When former Longhorn and current coach Steve Denton was hired as men's tennis head coach in 2006, he brought back the Texas Cup.
The Texas Cup is a neutral site, non-conference tennis match between historic rivals Texas A&M and Texas. The Texas Cup was started in 2001, but was taken off the schedule from 2003-2006. Back on the schedule, the Texas Cup allows both teams to play a competitive conference opponent before conference play begins.
"We have a lot of young players on our team," said Denton. "Our schedule is full of top teams because we need to play the best competition possible. [Playing Texas] everyone gets a tough match."
After losing to No. 10 Florida and being knocked out of the ITA Indoors, the No. 15 Aggies will look to rebound as they take on rival Texas at the Downtown Club at the Met in Houston.
The Aggies will be playing a Texas team that ranks second in the country and has yet to lose this season. Also adding to the excitement is the fact that the match will be held indoors on a neutral site. Indoor courts not only add to the noise level, but also are faster than normal outdoor hard courts.
"[Playing Texas] makes the match more exciting," said sophomore Austin Krajicek. "[Their ranking] makes us want to beat them even more. Most of our guys like indoor courts and they are a little louder, so it is a nice change for this part of the season."
Texas A&M will also look to avenge three losses to Texas last season. The most recent lost to Texas was a 4-0 loss in which A&M was knocked out of the Big 12 tournament in 2008. During the match, Krajicek was the only Aggie to win a set. The other two losses included a 4-3 loss in Austin one week before the Big 12 Championships and 4-0 sweep during the 2008 Texas Cup.
"They are a really good team," Denton said. "They are as good as last year in singles, maybe better. They will be a good test, like Florida, to see what we need to do to get to that next level."
Despite Texas' top 5 ranking, Senior Conor Pollock said, "There is not much parity in college tennis. The ranking does not make them unbeatable; if we go out and play then we can win."
While the Aggies have a starting line-up of players from the US, the Longhorns have three international players from Mexico, England, and Bulgaria in their line-up. In fact, more than half of the A&M roster is from the Lone Star State while Texas has just four players from Texas. Playing the sixth position for Texas will be junior and fellow Texan, Josh Zavala, who won two 5A singles championships for Amarillo-Tascosa High School.
Playing No. 2 Longhorns this weekend will be a warm-up for Aggies who over the next two months will face three other teams in the top 25. On Mar. 13 A&M will play host to top ranked Ohio State. Two days later, the Aggies will welcome No. 13 Illinois to the Mitchell Tennis Center. The Aggies will wrap up pre-conference play by taking on No. 16 LSU one week before Big 12 play begins.
Be the first to comment on this article!