Sports High hopes lens tennis looks to break records in Big 12 Championship Or By Kyle Davoust THE BATTALION |Tie Big 12 Men’s Tennis mpionship represents anoth er opportunity for underdogs to at top teams and a chance the top teams to improve in onal standings, or the No. 22 Texas A&M for nat SIf-i men’s tennis team (20-7, 6-1 Big 12), a good showing could be the difference between fin- m the top l<> and being picked to host a round of the MAA Tournament. PBJrhese opportunities will take ilpplace in Norman, Okla., at the Hbil versify of Oklahoma Haidington Family Tennis JCaiier starting Friday. 1^0. 2 Baylor University (22- HhJ'-O) clearly established itself **' as the Big 12’s top team by breezing through conference pla\ unscathed. The Bears were hardly challenged in obtaining a perfect record, winning with a combined score of 45-4, which tlilcr include shutouts against the University of Colorado, 4 Urn ersity of Nebraska, No. 33 Itli: University of Texas and No. 29 is.i’cBahoma State University. In sec fact the closest conference screpatch Baylor played was a 5-2 I Hd win over A&M on April 3. [HtKjB'Baylor is maybe one man iff. better than anyone else in the colference,” said OSU coach ytej, |Janies Wadley. “But that doesn't ■an that one man can’t have a spr ined ankle, bad attitude or ■ even a girlfriend make them mail. And when you have one gi| not show up, it affects you I by two points, and you only I v.us r k Senior Mohamed Dakki returns a volley against Oklahoma State last Saturday need four to win.” While Baylor has clearly established itself as the favorite, A&M has positioned itself as the Bears’ top challenger after coming on strong to finish sec ond in the conference. The Aggies have won nine of their last 10 matches, a streak most teams would like to avoid deal ing with. Their 5-2 road win over Texas and 6-1 home domi nation of Oklahoma State put the Aggies in position to avoid Baylor until the last round of the tournament. “We’ve been playing better,” said A&M senior captain Khaled El Dorry. “We defied a lot of odds against (No. 12 Rice University). We lost the doubles point and came back against Texas on the road when we were getting killed for the first hour and a half. And now we beat Oklahoma State, which is a real ly good team, really bad.” Despite the previous accom plishments, the regular season means little when entering tour nament play. The Big 12 is pos sibly the toughest conference in the nation, and each team must play its best to remain standing. “The Big 12 is a great con ference, obviously the best con ference in the country,” said Baylor coach Matt Knoll. “We always have teams competing for the national championships Evan O'Connell • THE BATTALION at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center, in every sport. As far as tennis, we had four teams in the Sweet 16 last year. Ifs just a tough conference all around.” The Aggies understand this as well, knowing they cannot simply overlook other teams on their way to a possible final round showdown with Baylor. “We have to think about teams like Oklahoma State and Texas,” said A&M junior Lester Cook. “There are some tough teams, so we can’t just think about Baylor. There are a whole lot of good teams in the Big 12.” The tournament will begin at 9 a.m. Friday when No. 2 seed Texas A&M faces No. 7 seed University of Colorado. pPiaij jpif PtfN SUMMER * W Semester Tj ' > r : Register April 5 - May 14 and May 22 - 24 Classes May 26 - July 1 July 8-August 12 Heart of Texas GOODWILL IND. NOW ACCEPTING DONATIONS AT^g^LOGATION 2704TEXAS AVENUE SUITE # 3 (near Tractor Supply) RETAIL STORE OPENING SOON! Take Advantage ACC 281-756-3531 or log on to www.alvincollege.edu for a class schedule cJfofie PneattancM Gentend, ! * /OF BRAZOS VALLEY It ACC Alvin Community College YOU COULD HAVE AN STD AND NOT KNOW IT! IF YOU'RE SEXUALLY ACTIVE YOU ARE AT RISK - EVEN IF YOU ARE USING CONDOMS. STD Testing - Free & Confidential Call our Registered Nurse to make an appointment 695-9193 205 Brentwood, College Station Page 7A • Thursday, April 29, 2004 A&M softball blows out Texas By Nikki Knight THE BATTALION The Longhorns weren’t even given a full seven innings to try to defeat the Aggies Wednesday night. No. 24 Texas A&M (31-16, 13-1 Big 12) run ruled the University of Texas (23-20, 5- 10) in five innings in front of an all-time record crowd of 1,470 at the Aggie Softball Complex, 11-1. The win moved A&M to No. 1 in the Big 12 Conference. “Tonight was awesome,” said junior infielder Adrian Gregory. “We hit the whole lineup, one through nine. The energy was high because the fans really packed the stands.” Carrying momentum from the weekend win over the University of Missouri, the Aggies started out strong, allowing no hits in the first inning and then scoring three runs on four hits. Freshman Sharonda McDonald singled to left field and advanced to second on an error. Sophomore outfielder Rocky Spencer reached base on a walk, and then junior out fielder Jana James singled through the left side, scoring McDonald. Later in the inning, sopho more utility player Kristin Gunter doubled, knocking in two more runs. In the top, of the second inning, Longhorn junior infielder Wynter Turner reached base on an error and was advanced to third on a double by sophomore infielder Chez Sievers. Junior first baseman Alexis Garcia reached first on another error, which scored Turner for the Longhorns first but only run. But, senior pitcher Jessica Kapchinski kept her cool and did not allow any earned runs. “It was a little more of a battle,” Kapchinski said. “We just had to get the outs and get out of the inning.” Kapchinski is now 12-1 in Big 12 play and was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week Tuesday. Texas head coach Connie Clark said Kapchinski’s pitch ing was phenomenal. “Christina (Gwyn) and Lizi (Sowers) are not strikeout pitchers,” Clark said. “We have to play defense and score runs for them, and we didn’t do that.” The Aggies returned in the bottom of the second to put four more runs on the board, including a three-run home run to left field by Gregory. Sophomore outfielder Rocky SpenceUs stolen base brought the team total to 113 for the season, setting a new team record. Junior Texas pitcher Lizi Sowers then came in to pitch for the Longhorns and end the inning. In the next three innings, See Softball on page 10A London $370 Paris $418 Rome $577 Amsterdam $508 Restrictions apply. Taxes not included. Fares are based on round-trip and subject to change. No Service Fee for Britrail & Eurail passes! Call for details. 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