)epot \
dUry
m Framing
)t.com
Miniatures
ses • Cross Stitch
xas Avenue South
tion, Texas 77840
t.com
Sports
The Battalion
Page 5 • Wednesday, March 19, 2003
Tennis team sweeps doubleheader at home
By Jeff Allen
THE BATTALION
JOHN C. LIVAS • THE BATTALION
A&M senior Ryan Newport returns a serve against Northern Arizona on
Tuesday. The Aggies went on to win the match at the Tennis Center.
When the No. 11 Texas A&M men’s ten
nis team woke up yesterday morning, the
ominously dark skies let loose with heavy
rain and thunder that did their worst on the
A&M Tennis Center, but it being Texas, the
weather changed fast. By the time the Aggies
hit the court after an hour and a half delay, it
was a perfect day for tennis, proving that not
even Mother Nature could keep the Aggies
from pushing their current home winning
streak to 12 games.
The men posted a pair of shutout wins,
first putting away Northern Arizona
University 6-0 and then finishing the day’s
work in similar fashion, defeating Wichita
State University 7-0.
“ We played some energy in doubles, and
if you look across the board in singles I think
we did a good job,” said A&M Head Coach
Tim Cass. “I was pleased tonight with the
energy across the board, everyone really
showed up to play.”
Once play finally started after the rain
delay, the Aggies hit the ground running.
After skipping doubles play and heading
straight into singles competition, A&M put
down Northern Arizona in straight sets, with
the exception of a loss in the first set of jun
ior Khaled El Dorry at court four and fresh
men Cameron Fenner at six. Both came back
to win their respective matches to complete
the shutout.
The nightcap against Wichita State was a
similar story. The Aggies jumped out to a
lead against the Shockers in the doubles por
tion of the match. The No. 18 duo of senior
Ryan Newport and sophomore Lester Cook
set the tone against the Shocker’s team of
sophomore Carol Contente and freshman
Ramirez. The Aggie pair put away the visi
tors in eight quick games, in a match that
took just more than half an hour.
Newport and Cook were soon followed
by the Aggie duo of sophomores Ante
Matijevic and El Dorry, finishing up the
important doubles point with an 8-2 win
over their Shocker counterpart. The Aggie
men completed the sweep two minutes later
when freshmen John Nallon and Matt
Loucks won, 8-2.
Once the sun set, the temperature slowly
dropped, but the Aggie men managed to
maintain their momentum. The excitement of
the night came at court one in the match
between Aggie All-American Newport and
freshmen Marko Despot from Wichita State.
Newport gained a quick lead in the match,
putting Despot away 6-1 in the first set, but
Despot was not content to go quietly. After a
bit of trash talk, much to the vocal crowd’s
delight, and a brief rally by Despot to start
the second set, Newport put a quick end to
the contest with a decisive 6-3.
“He was making something happen
out there,” Newport said, “ You have to
give him credit because he was down, but
he was trying to help out his teammates
and help out himself, but I wasn’t too
worried about it. I felt I was in control of
the match.”
Newport’s win on one was followed
short after by Cook completing his own
straight set win on two. The Aggies
clinched the match moments later when El
Dorry finally put away freshman Angelo
Manns by a score of 6-1, 6-4. The match
ended with the Aggies shutting out the
Shockers 7-0.
The wins pushed the A&M overall win
ning streak to seven games heading into a
match against No. 19 Alabama this
Saturday at home.
Aggies remain on road to face Texas Tech
COS
gantas
)AY
s for Two
TX 77840
By Pete Burks
THE BATTALION
After a week of traversing the state of
Florida, the No. 22 Texas A&M softball
team will return to Texas, although the
team will not be as close to College
Station as it might like. The Aggies (20-
10) will travel to Lubbock today to take
on the Lady Red Raiders of Texas Tech
(13-23) in a doubleheader.
The Aggies completed their tour of
Florida last week with a 4-3 overall
record after competing in the Democrat
Invitational in Tallahassee and the Blue
and Gold Classic in Miami.
In the Democrat Invitational, A&M
took on Georgia State
University, the
University of Iowa and
Florida A&M
University. The Aggies
managed to get past
Georgia State 5-0 and
defeat Florida A&M
9-1. They were not
able to complete the
clean sweep in pool
play, however, as the Iowa Hawkeyes
blanked the Ags 3-0. The elements then
kept the Aggies from completing the
tournament, as their last game was rained
out before they moved on to Miami.
After arriving in Miami, A&M
faced another slew of teams, begin-
EVANS
ning with the University of
Massachusetts and host team Florida
International on Friday. The Aggies
fought hard but lost both Friday
games to UMass and Florida
International, 4-2 and 3-2, respective
ly. However, as the weekend wore on,
A&M righted the ship by routing
Florida Atlantic 10-2 and beating
Syracuse 9-5.
Meanwhile, Texas Tech went on a
road trip of its own, competing in the
2003 Hokie Fastpitch Club Classic.
On the tournament’s first day, the
North Carolina Tarheels downed the
Lady Red Raiders 2-1, but Tech
rebounded quickly, pummeling
Georgia State, 10-0. In the second day
of the tournament, the Lady Red
Raiders dropped a pair of games to
Coastal Carolina University and St.
Bonaventure University.
Although they did not do as well as
they would have liked, Texas Tech
Head Coach Bobby Reeves said there
is no time to dwell on their losses.
“By hosting A&M, we are expect
ing a great team to come in,” he said.
“The Big 12 is probably the toughest
conference because everybody can
play. (A&M Head Coach Jo Evans)
has done a great job, and we know
that we need to be mentally prepared
to face A&M.”
See Tech on page 7
SPORTS IN BRIEF
A&M falls to UTSA, 6-5
The Texas A&M men's baseball
team was defeated by the University
of Texas - San Antonio Roadrunners
Tuesday night in San Antonio.
The game was tied 4-4 before a
two-run eighth inning gave the
Roadrunners a lead that they would
not surrender.
Junior A&M starting pitcher Brian
Finch allowed two runs on only
three hits in his five innings of work,
but the Roadrunners came alive
offensively late in the game.
UTSA was led offensively by catch
er Jeremy Blilie's three RBI.
The Aggies return to action on
Friday in Lubbock against Texas Tech.
iveryday 696-1155
Expires 05-C
SIC
HK PLAZA
EGINS
BOARDS
r S
ilASUKJUBA&f 11
reed arena
tickets on sale NOW!!
reserve tickets: $17.50 student $20 public $15 groups of 20+
ticket outlets: reed arena box office,
msc box office & all ticketmaster outlets
charge by phone 979.268.0414 - group orders & info 979.862.7333
sponsored by msc town hall
* > jTl
M 'w dk tr" w.