Doubles matches in progress:
A&M leads D1 4-0
Baylor leads D2 4-2
D3 tied 2-2

Ags lead D1 6-3
Baylor leads D2 7-4
Baylor leads D3 6-5

Baylor wins D2 8-4

Baylor wins D3 8-5

Leads 1-0

Big wins by Connor Pollock and Will Spencer, down 3-2!

Ags fall 4-2, good effort today thought

A "good effort" is the best they can do. Our tennis programs are mediocre on their good days.

This is as close as we have been to Baylor in a long time - we lacked depth, but not talent.

Will miss Bain, but Denton is bringing in much more talent than he is graduating, so next year's team should be even better.

Harry - you got any names to go with the "much better talent" comment? Thanks.

He has signed Austin Klores, an American kid who has been anywhere from 30-50 in the country over the last couple of years. Alberto Bautista, a very talented kid from McAllen is deciding between A&M, Purdue, and texas. He is currently ranked in the 30s nationally.

Of course Austin Krajicek and Wil Spencer were national top-10 class of '08 guys who graduated early and they turned out pretty good. The two guys mentioned above will not likely be Krajicek/Spencer-level guys, but will add depth to the lineup.

Denton's recruiting so far has been great. We were only one good player away from Baylor this year and we haven't been able to say that recently. Sorry to beat a dead horse but if Makowski hadn't quit on the team (or rather if he hadn't quit trying 2 years ago and had instead remained a top-notch player), we would have beat Baylor on Sunday.

It will happen. Give it time.

...and by "much better", I mean that Matt Bain (one of my favorites, but to be fair, an overachieving bottom of the lineup player) and Beatty (a doubles specialist) will not be hard to replace (talent-wise, at least).

If he brings in one more Spencer or Krajicek type player, this team will be very, very good.

Bain was a great contributor to this program. He will be missed.

I agree, and I don't mean to minimalize his contributions. He is everything that is good about college athletics and if you could put his heart in Jerry Makowski's body you would have an NCAA individual champion.

I think Denton's last class was excellent. That being said, two players with US Jr rankings between 30 and 50 aren't going to move us into the top tier. We really need an international player who can step in and be a top 15 college player right from the start to move to the next level.

That's true, and that's what I would prefer to see.

My point, however, was that next year's team will be an improvement and as long as we can keep saying that, then we should be happy. It's at the point where you're settling for the same less-than-championship result year after year (like some other teams) where I become frustrated.

Remember, he didn't make A&M-Corpus a top-notch program by recruiting American kids. The guy knows what he is doing, both domestically and internationally. Give him some time.



[This message has been edited by Harry Dunne (edited 5/12/2008 7:21p).]

I agree it will be an improvement but probably from #25 to #20 and still a loss in the seconde round. Really need a guy to come in at one and move the rest of current guys down one slot. I'm optimistic though. i think Denton and McKinley are a pretty good coaching duo.

68..I would assume there is a considerable amount of aid tied up in your top three guys. Remember Mens tennis gets 4 1/2 ships . You don't get guys like your frosh with good intentions. They most likely have big investments in aid. The key is getting value down low in the lineup.

Years ago Stanford won title after title with a walkon at six. Grant Elliot won four championships for the Cardinal at 6. If the story is true, he never had a ship. That left a bunch of room on the scholarship rolls for Paul Goldstein, Ryan Walters,The Bryans, Jeff Salzentein, and all the other great players to ever come out of The Farm.


If you want to become a top power you either have to have great players come for books or very little aid and play like champions or you have to cheat like a bear on scholarships. Oops sorry about that. Time to go back into hybernation.

[This message has been edited by rikochet (edited 5/12/2008 9:44p).]

[This message has been edited by rikochet (edited 5/12/2008 9:48p).]

Denton just went to Russia to check out some kid and K just went down to Mexico to look at another. Anyone have any information on those two?

Hey Rikochet, don't confuse me with the facts.