AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas A&M men’s tennis team advanced in both the singles and doubles draw on the first day of the ITA South Central Regional Championship held Saturday at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center.
Junior All-Big 12 Conference standout Conor Pollock (San Antonio, Texas), sophomore transfer Chris Chirico (Philadelphia, Pa.) and freshman Kayvon Karimi (Dallas, Texas) moved on to the round of 32 with straight-set victories. Pollock, seeded fourth at the tournament, handily defeated Prairie View A&M’s Nicolas Bateman, 6-1, 6-3. Karimi downed Texas Tech’s Sinisa Markovic, 6-2, 6-3, while Chirico eliminated Rice’s Vishnu Rajam, 6-4, 6-4.
“We had some good things happen to us today and our guys came out and played hard,” Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. “In a couple of our matches, we did not win the big points which made all the diffrerence between winning and losing. We just didn’t quite play like we wanted to in those losses. Overall, I am proud of our guys and look forward to tomorrow’s matches.”
In doubles competition, two Aggie combinations reached the round of 16 with Conor Pollock and Chris Chirico defeating Texas Tech’s Ilya Babinciuc and James Wilson, 8-4. Meanwhile, senior All-American Jerry Makowski (Bradenton, Fla.) and Kayvon Karimi defeated Texas-Arlington’s Gonzalo Bienzobas and Hugo Taracido, 9-7.
The Aggies continue play tomorrow beginning at 8:30 a.m.
2007 ITA SOUTH CENTRAL REGIONAL MEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
Oct. 20-23, 2007
Penick-Allison Tennis Center
at Austin, Texas
SINGLES
Round of 128
Brad Williams (Texas A&M) def. Caleb Bulls (TCU), 6-1, 6-1.
Chris Chirico (Texas A&M) def. Milos Kustudija (Texas Tech), withdrew (injury).
Round of 64
(9) Piotr Banas (Louisiana-Lafayette) def. Matt Bain (Texas A&M), 6-2, 6-1.
(4) Conor Pollock (Texas A&M) def. Nicolas Bateman (Prairie View A&M), 6-1, 6-3.
Kayvon Karimi (Texas A&M) def. Sinisa Markovic (Texas Tech), 6-2, 6-3.
Adrian Simon (TCU) def. (3) Jerry Makowski (Texas A&M), 7-6, 1-0 (8-6).
Jonah Kane West (Texas) def. Brad Williams (Texas A&M), 7-6, 7-5.
Chris Chirico (Texas A&M) def. Vishnu Rajam (Rice), 6-4, 6-4.
DOUBLES
Round of 64
Bain-Williams (Texas A&M) def. Avila-Mohinta (UT-Pan American), 8-5.
Round of 32
(5) Chirico-Pollock (Texas A&M) def. Babinciuc-Wilson (Texas Tech), 8-4.
(5) Novikov-Pavlov (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) def. Bain-Williams (Texas A&M), 9-7.
Makowski-Karimi (Texas A&M) def. Bienzobas-Taracido (UTA), 9-7.
