Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics
Texas A&M Women’s Tennis Team Reports for Spring Season
Jan 12, 2016 | Women's Tennis
Season Tickets | Schedule
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The 10th-ranked Texas A&M women's tennis team officially opens spring practice Wednesday under the direction of first-year head coach Mark Weaver.
"I'm definitely anxious to get started and get out on the practice courts," said Weaver, who had served as the Aggies' assistant or associate head coach the last eight years and took over the head position last summer after previous head coach Howard Joffe stepped down after four seasons to take the same position at Texas. "We have only 10 days to get the girls prepared and then we really hit the ground running."
The Aggies open the spring season Jan. 23-24 as they play host to South Alabama, Wichita State and Minnesota in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center. The winner of the tournament advances to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, Feb. 5-8, in Madison, Wis. Prior to the national tournament, A&M takes on No. 11 Baylor in Waco on Jan. 27 and closes out the month at No. 4 North Carolina on Jan. 31.
"It will be a tricky first few matches with everyone battling the nerves, and then we hit a really tough road stretch playing Baylor indoors and North Carolina indoors," Weaver said. "If we are fortunate to make the national indoors, we most likely will be facing three top 20 teams in the nation, indoors and on the road, so it is a very demanding start to the schedule, but that's how we want it."
Weaver returns all seven players from last year's team that went 17-6 and was No. 10 in the final rankings after reaching the NCAA Championship round of 16. Highlighting the list of returners is junior Saska Gavrilovska, who garnered All-America status after reaching the round of 16 at the 2015 NCAA Singles Championship. At No. 53, Gavrilovska enters the spring as the highest ranked A&M player in the Oracle/ITA singles rankings published last week.
Junior Rachel Pierson, who competed in both the NCAA singles and doubles championships last year, was a member of the All-SEC team and was the 2015 ITA Texas Region Player to Watch, and Rutuja Bhosale, an All-SEC second team selection in 2015, also return and are No. 58 and No. 106, respectively, in the ITA singles rankings.
Seniors Ines Deheza, Anna Mamalat and Stefania Hristov, who all have been integral members of the team since helping the Aggies reach the NCAA championship match as freshmen in 2013, return for their final season, although Hristov, who carries the most career singles and doubles victories on the team, is out indefinitely after having shoulder surgery during the offseason.
"Stefania always sets examples for everyone and has kind of been the vocal leader for almost the last four years now, so that is definitely a big blow to us," Weaver said. "She is the heart and soul of our team in many ways, and I know she will still be supporting us any way she can. We are optimistic that she can help us toward the end of the season if we need her, but we still have an excellent team without her."
Sophomore Eva Paalma also returns after a record-setting freshman campaign in which she and Pierson teamed together at the NCAA Doubles Championship and ended the season ranked 15th, setting an A&M record for the highest final doubles ranking in program history.
Domenica Gonzalez, from Ecuador, is the lone freshman on the team and is expected to bolster the Aggies' veteran squad after posting impressive results in her fall debut.
"Domenica is fitting in really well and had an excellent fall," Weaver said. "She is an extremely experienced tennis player, and it will be interesting to see how she continues to come along. She came on in the fall and was getting used to everything, but it will be an adjustment again for her in the spring with the team competition and all the travel. It is very different from what she is used to."
The Aggies went a combined 43-28 in singles and 21-13 in doubles during the fall. Gavrilovska led the team in singles victories with an 8-3 mark, and Bhosale and Mamalat led the way in doubles, going 8-2.
"By the end of fall I felt like we were playing some really good tennis," Weaver said. "It took us a little while to all get on the same page. Coming back from the summer break is always a tricky time of year, but probably midway through the fall I started feeling really good about things and felt like we kind of went out with a bang towards the end of the season.
"Overall we got a lot of matches in -- probably more than we have in past years -- and came up with some wins, and that is always a good way to end the season. We are still figuring some things out, particularly with the doubles and now with Stefania's injury, that is going to hurt us in the doubles, so that will be one of the key goals over the next week or two is to try and figure out our doubles lineup. But I do think that we have a group of experienced individuals who have really come together, and I do feel like we have a really united team, which I think is a great advantage and that is something Patrick (Sullivan, Associate Head Coach) and I have been really encouraging. I feel like the girls are really playing for each other.
"I think one of the tricks to the season will be how smart we work. We need to work hard, but we need to be smart and be able to take care of our bodies. It is a strenuous season, so we definitely need to look out for ourselves."
Of the Aggies' 21 scheduled dual matches, 12 will be against teams ranked in the preseason top 30, including defending national champion and No. 1-ranked Vanderbilt, No. 3 Florida and No. 4 Georgia, as well as two matches against the 11th-ranked Baylor Bears.
Season tickets for the Aggies' 13-match home schedule are on sale at 12thManFoundation.com.
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M women's tennis. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M women's tennis team on Twitter by following @AggieWTEN or on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/pages/Aggie-Womens-Tennis/143874782434654
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The 10th-ranked Texas A&M women's tennis team officially opens spring practice Wednesday under the direction of first-year head coach Mark Weaver.
"I'm definitely anxious to get started and get out on the practice courts," said Weaver, who had served as the Aggies' assistant or associate head coach the last eight years and took over the head position last summer after previous head coach Howard Joffe stepped down after four seasons to take the same position at Texas. "We have only 10 days to get the girls prepared and then we really hit the ground running."
The Aggies open the spring season Jan. 23-24 as they play host to South Alabama, Wichita State and Minnesota in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center. The winner of the tournament advances to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, Feb. 5-8, in Madison, Wis. Prior to the national tournament, A&M takes on No. 11 Baylor in Waco on Jan. 27 and closes out the month at No. 4 North Carolina on Jan. 31.
"It will be a tricky first few matches with everyone battling the nerves, and then we hit a really tough road stretch playing Baylor indoors and North Carolina indoors," Weaver said. "If we are fortunate to make the national indoors, we most likely will be facing three top 20 teams in the nation, indoors and on the road, so it is a very demanding start to the schedule, but that's how we want it."
Weaver returns all seven players from last year's team that went 17-6 and was No. 10 in the final rankings after reaching the NCAA Championship round of 16. Highlighting the list of returners is junior Saska Gavrilovska, who garnered All-America status after reaching the round of 16 at the 2015 NCAA Singles Championship. At No. 53, Gavrilovska enters the spring as the highest ranked A&M player in the Oracle/ITA singles rankings published last week.
Junior Rachel Pierson, who competed in both the NCAA singles and doubles championships last year, was a member of the All-SEC team and was the 2015 ITA Texas Region Player to Watch, and Rutuja Bhosale, an All-SEC second team selection in 2015, also return and are No. 58 and No. 106, respectively, in the ITA singles rankings.
Seniors Ines Deheza, Anna Mamalat and Stefania Hristov, who all have been integral members of the team since helping the Aggies reach the NCAA championship match as freshmen in 2013, return for their final season, although Hristov, who carries the most career singles and doubles victories on the team, is out indefinitely after having shoulder surgery during the offseason.
"Stefania always sets examples for everyone and has kind of been the vocal leader for almost the last four years now, so that is definitely a big blow to us," Weaver said. "She is the heart and soul of our team in many ways, and I know she will still be supporting us any way she can. We are optimistic that she can help us toward the end of the season if we need her, but we still have an excellent team without her."
Sophomore Eva Paalma also returns after a record-setting freshman campaign in which she and Pierson teamed together at the NCAA Doubles Championship and ended the season ranked 15th, setting an A&M record for the highest final doubles ranking in program history.
Domenica Gonzalez, from Ecuador, is the lone freshman on the team and is expected to bolster the Aggies' veteran squad after posting impressive results in her fall debut.
"Domenica is fitting in really well and had an excellent fall," Weaver said. "She is an extremely experienced tennis player, and it will be interesting to see how she continues to come along. She came on in the fall and was getting used to everything, but it will be an adjustment again for her in the spring with the team competition and all the travel. It is very different from what she is used to."
The Aggies went a combined 43-28 in singles and 21-13 in doubles during the fall. Gavrilovska led the team in singles victories with an 8-3 mark, and Bhosale and Mamalat led the way in doubles, going 8-2.
"By the end of fall I felt like we were playing some really good tennis," Weaver said. "It took us a little while to all get on the same page. Coming back from the summer break is always a tricky time of year, but probably midway through the fall I started feeling really good about things and felt like we kind of went out with a bang towards the end of the season.
"Overall we got a lot of matches in -- probably more than we have in past years -- and came up with some wins, and that is always a good way to end the season. We are still figuring some things out, particularly with the doubles and now with Stefania's injury, that is going to hurt us in the doubles, so that will be one of the key goals over the next week or two is to try and figure out our doubles lineup. But I do think that we have a group of experienced individuals who have really come together, and I do feel like we have a really united team, which I think is a great advantage and that is something Patrick (Sullivan, Associate Head Coach) and I have been really encouraging. I feel like the girls are really playing for each other.
"I think one of the tricks to the season will be how smart we work. We need to work hard, but we need to be smart and be able to take care of our bodies. It is a strenuous season, so we definitely need to look out for ourselves."
Of the Aggies' 21 scheduled dual matches, 12 will be against teams ranked in the preseason top 30, including defending national champion and No. 1-ranked Vanderbilt, No. 3 Florida and No. 4 Georgia, as well as two matches against the 11th-ranked Baylor Bears.
Season tickets for the Aggies' 13-match home schedule are on sale at 12thManFoundation.com.
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M women's tennis. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M women's tennis team on Twitter by following @AggieWTEN or on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/pages/Aggie-Womens-Tennis/143874782434654
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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