Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 9, 1987)
Ml V ^ 3/\l2Lf SJ3LiiULIt/YVS F>n^Z>S »lBBv/ 3LJ1 UO |3S>/V-1J«P IMJIJIOlimiMI!!j|I^JJjj|!.!ll recognition in past years, with two national championships under its belt. The team is the only one at A&M with such a championship to boast of. Playing 70 to 75 games each season, plus several games during the fall exhibition season, the team travels throughout the nation playing other independent teams. The team has 13 members, 11 of who are on scholarships. Coach Bob Brach says the team has been around since the early 1970s, but he has only been with the team since the fall of 1981. He says that the team is among the top five in the nation with regard to the combination of budget and recruiting. The Aggie football team is not the only team to have won a SWC championship in past years. The women’s tennis team has also proven to be a strong winner. Last year, the team placed first in SWC play and 15th in the nation, improving their previous year’s record of third in the SWC. The team began this year’s season ranked 19th in the nation and had a comparatively strong season planned. But Coach Bob Kleinecke says that injuries are keeping six of their 13 team members out of play this season. He says this stroke of bad luck has really held back his team and has kept it from matching last year’s outstanding performance. Despite this year’s problems, Kleinecke is optimistic about the future of the team. “Our goal right now is to get back on track, ” he says. “The next step is to win Southwest Conference and to place in the top 10 in the nation.” All that’s left then, of course, is to win the national championship, a task which Kleinecke does not feel is above the team’s potential. Bob Ellis has been coaching the men’s golf team for twelve years, during which time the team has done extremely well in SWC play and has qualified for the NCAA every year but one. In the past four years, the A&M team placed within the top 10, and at the present time the team is ranked 20th in the nation. In 1982 the team placed first in the SWC, and the team has placed either third or fourth every year since. The men’s team currently has nine golfers, five of whom are on full scholarship and all but one of whom are recruits. But Ellis says that this is the first year in many to have a player earn a place as a walk-on. The A&M team divides its 30 playing days allowed by the NCAA each season among 12 to 13 tournaments in addition to the SWC and NCAA tournaments. The team is playing well this season, Ellis says, and hopes to be qualified for the NCAA tournament in June. Individual team members have also placed high in both SWC and NCAA rankings. In the past 12 years, A&M has produced 12 All-American golfers, many of which were awarded the honor more than once. In all, the school has produced 18 champions including national and conference winners. This year, two different team members have had seven top 20 wins and five top 10 wins, records which Ellis says are outstanding. The men’s tennis team is yet another of A&M’s winning teams. Currently ranked 24th in the nation, the team has placed in the top 20 for the last seven out of nine years. Although the team is not playing as well this year as it has in the past, Coach David Kent is excited about the team. He says that they have a tough time winning in the SWC because of the competition. The nation’s second, fifth and eleventh ranked teams all play in the SWC. Coach Kent has been with the team for nine years, and says he hopes to stay with the team for at least another nine. He says the secret to his success is to keep moving and to keep a low profile. Kent is especially proud of the team because of its academic prowess. The overall grade point ratio of the team members is between a 2.8 and a 3.0, which is extrememly high for a college sports team. The team also boasts a 96 to 98 percent graduation record, compared with other schools’ records of less than five percent. Kent says that he is constantly being complimented on the good reputation of the team members. “They represent A&M extremely well both on and off the court,” he says. “Every place they stay always calls and wants them back. ” Although the team has had trouble gaining a high ranking in SWC play, individuals have succeeded. Several players have achieved All-American ranking and many ex-team members are now playing in the professional circuit. Women’s volleyball, although one of the newer sports at A&M, is quickly becoming one of the best. The team’s coach, A1 Givens, arrived on the scene only last May. Givens says that the team came under the NCAA umbrella five years ago and since then has moved up in the rankings and now ranks 18th in the nation and first or second in the regional division of the NCAA. The team also competes within the Southwest Conference and for the past five years has placed second only to the University of Texas. Givens says that volleyball is not traditionally as popular in this area as it is in other parts of the country, but it is rapidly becoming very popular. This past year two recruits from A&M were named in the Volleyball Monthly Fabulous Fifty, a survey published by Volleyball Monthly identifying the top fifty recruits in the nation. The two A&M recruits were the only two students from Texas to be included in the survey. All in all, Texas A&M boasts many conference and national winners. Although they are not revenue sports, all of the sports mentioned above have made A&M a notable home for fans of all sports. Despite the handicap of outdated facilities, the women’s swimming team has placed third in the SWC the past two years.