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Updated 7:06 AM on Monday, May 14, 2007

A&M women fall to Baylor

Lady Bears overpower Aggies in NCAA tournament

By RICHARD CROOME
Eagle Staff Writer

Two weather delays and a loss to rival Baylor made for a long day for the Texas A&M women's tennis team, which lost 4-1 in its bid to reach the NCAA Women's Tennis Championships Sweet 16 on Sunday.

Baylor 4, Texas A&M 1 Doubles 1. Broosova/Cerna (Baylor) def. #31 Clifford/Foster (A&M) 8-3 2. Lubinsky/Mechem (A&M) vs. Chmelarova/Zrustova (Baylor) DNF 3. Mihaylova/Zemenova (Baylor) def. Blagodarova/Sammons (A&M) 8-1 Singles 1. Zuzana Zemenova (Baylor) vs. Anna Lubinsky (A&M) DNF 2. Zuzana Cerna (Baylor) def. Sarah Foster (A&M) 6-4, 6-2 3. Lenka Broosova (Baylor) vs. Elze Ptgieter (A&M) DNF 4. Zuzana Chmelarova (Baylor) def. Anna Blagodarova (A&M) 6-2, 6-2 5. Nicki Mechem (A&M) def. Iva Mihaylova (Baylor) 6-4, 6-2 6. Klara Zrustova (Baylor) def. Marisa Druss (A&M) 6-2, 6-3

Ironically, it was the first 45 minutes of the 5 1/4-hour match - rain delays included - that hurt A&M, which dropped the doubles point for only the fourth time this season and for the first time against a Big 12 opponent.

"That was huge disappointment," A&M senior Nicki Mechem said. "We are a phenomenal team in doubles and I think we just get used to going out there and winning it every time and they surprised us a little bit. We have to give them credit, they came out and played extremely well and got us right from the start. I do think that threw us back on the wall a little bit early."

At one time in the doubles, A&M was down 1-3 on all three courts.

Anna Lubinsky and Mechem recovered to take the lead, but the Bears ran off 8-1 and 8-3 victories at line 3 and 1, respectively.

Baylor's No. 3 doubles team has been its strength and it continued to be with Iva Mihaylova and Zuzana Zemenova defeating Anna Blagodarova and Michelle Sammons, 8-1.

"Our team at No. 3 doubles is undefeated and is playing really hot right now," Baylor coach Joey Scrivano said. "No. 1 doubles, in my mind, was the key match because there was a lot of talent on that court. There was really high quality stuff on that first court and we just played a little bit better than they did today at that position."

Lenka Broosova and Zuzana Cerna clinched the doubles point with an 8-3 victory over Sarah Foster and Tiffany Clifford, in a match that was much closer than the score indicated.

"They switched up their team a lot from previously and they've made comments that they don't concentrate on doubles, they just want to go out and win singles," Mechem said "We were aware of that and there was never a big focus on our mind that they were going to get us from the start. We were expecting to be that team [that started strong] so they surprised us."

Lubinsky and Mechem were leading 6-5 at the time Baylor clinched the doubles point.

"Doubles is very important to us and that's hard, because with the effort we put out there in the singles, if we would have had that [doubles] point it's a completely different feel as the match goes on," A&M coach Bobby Kleinecke said.

A&M, which lost all six singles matches to Baylor during the regular season loss, gained a split in two singles matches and got Mechem's point seconds before the Bears closed it out at line No. 6.

Klara Zrustova defeated Marisa Druss, 6-2, 6-3 for the clinching point. Zuzana Chmelarova put Baylor up 2-0 with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Anna Blagodarova at No. 4 and Cerna downed Sarah Foster, 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2.

"I liked the way we came out in doubles, but in the singles you have got to give credit to A&M," Scrivano said. "They fought hard. They are scrappy and they put themselves in position to do well today."

The delays, the first because of lightning and the second with rain, appeared to have more of an affect on the Aggies, who had won at least two straight games in four of the matches going into the first 40-minute break.

"I thought everybody had a great attitude [about the delays]," Kleinecke said. "I think both rain delays we lost some momentum in some matches. They probably feel the same way in some of their matches."

After the second suspension of play, Cerna finished off Foster and Lubinsky lost three straight to drop the second set.

"Our ladies played well out of those breaks, but with time we started regressing again so I was actually glad we had a couple of breaks," Scrivano said.

There wasn't a point played today that wasn't easy," Kleinecke said. "Even the match we lost 2-0, we fought off six match points, so this team didn't quit."

A&M, ranked 26th, finished the season at 21-7. Baylor, ranked No. 13 with a 24-6 mark, will play Florida in the round of 16 for the third straight year. Florida has won the previous two times.

It was Mechem's last match as an Aggie. She leaves as the winningest player in A&M history with 113 victories. She won 6-4, 6-2 over Mihaylova who is second on Baylor's all-time victory list at 121 and had a 17-match win streak.

"It was such a great feeling even though we were losing to look over at my teammates and see them fighting so hard and that is really what motivated me out there," Mechem said. "That's what I play for, that's what makes this experience so great to know you are not alone and you are playing for something greater than yourself."

Lubinsky and Foster, both seniors have the individual NCAAs remaining. Lubinsky will play in the singles and Foster will team with Clifford in the doubles in Georgia in 10 days.

"This can't take from us all the things we have accomplished and all what we put out there and the successes we had," Kleinecke said. "These three seniors have done so much for Texas A&M tennis. You can take each one of them and put down there what they've done, not just winning and losing but what they've put on the table every day."