4-1! Whoop!

Vintage Aggie tennis. Take doubles, Mathew wins at six, Jerry at one, and John closes the deal at four. Conor lost at three, Bryan was down at two, and Brett was up big at six when they stopped the match. It most likely would have been a 5-2 win if it had played out. This capped a great four day run with wins over Florida State, Michigan, and Illinois. We are a long way from a finished product, but this clearly gives everyone a big shot in the arm. Great crowd, considering nearly all the students are out of town.

Bryan wasn't down. He took the first set, and was only slightly behind in the second.

[This message has been edited by Fish Pond Manager (edited 3/12/2006 3:32p).]

You may be right. I thought he lost the first set. He was playing very hard on line two. Great win for the Aggies.

Whoop is right, if you missed this match, you missed a number 60 team kick the hell outta a number 2 team and it was vintage Aggie Tennis and a home town crowd. Illinois brought many ranked players to this match and they lost, lost and lost and lost. Dehart said he could not get out of Texas fast enough.

The Longhorns beat them on Friday, but the Aggies stomped them on Sunday. Well done Ags, keep it going and the fans will come. 10 home games coming up!!!!

[This message has been edited by Ags40luv (edited 3/12/2006 8:16p).]

Agreed. This may be the biggest nonconference win since Pepperdine. Our kids were spectacular.

Great win, buying back some of the credibility we lost. This will give the guys some confidence that they will need to make a run at the Big 12 title. Top 20, here we come again.

The drama was not in the singles. It was the doubles that led the Aggies to victory.

In the late stage of the doubles, we were on serve 6-6 on #3, on serve 7-7 on #2, and down a break 7-5 on #1, with Illinois ready to serve at #1 to claim that set. Gonzales and DeHeart had not been broken all day. When they won the point that put them up 7-4, DeHeart yelled, “Bring it on”. Well, Brett and Bryan did. They held to go 7-5. Then they broke to make it 7-6, which pumped up the crowd (the noise at this point was outstanding) and all of the Aggie players.

Meanwhile at #2, Jerry and Matt had held for 8-7, and at #3, Conor and Marcus had held for 7-6. The break at #1 and the Home Court advantage crowd noise got to Illinois, and we broke then on both courts within minutes following our break at #1. The look on DeHeart’s face when we won the second doubles at #2 and Brett just walking off the court in the middle of the game to congratulate Matt and Jerry was priceless.

Coach Cass said after the match that the break by Brett and Bryan was critical. If they had lost that game, the match at #1 would have been over in favor of Illinois, and the pressure on the Aggie players at #2 and #3 would have been tremendous. Both courts probably would have gone to a tiebreaker, and either team could have won.

Congratulations to all of the doubles players for playing with guts, courage, and determination at the critical point in the match.

The doubles did set the tone for sure, and the 12th Man was a very huge factor. I remember Dehart asking the crowd if they were clapping for him, serving at 7-5 15-40 and we said no way, for victory on 3. He was shocked we won that match and then he lost his serve. He did not have the guts to play it out after the Brian and Brett broke and lines 2 and 3 lost.

No guts, no glory and Dehart had neither today. Their doubles loss probably played a trump card in their singles since Dehard and Gonzales lost their singles in straight sets to close out the match to Jerry and John.

As Jimmy Connors once said, "This is what they came for, this is what they want to see" and that is what the crowd got yesterday. I feel sorry for those that missed it, I certainly will never forget the match. The Aggie Spirit is unmatched anywhere.

[This message has been edited by Ags40luv (edited 3/13/2006 6:32p).]

Very nice win -- this is more like it!

gig em!!!