Texas Tech Athletics
Texas A&M
Women's Tennis Falls Short in Final Homestand
April 18, 2008 | Women's Tennis
April 18, 2008
LUBBOCK, Texas - It was all about the seniors today as both Brenna Jackson and Janet Durham ended their Red Raider campaigns with two solid wins on the doubles court. The Texas Tech women's tennis team was unable to carry the momentum into singles as they fell to the No. 32 Texas A&M Aggies, 5-2, today at the McLeod Tennis Center.
Tech's doubles continued to flex its strength as the Lady Raiders took the doubles point with wins at the No. 1 and 2 positions. The duo of Durham and Samantha van der Drift improved to 6-3 at No. 1, defeating the No. 59-ranked pair of Anna Blagodarova and Tiffany Clifford, 8-6. Senior doubles standout Brenna Jackson ended her career at McLeod with a win as she and Kerryn Potgieter clinched the point for their team over A&M's Christi Liles and Elze Potgieter.
The Aggies came out firing in singles by taking five straight wins. Freshmen Leah Roberts and Kelsy Garland struggled to find a break, suffering the first two losses in straight sets. Potgieter fell to 11-8 after losing 6-2, 6-2, to Morgan Frank, and A&M's No. 93 Potgieter capped the match by holding off van der Drift, 6-3, 7-5, on court one. Freshman Simone Templeton was the lone Red Raider to win a set in singles, but was topped by Clifford in the super-tiebreaker 10-3.
"I'm glad we won the doubles point because we played really well," said senior Durham after putting away her 87 career doubles victory. "It's always disappointing when you lose, but we've got to give credit when it's due because A&M is a good team. Granted we had the momentum going into singles, we never gave up and tried to stay tough and go after the win, but unfortunately came up short."
Next the team will travel to Austin to wrap up conference play as they meet the No. 21 Longhorns at noon on Sunday. Texas will first defend its 15-4, 8-0 conference record against No. 3 Baylor tomorrow at noon. The Longhorns have three singles players and one doubles duo that is currently undefeated in the Big 12, including No. 61 Vanja Corovic who is 6-0 at No. 1, Courtney Zauft at 8-0 at No. 2, Sarah Lancaster who is 6-0 at No. 4, and Maggie Mello and Zauft are 6-0 at No. 2. UT's No. 1 doubles team is also ranked No. 20 nationally holding a 15-3 duals record, 7-1 in the Big 12. The Lady Raiders remain winless against the Longhorns in their last 33 meetings, suffering two losses last season both at home and in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament.
Live updates for Sunday's match will be available via the team's Web site, for more information log on to www.texassports.com.
#75 Texas Tech - 1
#32 Texas A&M - 6
McLeod Tennis Center
Doubles: 3, 1, 2*
1. Durham/van der Drift (TTU) def. Blagodarova/Clifford (TAMU); 8-6
2. Jackson/Potgieter (TTU) def. Liles/Potgieter (TTU); 8-6
3. Davidson/Frank (TTU) def. Garland/Templeton (TTU); 5-8
Singles: 6, 3, 5, 1*, 2, 4
1. #93 Elze Potgieter (TAMU) def. Samantha van der Drift (TTU); 6-3, 7-5
2. Christi Liles (TAMU) def. Janet Durham (TTU); 6-0, 7-6(6)
3. Anna Blagodarova (TAMU) def. Kelsy Garland (TTU); 6-1, 6-2
4. Tiffany Clifford (TAMU) def. Simone Templeton (TTU); 4-6, 6-4, 10-3
5. Morgan Frank (TAMU) def. Kerryn Potgieter (TTU); 6-2, 6-2
6. Stephanie Davidson (TAMU) def. Leah Roberts (TTU); 6-0, 6-3
Players Mentioned
