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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
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