The mens tennis team did a good job of defeating number 15 Alabama last night 6-1. This group of youong men is really moving forward, and as long as we stay healthy, we can be a factor in the Big XII race. We play Rice at Bentwater CC near Lake Conroe Wednesday and then on to Oklahoma for OU Saturday and OSU Sunday. If we get out of that run in good shape, things could get interesting down the home stretch.

The boys have picked it up a lot. I have good feelings about things to come..
Does anyone else follow tennis around here??

only missed one home match in the last 2 years

I follow over the net and occasionally make the drive up to College Station to see a match. I wish I could have seen the Bama match. The Bama coach, Billy Pate, used to be my son's coach. Very nice guy and a terrific coach. I did have a chance to see him at the NCAA's last year.
I really like the progress Newp and Lester have made this year. Newp seemed to turn the corner last year when he beat the French kid at Texas. He's played quality number 1 position tennis since then.Lester has developed into a solid 2 and Loucks seems to have adjusted to the college game. Coach Cass does a great, great job developing players. I do wish he could develop a solid international pipeline with a specific country. One or 2 great foreign players can make the difference between a solid top 10 program and one that has a legit shot to win it all.

Well I beleive the current roster has 3 international players (Ante, Khalid and Fenner), with the majority of the team from Texas and California. (Born in USA). If you like international players, follow another team.

This team has beaten several top 10 and top 25 teams that are made up of players that have a hard time talking to each other because they are from different countries.

We should not be focused on the results of every match, but the PROGRESS this team is making during this season. The exciting stuff is coming soon. Big 12 and NCAAs.

This team, the Ags of 03 is not about one or two players, they are about a TEAM, a set of players and coaches that work together to provide the best results they can in every match.

The early matches showed their weakness in experience. They now have a lot of experience and gain experience with every match. If they played Florida next weekend, Florida would lose.

Hats off to Cass and Madden and the Aggie Men's Tennis Team for their hard work, spirit and exciting play. Nobody wants to come to their house!!!

I follow pretty religiously...don't miss many home matches and I make some away matches (past 2 at t.u. and the big 12 championship in waco a few years back). I'm hoping to make it to the Baylor match this year in Waco, but I'm not sure if my schedule will allow it.

Ags40luv...to be fair, Khaled may be from Egypt, but he went to high school here in Texas (all 4 years). I wouldn't exactly consider him an international player like you would generally think of.

Unless you're Stanford, you're not going to win an NCAA Championship with all US players. Even Coach Cass recognized this and said as much last year after the NCAAs.
This year's team has progressed nicely. If they keep improving they can challenge for the Big 12 Championship.

Anyone making it out to Bentwater on Wednesday? I live in Conroe, so its in my backyard.

Does anyone know what happened to Derrick Bauer? He would have really helped this year by playing doubles with Ante and allowing Khaled to only play singles. Also, he probably would have played either 4-6 in singles as well.

Does anyone know how Tres Davis is doing?

i don't think not having bauer is hurting us at all. khaled is doing fine with ante at number 3, not sure that bauer could do any better. he had better size, but khaled brings so much more to the court. IMO he would have played 6 at the highest in singles. regardless, hope derrick is doing well wherever he is.

haven't heard anything from tres since this summer.

AggieDoc,

I think Khalid attended high school while training at John Newcome's Training Center. This is very common with international players, they also go to Nick B's place in Florida, Saddlebrook and so forth. That way they can enter into the college system in the US or the pro circuit. Since he is not a US player, I consider him an international player.

khaled did indeed train at newk's while going to new braunfels. i met him at a clinic there when i was a sophomore in high school(if i remember correctly). though he is from another country, he seems to have become pretty americanized(socially, and in his tennis style), so he's the best of both worlds.