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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 9, 2004)
>us 3 Aggies beat No. 30 Penn, 4-2 ebus. irs “Hie veryluc^ iton von 'ongisuli dy," K© CEO lenberj Sports he Battalion Page 7 • Tuesday, March 9, By Kyle Davoust THE BATTALION ilei The No. 16 Texas A&M women’s tennis :am brought its home record to a perfect 6-0, is it finished a five-match homestand with a ard-fought 4-2 victory over No. 30 Jniversity of Pennsylvania Monday night at leGeorge P. Mitchell Tennis Center. The win narked the sixth straight overall for A&M. Things looked bad early on for the \ggies, as Penn was able to win two of the oubles matches to earn the doubles point. A&M’s only doubles victory came at :ourt No. 2, where sophomore Nicki echam and senior Jessica Roland cap- h as jjroi ^ ^ e ’ r sevent h straight doubles match, j n g eill]( nting Penn’s team of senior Nicole Ptak ier j n ind sophomore Raluca Ciochina. “The doubles point was very disappoint- ;.ldidn’t think that we played well,” said -thewtJ^M head coach Bobby Kleinecke. Really, 1 don’t know that we played well in role. Keafolny spot the whole night.” The Aggies, however, were able to over- ‘thrillediAoiiiethe loss of the doubles point by rally- [to win four of the five singles matches yed to secure the victory. A&M set the tone early with quick wins mcourts No. 1 and 2. A&M junior Helga Vieira wasted little ime in dispensing Penn sophomore Caroline itanislawski 6-0, 6-1. Shortly thereafter, l&M senior Jessica Roland, ranked 15th ationally in singles, took her match against tin junior Nicole Ptak, 6-3, 6-2. “You look at the singles and Jessica and ilga won pretty easily in straight sets,” inecke said. “And we always say, what happens on what court affects what happens on the other courts.” The match was finally clinched in a come-from-behind, three-set victory by senior Roberta Spencer over Penn junior Shelah Chao. After losing the first set, 3-6, Spencer came back with a fury, quickly capturing the next two sets 6-2, 6-2. "Losing wasn’t an option,” Spencer said. “1 saw that we were going to be close in ,maidies and that I needed to come back. It day Evan O'Connell • THE BATTALION A&M senior Roberta Spencer and junior Lauren Walker rest during their doubles match Monday at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center. Spencer and Walker lost their doubles match, 8-3, to Pennsylvania jun ior Shelah Chao and senior Rachel Shweky. The Aggies lost the doubles point, but came back to win, 4-2. was also for self pride as well as team pride. 1 just made up my mind that I wasn't going to lose and that I needed to find a way to win.” The match between Mecham and Ciochina was stopped due to time constraints. “The guts that they displayed tonight were unbelievable,” Kleinecke said. “We talked about how hard we worked and how much was on the line, and you just can’t let it slip through without a fight. They really won it with heart tonight — heart and guts.” The Aggies are hoping that the added momentum from this hard-fought win will help guide them through the rest of the season. “It will definitely bring momentum to the team,” Spencer said. “We fought hard, and like Coach said in the locker room, some championship teams don't pass through easily every day. There is going to be some conflict, and there is going to be some struggle, and to get through the struggle is the biggest thing. Those deter mine the true winners.” A&M takes on conference’s best By Brad Bennett THE BATTALION The Texas A&M women’s basketball team’s record won’t be enough to earn it a coveted spot to the NCAA tournament that starts next week. The only way the team can get there now is the hard way: By winning four games in a row against ranked oppo nents in one of the nation’s most difficult conference tournaments. The Aggies’ (9-18, 2-14 Big 12) ''first opponent in their last-ditch effort at post season play is No. 17 University of Oklahoma, Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. The Aggies have played the Sooners (19-8, 9-7) twice this season and have lost both games, Feb. 7 in Norman, 56- 46, and an overtime loss Jan. 14 in College Station, 65-56. A&M head coach Gary Blair said teams this season have been playing the Aggies better the second time. “Maybe teams just haven’t been respecting us the first time around,” Blair said. Baylor University increased its win margin over the Aggies from three points on Jan. 10 to 25 points on Feb. 28. Similarly, < ‘la, We are going to go into the (tournament) starting with a new slate." — Tamea Scales Texas A&M women's basketball senior guard the win margin against the University of Texas increased from two points Jan. 25 to nine points Feb. 11. The Aggies have played some teams better the second time around, beating Oklahoma State University on Feb. 4 after losing to them on Jan. 7, and losing to Texas Tech University by one point on Feb. 14 after losing to them by nine on Jan. 28. A&M sopho more forward Tamea Scales said the regular season record doesn’t matter heading into the tournament. “We are going to go into the (tour nament) starting with a new slate,” she said. Scales said the team has come together and learned from the season’s losses, which will benefit them in tournament play. “Everything happens for a reason,” Scales said. “I believe those losses are going to contribute to how we play in the tournament.” The Aggies will need strength and endurance in this week’s tournament if they want to go far. If A&M defeats the Sooners, the Aggies will play No. 8 Kansas State in the second round on Wednesday. A&M senior guard Toccara Williams, who was recently named First Team All-Big 12, See Big 12 on page 9 As an engineer in the U.S. Air Force, there's no telling what .you’ll work on. (Seriously, we can’t tell you.) d and ■ United States Air Force applied technology is years ahead of what you’ll touch in the private sector, and as a new engineer you’ll likely be involved at the ground level of new and sometimes classified developments. You’ll begin leading and managing within this highly respected group from day one. Find out what’s waiting behind the scenes for you in the Air Force today. To request more information, call 1-800-423-USAF or log on to airforce.com. U.S. AIR FORCE CROSS INTO THE BLUE If you were a trustworthy, loyal and dedicated Corps member and later became a judge, wouldn’t you excuse yourself from any case involving the Parson’s Mounted Cavalry? Of course you would. Unless you were Judge Rick Davis. 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