The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, April 21, 2003, Image 9

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Sports
The Battalion
Page IB • Monday, April 21, 2003
Men’s tennis team falls to Longhorns at home
Doubles point sets the tone in Texas’ 4-3 victory
By Dallas Shipp
THE BATTALION
fare
The No. 10 Texas A&M men’s tennis
team tried to rally Saturday afternoon but
fell just short against the University of
Texas, which beat the Aggies 4-3 in front
of 740 fans.
A&M Head Coach Tim Cass tried to
switch up his doubles teams to shake
things up a bit and win the crucial doubles
point. However, the move backfired for
Cass and the Aggies, who dropped the
doubles point two matches to one, giving
the Longhorns an early 1-0 lead heading
into singles.
The Aggies’ only victory in doubles
play came at the hands of senior Ryan
Newport and sophomore Ante Matijevic.
While Cass’ move did not work out,
Texas Head Coach Michael Center had bet
ter luck when he switched his No. 1 and No.
2 players Saturday afternoon. It was a move
that gave Texas a critical win on court No. 2.
Longhorn senior Jean Simon has
played on court No. 1 for Texas for the
last three years and the entire season this
year before being demoted Saturday.
Simon defeated Lester Cook on court
No. 2 to clinch the win for Texas.
After dropping the first set in a tiebreak
er, Cook appeared to be out of gas and fell
behind early in the second set, 4-2. Cook
rallied to get into a second tiebreaker but
didn’t have enough to win the tiebreaker,
losing 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4).
“(Simon’s) really struggled,” Center
said. “He lost his first nine matches this
year, and I had thought about (moving
him) off and on. Then he sprained his
ankle on Tuesday. He hadn’t practiced all
week.”
Because Simon has been the
Longhorns’ top singles player for four
years, the move could be protested by the
Aggies later this week.
After dropping the doubles point,
Aggie senior Kahled El Dorry tied the
match at one with a 6-2, 6-2 win over
Longhorn freshman Antonio Ruiz.
The Aggies appeared to have things
secured on courts one, two and three and
needed a big win from someone on courts
four, five or six.
Aggie freshman Matt Loucks came
through for the Aggies and rallied to
knock off Longhorn senior Jimmy Haney
in three sets, bringing the Aggies within
one, 3-2, with two matches still playing
on courts one and two.
Newport held on to win in three sets at
court No. 1, but it was too little too late
for the Aggies.
Cass said A&M had some chances to
win the match but couldn’t capitalize.
“You get a few chances in matches,”
Cass said, “and when two teams are rela
tively even, you're going to have to capi
talize on those. Today, (Texas) did.”
The Aggies will travel to Kansas City,
Mo., next weekend to compete in the Big
12 Tournament.
FILE PHOTO • THE BATTALION
A&M sophomore Ante Matijevic returns a Texas serve. Matijevic and senior
Ryan Newport took their doubles match on court No. 1 on Saturday.
Aggie s split doubleheader Nowitski leads Mavs in playoff win
By Pete Burks
THE BATTALION
On a day meant to honor its sen
iors, the Texas A&M softball team
showed its share of emotion in a
Saturday doubleheader with the Iowa
State Cyclones (18-23, 5-8 Big 12).
The Aggies (33-15, 9-5 Big 12) ended
up splitting the series with the
Cyclones, winning the first game 8-5,
mtry because of pd but losing the second 6-5.
Aggie seniors Jennifer Davis,
Cheryl Fowler, Lindsey Rippee,
Crystal Martin and Selena Collins
contributed to the effort against the
Cyclones, nearly pulling off a four-run
comeback in the bottom of the seventh
“rf in the second game.
y ,805 B py a jJ rwl ,in the first game of the doublehead-
™ 979.776.0999 the Aggies and Cyclones combined
for seven home runs for the game. The
Cyclones jumped out in front in the
top of the first as Cyclone pitcher
Erica Martinez opened the scoring,
knocking a Jessica Slataper pitch out
of the park.
In the bottom of the inning, the
Aggies began their own offensive bar
rage, led by sophomore second base-
man Adrian Gregory and shortstop
Martin driving in four runs combined
as they each hit home runs. In the sec
ond inning, Gregory struck again,
increasing her home run total to nine
I Jfor the year and increasing the Aggie
|j lead to 5
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each of the first four innings, they
could not keep the Cyclones at bay.
The Cyclones were not to be out
done in this unofficial home run derby
as Big 12 Player of the Week Katy
Ruby blasted two home runs, one in
the third, and one in the fifth which
sailed over the scoreboard to bring the
Cyclones closer. But in the end, junior
pitcher Slataper and the Aggies
clamped down and defeated the
Cyclones, giving the Aggies the win
and Slataper another complete game.
Gregory said the A&M seniors have
provided great leadership that younger
players strive to follow.
“Our seniors are everything this
program is about,” Gregory said.
“They built this program, and we are
trying to follow in their footsteps.”
In the second game of the double-
header, there was still plenty of
offense to go around. This time, the
Aggies struck first as Martin knocked
in two runs with a two RBI single in
the bottom of the first. The score
remained the same until the top of the
fourth as the Cyclones finally broke
through for a run on a well executed
suicide squeeze bunt.
In the top of the fifth, the Cyclones
continued to play small ball, using
two bunt base hits to load the bases,
allowing Martinez to come through
for a second time, hitting a two RBI
double to give the Cyclones a lead
See Softball on page SB
By Jaime Aron
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS — Steve Nash says his pal Dirk Nowitzki is a
mismatch every time he has the ball.
Shooting over small defenders and driving around big
ones, Nowitzki scored a career-best 46 points Saturday
night to lead the Dallas Mavericks past the Portland
Trailblazers 96-86 in the opener of their first-round series.
With Game 2 not until Wednesday night, the Blazers have
some time to try figuring out a new way to cover Nowitzki.
The 7-footer made 16-of-27 shots. Most of his misses
came in traffic around the basket as he was 4-of-5 on 3-
pointers. Fouling him wasn’t a good idea because he went
10-of-l 1 from the line.
“We just can’t let Dirk get 50 — even if we have to put
a hit on Dirk,” Portland’s Bonzi Wells said, laughing. “He
got a lot of mismatches and took advantage. Once we con
tain him, we can beat this team.”
Nowitzki made his first six shots and had 23 at halftime.
But the rest of the Mavericks had just 19, which is why
they trailed by as many as 13.
Nowitzki was such a one-man show that from the mid
dle of the first quarter until the last minute of the second,
no other Dallas player made more than one field goal.
“I told him at the end of regulation that he will eventu
ally be one of the best all-around players to ever play the
game,” Mavs coach Don Nelson said. “He will eventually
be able to do the things that Larry Bird did. That’s my
vision of him.”
Spurs may be without Robinson in Game 2
By T.A. Badger
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN ANTONIO — David Robinson
had a big game in the playoff opener
against Phoenix. He might not have the
chance to follow up on his performance
in Game 2.
Robinson twisted his left knee when
he drew an offensive foul on Stephen
Marbury late in the Spurs’ 96-95 over
time loss Saturday. He is listed as ques
tionable for Monday night’s game in the
best-of-seven series.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich
Residence Halls
Mid-May to May
wouldn’t talk about
Robinson’s status
Sunday. He said his
team’s confidence is
most important.
“We’ve got to have
the emotion and the
same aggressiveness
and the same defense
— it’s all got to be
there,” he said. “If that’s not there, we’ll
have a problem.”
The 7-foot-1 center benefited from
the constant double- and triple-teaming
on Tim Duncan and went 8-for-8 for 18
points Saturday.
ROBINSON
“People think he can’t play,” said
Phoenix guard Penny Hardaway. “He
can play. He’s done it all in this league.
Whether Robinson plays or not, the
Spurs need to stop Marbury and make
their free throws to have a chance to win.
The top-seeded Spurs faltered on both
in the opener and lost when Marbury
banked in a 3-pointer at the overtime
buzzer after Duncan missed three free
throws in the closing seconds.
Marbury was largely held in check by
Spurs point guard Tony Parker in the first
half, but he broke loose for 17 of his 26
points in the second half.
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