Texas A&M Women’s Tennis Completes Signing Class
Apr 26, 2017 | Women's Tennis
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Texas A&M women's tennis head coach Mark Weaver announced that Riley McQuaid of Tustin, California, Iulia Ivascu from Bucharest, Romania, and Dorthea Abigel Faa-Hviding of Stavanger, Norway, recently signed letters of intent to play for the Aggies starting in the fall. They complete Weaver's 2017 recruiting class, which also includes Russian Tatiana Makarova, who committed during the fall signing period.
"Texas A&M will be well represented with a very solid class of incoming freshman," Weaver said. "We are definitely bringing in a lot of new faces, and our team will no doubt take upon somewhat of a new dynamic and identity. I am excited to see how the potential of our four new ladies in Tatiana, Riley, Iulia, and Dorthea in addition to our existing team takes shape. The future is bright for Aggie Tennis."
McQuaid is a five-star recruit who has been as high as No. 14 in TennisRecruiting.net's junior rankings. A former member of the U.S. Junior National Team, she has won four coveted United States Tennis Association (UTSA) Gold Balls, three in singles and one in doubles, and has won numerous titles in her home state, including the 2013 Southern California Sectional tournament.
McQuaid, No. 31 in TennisRecruiting.net's March list of 100 top players in the 2017 recruiting class, won the 14s singles division at the 2013 USTA National Winter Championships and finished the year ranked fourth in the nation. She received a No. 1 ranking in the 12s age group and was the recipient of the prestigious overall Sportsmanship Award at the 2011 USTA National Championship.
"Riley has won at the highest of levels amongst the USTA Junior Circuit throughout her career, and I am confident that will transfer over to the collegiate level," Weaver said. "She has earned a handful of national balls which are not easy to come by and most notably won the Junior Winter Nationals in singles. Riley brings tremendous speed and a great deal of fire and energy to the tennis court and will no doubt be a positive contributor and leader to our tennis team."
Ivascu has experienced success in international tournaments throughout her junior career, including doubles championships at the 2016 Plovdiv Cup in Bulgaria and the 2015 Kenana Cup in Haskovo, Bulgaria, as well as the 2014 summer and winter U16 national championships.
She began playing tennis when she was six and won both the singles and doubles titles at the 2009 Open des 10/12 in France and the 2010 winter and summer national championships. In 2011 she won both singles and doubles titles in the U14 division in three tournaments in Europe, and she also had numerous top three finishes throughout 2013 and 2014.
"Iulia has won numerous national championships in Romania in every age division and has been won of the top juniors throughout her extensive career," Weaver said. "In addition, Iulia has had a great amount of success internationally at both junior and professional level events. She has an all-around type of game that is well suited to compete in both the singles and doubles at the highest of the collegiate level."
Faa-Hviding has won a combined 15 Norwegian championships in singles, doubles and mixed doubles since she was 12 years old. She also has won four silver medals and six bronze medals at the European Championships. She has been No. 1 in all the Norway junior rankings, and in 2015, she won the ITF Deloitte Junior Cup in Aarhus, Denmark.
"Dorthea has won countless national titles and has been ranked No. 1 in every age division in Norway," Weaver said. "She also has represented Norway in the European Championships every year throughout her junior career in Norway. She acquired an 11.48 UTR ranking in January 2017, which is extremely high in relation to the current top players in the ITA collegiate rankings. Dorthea is a powerful lefty with a big game that has tremendous potential to compete at a very high level in the college ranks."
Weaver will lose five seniors—Rutuja Bhosale, Saska Gavrilovska, Stefania Hristov, Rachel Pierson and Mason Strickland—from this year's team that is currently 16-12 and is expecting to receive an at-large berth in the NCAA Championship when the 64-team field is announced Tuesday, May 2 at 4:30 p.m. on NCAA.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
Pronunciations
Pronunciations:
Iulia Ivascu: YOU-lee-ah e-VAS-coo
Dorthea Abigel Faa-Hviding: door-TAY ah ab-ih-gel fay-hiding
Rutuja Bhosale rue-too-jah BO-slay
Tina Bokhua BO-kwah
Saska Gavrilovska SAUSH-ka gav-ril-ohv-ska
Stefania Hristov steff-on-ya RIS-tov
Eva Paalma A-va palma
"Texas A&M will be well represented with a very solid class of incoming freshman," Weaver said. "We are definitely bringing in a lot of new faces, and our team will no doubt take upon somewhat of a new dynamic and identity. I am excited to see how the potential of our four new ladies in Tatiana, Riley, Iulia, and Dorthea in addition to our existing team takes shape. The future is bright for Aggie Tennis."
McQuaid is a five-star recruit who has been as high as No. 14 in TennisRecruiting.net's junior rankings. A former member of the U.S. Junior National Team, she has won four coveted United States Tennis Association (UTSA) Gold Balls, three in singles and one in doubles, and has won numerous titles in her home state, including the 2013 Southern California Sectional tournament.
McQuaid, No. 31 in TennisRecruiting.net's March list of 100 top players in the 2017 recruiting class, won the 14s singles division at the 2013 USTA National Winter Championships and finished the year ranked fourth in the nation. She received a No. 1 ranking in the 12s age group and was the recipient of the prestigious overall Sportsmanship Award at the 2011 USTA National Championship.
"Riley has won at the highest of levels amongst the USTA Junior Circuit throughout her career, and I am confident that will transfer over to the collegiate level," Weaver said. "She has earned a handful of national balls which are not easy to come by and most notably won the Junior Winter Nationals in singles. Riley brings tremendous speed and a great deal of fire and energy to the tennis court and will no doubt be a positive contributor and leader to our tennis team."
Ivascu has experienced success in international tournaments throughout her junior career, including doubles championships at the 2016 Plovdiv Cup in Bulgaria and the 2015 Kenana Cup in Haskovo, Bulgaria, as well as the 2014 summer and winter U16 national championships.
She began playing tennis when she was six and won both the singles and doubles titles at the 2009 Open des 10/12 in France and the 2010 winter and summer national championships. In 2011 she won both singles and doubles titles in the U14 division in three tournaments in Europe, and she also had numerous top three finishes throughout 2013 and 2014.
"Iulia has won numerous national championships in Romania in every age division and has been won of the top juniors throughout her extensive career," Weaver said. "In addition, Iulia has had a great amount of success internationally at both junior and professional level events. She has an all-around type of game that is well suited to compete in both the singles and doubles at the highest of the collegiate level."
Faa-Hviding has won a combined 15 Norwegian championships in singles, doubles and mixed doubles since she was 12 years old. She also has won four silver medals and six bronze medals at the European Championships. She has been No. 1 in all the Norway junior rankings, and in 2015, she won the ITF Deloitte Junior Cup in Aarhus, Denmark.
"Dorthea has won countless national titles and has been ranked No. 1 in every age division in Norway," Weaver said. "She also has represented Norway in the European Championships every year throughout her junior career in Norway. She acquired an 11.48 UTR ranking in January 2017, which is extremely high in relation to the current top players in the ITA collegiate rankings. Dorthea is a powerful lefty with a big game that has tremendous potential to compete at a very high level in the college ranks."
Weaver will lose five seniors—Rutuja Bhosale, Saska Gavrilovska, Stefania Hristov, Rachel Pierson and Mason Strickland—from this year's team that is currently 16-12 and is expecting to receive an at-large berth in the NCAA Championship when the 64-team field is announced Tuesday, May 2 at 4:30 p.m. on NCAA.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
Pronunciations
Pronunciations:
Iulia Ivascu: YOU-lee-ah e-VAS-coo
Dorthea Abigel Faa-Hviding: door-TAY ah ab-ih-gel fay-hiding
Rutuja Bhosale rue-too-jah BO-slay
Tina Bokhua BO-kwah
Saska Gavrilovska SAUSH-ka gav-ril-ohv-ska
Stefania Hristov steff-on-ya RIS-tov
Eva Paalma A-va palma
— Aggie Women's Tennis (@AggieWTEN) April 26, 2017
— Aggie Women's Tennis (@AggieWTEN) April 26, 2017
— Aggie Women's Tennis (@AggieWTEN) April 26, 2017
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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