th seed)– Beat Montana State (4-0); beat Boise State (4-0) (Boise, ID)
Lost in Round of 16 to #1 Baylor (4-0) (College Station)
2004– Beat Alabama (4-0); beat host Virginia Commonwealth (4-0) (Richmond, VA)
Lost in Round of 16 to #3 UCLA (4-1) (Tulsa)
2003 – (10th seed)– Host 1st and 2nd rounds: Beat Maryland-BC (4-0); beat South Florida (4-1)
Lost in Round of 16 to #6 Vanderbilt (4-1) (Georgia)
2002 – (16th seed)– Host 1st and 2nd rounds: Beat Southern (4-0); beat LSU (4-0)
Lost in Round of 16 to #1 Georgia (4-1) (College Station)
2001 – (7th seed)– Host 1st and 2nd rounds: Beat St. Bonaventure (4-0); Beat Vanderbilt (4-0)
Won in Round of 16 against #15 LSU (4-1) (Georgia)
Lost in Elite Eight to #4 TCU (4-0) (Georgia)
2000 – (7th seed)– Host 1st and 2nd rounds: Beat Army (4-0); Beat Louisiana-Lafayette (4-0)
Lost in Round of 16 against #9 Tennessee (4-3) (Georgia)
1999– Beat Texas Tech (4-3); lost to host #4 Texas (4-1)
**NCAA expanded to current 64-team team in 1999**
1998– At Austin: Beat Arkansas-Little Rock (4-0); beat Arkansas (4-3)
Lost to SMU (4-3) in regional championship
1997– At Fort Worth: Lost to Texas (5-0)
1996– At Austin: Beat Texas Tech (4-3); lost to host Texas (4-3)
1995– Hosted: Beat Arkansas (4-1); lost to Texas (4-3)
1994– At Houston: Beat Texas Tech (4-0); beat Arkansas (4-3)
Advanced to Round of 16 and lost to Duke (4-1) (Notre Dame)
1985– Lost in Round of 16 to Pepperdine (5-3)
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The Texas A&M women’s tennis team earned its 12th consecutive bid to the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship and will host first and second rounds, Saturday and Sunday, May 14-15, at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
The Aggies (15-8), one of 16 teams selected to host first and second rounds, will face former Southwest Conference foe SMU on Saturday, May 14, at noon. In the preceding first-round match, No. 12 seed Florida State and Southern University will meet at 9 a.m.
The winners advance to the second round, to be played Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Mitchell Tennis Center. The second-round winner advances to the Round of 16 to be played at Stanford University’s Taube Tennis Center in Stanford, Calif., beginning May 20.
Free live video and scoring of the first and second-round matches will be available at AggieAthletics.com
2011 NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Championships
First and Second Rounds
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
College Station, Texas
Schedule of Events
Saturday, May 14
Match #1: No. 12 Florida State (15-8) vs. Southern University (12-9), 9 a.m.
Match #2: Texas A&M (15-8) vs. SMU (21-5), 12 p.m.
Sunday, May 15
Match #3: Winner of Match #1 vs. Winner of Match #2, 1 p.m.
Ticket Pricing is as follows and can be purchased in advance at 12thManFoundation.com:
$12 All-Session Reserved (Stadium Club)
$7 Single Day Reserved (Stadium Club)
$5 Single Day General Admission
$3 Single Day Students/Youth
Free for children under age two
“I knew there was a possibility of us hosting,” A&M coach Bobby Kleinecke said. “There were just so many No. 2 seeds around our area, and I figured what the committee wouldn’t want to do was send a No. 1 seed into a higher No. 2 seed area, so I felt where we were sitting, there was a good possibility. Now we have to make the most of it. That is our key now.”
A&M, making its 17th overall NCAA appearance, is hosting for the fourth time in school history. The Aggies last hosted in 2004 and defeated both Southern and SMU to advance and make its first and only appearance in the round of 16.
The Aggies enter the tournament having won five of their last seven matches. Most recently, they fell to seventh-ranked and top seeded Baylor, 4-2, in the semifinals at the Big 12 Championship.
“We are playing well right now,” Kleinecke said. “It is going to be fun to go out there and compete again.”
SMU (21-5) is making a school-record third consecutive and 11th overall appearance in the tournament. The Mustangs, led by two-time USA Conference Player of the Year and ninth-ranked Marta Lesniak, have advanced to the second round each of the past two years.
“They have an excellent team and have had a great season, and I feel like this is going to be a great college match,” Kleinecke said. “They are right around us in the rankings and have been all year. This should be a great college match and it should be a lot of fun. SMU has a great No. 1 player (Marta Lesniak). We are not going to be able to count on that match against Lesniak, so it is going to be one where we are going to need everyone competing.”
FSU (15-8) won eight consecutive matches, including four wins against top 11 opponents leading into the championship match at the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) tournament. The Seminoles, who are making their 15th NCAA appearance, stunned No. 11 Virginia and No. 3 Duke to advance to the ACC finals, where they fell to No. 5 North Carolina, 4-3.
“FSU came up with a real big win or two at the conference tournament to finish out the year and they were solid before that,” Kleinecke said. “They are playing pretty hot right now, and that is a good, solid program; they have been up there for a long time. They will come in with a chip on their shoulder, there is no doubt. When you are top 16, you sure don’t feel like you should have to travel, so that is going to be a shocker for them, but in the last couple of years, one or two teams have had to do that.”
Southern (12-9) received an automatic bid to the NCAAs by winning its second consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Women’s Tennis Championship. It was the sixth title in nine years for the Lady Jaguars.
SMU holds a 15-11 lead in the all-time series against the Aggies. The teams last met in 2010, and although SMU originally won the match, the ITA later ruled that neither team would be credited with the win after ruling in favor of A&M’s protest of the Mustangs’ lineup. In 2009, the teams met in the NCAA first round at the Baylor Tennis Center in Waco, Texas, and the Mustangs ended a five-match losing streak against the Aggies with a 4-1 victory. The only other time the teams met in the NCAAs was 2004 in College Station. A&M won 4-0, to advance to the round of 16 for the first time in school history.
A&M is 0-2 all-time against FSU, having fallen to the Seminoles in 1994 and 1995.
A&M is 1-0 against Southern, defeating the Lady Jaguars, 4-0, in the first round of the 2004 NCAA Championship.
Notes: In last year’s NCAA tournament, A&M suffered a 4-2 first-round loss to South Florida at the University of Miami (Fla.). It was the Aggies’ second consecutive first-round loss after posting a streak of six consecutive appearances in at least the second round of the tournament…A&M, 11-16 all-time in NCAA tournament play, had it best postseason finish in 2004 after advancing to the Round of 16…Florida State is ranked No. 12 in this week’s ITA national rankings. A&M is No. 31 and SMU is No. 32. Southern is not ranked…Thirty-one teams earned automatic bids to the NCAA tournament, and 33 teams received at-large bids…No. 1 seed Stanford is the defending national champion, defeating Florida, 4-3, last year in Athens, Ga…Other Big 12 Conference teams in the NCAA Championship are No. 5 seed Baylor, which earned the league’s automatic berth, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas…The NCAA Individual Championship participants (singles and doubles) will be posted on the NCAA Web site (www.ncaa.com) Wednesday no later than 5 p.m.