COLLEGE STATION -- It was truly a survival of the fittest as the No. 33-ranked Texas A&M men’s tennis team endured a lengthy four-hour and 30-minute match to hold off No. 34 Texas Tech, 5-2, in its Big 12 Conference opener Friday night at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
The Aggies (14-5, 1-0) and Red Raiders (10-6, 1-1) worked hard for each point with singles matches coming down to tiebreakers and three-setters. Junior All-American Jerry Makowski (Bradenton, Fla.) claimed his fourth win of the season against a ranked opponent by shutting down No. 33-ranked Bojan Szumanski, 6-4, 7-5, at the top of the lineup for the Aggies. Makowski, ranked No. 114 in the latest ITA/FILA rankings, handed Szumanski his first straight-set loss since falling to No. 28-ranked Ben Harknett of Rice on Feb. 17.
Senior Brett Joelson (Beaverton, Ore.) delivered the goods for A&M as he battled back from a first-set deficit to win out his second and third sets versus Texas Tech’s Christian Rojmar, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, to clinch the match at No. 4 singles. Junior Matt Bain (Georgetown, Texas) easily won at the No. 5 line for the Aggies with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Michael Breler.
Sophomore Conor Pollock (San Antonio, Texas) outlasted Texas Tech’s Dimitrio Martinez in a pair of tiebreakers at No. 2 singles. The match had already been decided, but Pollock fought back and won 7-3 in the third-set tiebreaker to extend his team-leading dual match record to 13-4. He defeated Martinez, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3), for his sixth consecutive victory of the season.
In doubles play, senior John Nallon (Garland, Texas) and Joelson made the biggest comeback of the night with an 8-6 victory over No. 34-ranked Bojan Szumanski and Christian Rojmar. Nallon and Joelson snapped the Red Raiders’ top doubles team’s five-match win streak. Down 4-1, Nallon and Joelson tied it up at 6-all and won the next two sets to clinch the doubles point for A&M.
A&M continues league play at fourth-ranked Baylor (14-2, 1-0) on Tuesday, April 3 at 6 p.m. in Waco, Texas.
(33) TEXAS A&M 5, (34) TEXAS TECH 2
March 30, 2007
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
at College Station, Texas
Attendance: 489
SINGLES
No. 1 (114) Jerry Makowski (Texas A&M) def. (33) Bojan Szumanski (Texas Tech), 6-4, 7-5.
No. 2 (104) Conor Pollock (Texas A&M) def. Dimitrio Martinez (Texas Tech), 3-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3).
No. 3 Sinisa Markovic (Texas Tech) def. Luka Ocvirk (Texas A&M), 7-5, 7-6 (5).
No. 4 Brett Joelson (Texas A&M) def. Christian Rojmar (Texas Tech), 2-6, 6-4, 7-5.
No. 5 Matt Bain (Texas A&M) def. Michael Breler (Texas Tech), 6-2, 6-4.
No. 6 Milos Kustudija (Texas Tech) def. John Nallon (Texas A&M), 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (0).
DOUBLES
No. 1 Nallon-Joelson (Texas A&M) def. (34) Szumanski-Rojmar (Texas Tech), 8-6.
No. 2 Bain-Pollock (Texas A&M) def. Breler-Markovic (Texas Tech), 8-4.
No. 3 Martinez-Teddy Diblasi (Texas Tech) def. (41) Mike Beatty-Bryan Wooten (Texas A&M), 8-4.
ORDER OF FINISH
Doubles: 2, 3, 1
Singles: 5, 3, 1, 4*, 6, 2
