Hurricanes Fall to Texas A&M in ITA Site Championship

COLLEGE STATION, Texas. – The No. 44 University of Miami men’s tennis team fell to 10th-ranked Texas A&M, 7-0, on Sunday evening in the site championship of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.

The Aggies (3-0), who have now won 20-straight matches at home, earn the invitation to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships with today’s victory.

“Today was a tough day for us,” said Miami head coach Mario Rincon. “Texas A&M is a good team from top to bottom. Some of our guys really improved this weekend. Our seniors are setting the standard for the younger guys on the team, fighting for every point and lifting the team. 

“Christian [Blocker], Keith [Crowley] and Eduardo [Pavia] had long battles today, even though they weren’t able to win their singles. Unfortunately, we had to pull Carl [Sundberg] out of singles because he sprained his ankle during doubles.”

Texas A&M — who has the nation’s top-ranked doubles squad in Austin Krajicek and Jeff Dadamo — claimed the first point of the match with wins at both No. 1 and 2 doubles.

Christian Blocker and Keith Crowley took the first sets in singles play to keep the Hurricanes (2-2) going, however the Aggies managed three consecutive straight sets wins at No. 6, No. 1 and No. 5 to clinch the match.

“The score doesn’t reflect our efforts out there today,” said Crowley. “Christian and I both had great matches that could have gone either way and we fought hard on all courts. Despite the loss we got many good things from this weekend. We have put ourselves in a great position in the beginning of the season, and I believe our hard work and determination will come through for us when we need it most! Back to the drawing board on Tuesday…”

The match was delayed approximately 90 minutes as a brief rain shower hit College Station.