Stanford Moves on with 4-2 Win over Texas A&M; Virginia Shuts Out Illinois

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Palo Alto, CA--

The host Stanford Cardinal sent their fans home happy, beating Texas A&M 4-2 in one of the evening matches. With his costumed fraternity brothers cheering him on, 2010 NCAA singles champion Bradley Klahn clinched the match for the No. 8 seeded Cardinal with a 6-4, 6-3 win over the Aggies Austin Krajicek.

“The crowd was unbelievable today,” said Klahn, a junior. “Brought us a lot of energy and really got us motivated, amped up and energized. I thought we were able to ride that, even though we lost the doubles point. We took four first sets in singles, and I was really pleased with the way the team came through.”

Klahn and doubles partner Ryan Thacher had a match point in the tiebreaker that would decide the doubles point against Krajicek and Jeff Dadamo at the No. 1 court. But Dadamo saved it with a stunning second-serve ace, and the Aggie team went on to claim the tiebreaker 10-8.

“The guys were pretty confident when we went in the room, after losing the doubles point,” said Stanford head coach John Whitlinger. “They didn’t have their heads down.”

Stanford got singles wins from Thacher, Alex Clayton and Matt Kandath, allowing Klahn to finish off the No. 9 Aggies, putting the Cardinal in the quarterfinals against top seed Virginia, a 4-0 winner over Illinois.



Although the Cavaliers were over three hours late getting on the courts due to the nearly five-hour match between Baylor and UCLA, head coach Brian Boland didn’t see any impact on his undefeated team.

“Not a bit,” said Boland, whose team has been the top seed in the past four NCAA tournaments, but has yet to make a final. “I think the guys were really ready to play and we’ve had plenty of preparation…I think it showed.”

The Cavaliers took the doubles point, and got wins from Alex Domijan, Jarmere Jenkins and Sanam Singh to post their third victory of the year over the Fighting Illini.

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#8 STANFORD (21-5) 4
#9 TEXAS A&M (29-6) 2

Doubles (Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1)
1) No. 4 Dadamo/Krajicek (TAMU) d. No. 3 Klahn/Thacher (STAN) 9-8 (8)
2) Kandath/Lin (STAN) d. No. 66 Ore/Grigorov (TAMU) 8-6
3) Klegou/Hoover (TAMU) d. Ball/Clayton (STAN) 8-6

Singles (Order of Finish: 3, 6, 5, 2, 1)
1) No. 9 Bradley Klahn (STAN) d. No. 17 Austin Krajicek (TAMU) 6-4, 6-3
2) No. 46 Ryan Thacher (STAN) d. No. 31 Jeff Dadamo (TAMU) 7-6 (3), 6-1
3) No. 71 Alex Clayton (STAN) d. Alexey Grigorov (TAMU) 7-5, 6-3
4) No. 119 Denis Lin (STAN) vs. No. 94 Alexis Klegou (TAMU) aban.
5) Matt Kandath (STAN) d. Colin Hoover (TAMU) 7-5, 6-0
6) Junior Ore (TAMU) d. Daniel Ho (STAN) 6-3, 6-4

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#1 VIRGINIA (32-0) 4
ILLINOIS (18-11) 0

Doubles (Order of Finish: 1, 2)
1) No. 2 Courtney/Shabaz (UVA) d. No. 78 Hamui/Souza (ILL) 8-0
2) Jenkins/Uriguen (UVA) d. Alden/Nevolo (ILL) 8-2
3) Domijan/Singh (UVA) vs. Hoh/Singh (ILL) aban.

Singles (Order of Finish: 2, 4, 3)
1) No. 5 Michael Shabaz (UVA) vs. No. 15 Dennis Nevolo (ILL) aban.
2) No. 2 Alex Domijan (UVA) d. KU Singh (ILL) 6-2, 6-2
3) No. 34 Sanam Singh (UVA) d. No. 122 Roy Kalmanovich (ILL) 6-2, 6-4
4) No. 56 Jarmere Jenkins (UVA) d. No. 81 Abe Souza (ILL) 6-3, 6-2
5) Justin Shane (UVA) vs. No. 104 Johnny Hamui (ILL) aban.
6) Julen Uriguen (UVA) vs. Bruno Abdelnour (ILL) aban.