Feb. 18, 2010
LAS VEGAS - The Texas A&M women's' tennis team returns to action on Friday, taking on the University of San Diego in the Aggies' first of three matches in three days to be played at the Fertitta Tennis Complex on the UNLV campus in Las Vegas.
The 39th-ranked Aggies also will face No. 41 Fresno State on Saturday and No. 50 UNLV on Sunday. Matches begin at 10 a.m. (12 p.m. CT) each day, and live scoring of the matches will be available at AggieAthletics.com.
The Aggies are 1-2 and have not played since trouncing then-No. 42 LSU, 6-1 on Feb. 7. A&M swept the doubles matches and got straight-set wins at the Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 5 lines to jump out to a 5-0 lead en route to A&M's first victory of the season.
A&M senior Elzé Potgieter (Bloemfontein, South Africa) is 3-0 in singles, all at the No. 1 line. All three victories have been against ranked opponents, including a career-best straight-set victory over No. 9 Jospia Bek of Clemson in the season opener. Potgieter, who catapulted to a career-high No. 33 in the ITA singles rankings released today, enters the weekend with 80 career wins and needs only two more to break into A&M's top 10 for career victories.
Potgieter and doubles partner Nazari Urbina are ranked No. 45 in the most recent doubles rankings. Urbina, a freshman from Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, is No. 69 in singles.
Although unranked, the duo of Stephanie Davidson (Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas) and Morgan Frank (Oldsmar, Fla.) pace the Aggies in doubles with a perfect 3-0 mark at the No. 2 line.
San Diego, which defeated LSU, 4-1, during the ITA Kick-Off Weekend, is 4-3 on the season and ranked No. 56. The Toreros are coming off a 6-1 loss to Pepperdine on Feb. 14. Juliette Coupez earned the team's only point with a straight-set win at No. 1 singles.
Fresno State enters the round-robin weekend looking for its first win of the season. The Bulldogs, who face UNLV on Friday, dropped to 0-3 with a 5-2 loss to Saint Mary's on Feb. 4. Senior Anastasia Petukhova, the No. 6 singles player in the nation, is 3-0 at No. 1 singles and 2-0 at No. 1 doubles with Renata Kucerkova.
UNLV is 5-2 entering its Friday match against the Bulldogs. Most recently, the Lady Rebels improved to 4-0 in home matches by sweeping Utah State on Feb. 12. Senior Kristina Nedeltcheva became UNLV's all-time leader for doubles victories in the win against the Aggies, notching her 85th career win as she and partner Jana Albers, a transfer from Nebraska, defeated Utah State's Hailey Swenson and Jaclyn West, 8-6, at the No. 1 line.
Nedeltcheva and Albers are ranked No. 45 and No. 72, respectively in singles, and teammates Alisa Razina and Anna Maskaljun are No. 52 in doubles.
The Aggies continue their road schedule at South Florida on Feb. 28 and at TCU on March 6 before playing their home opener on March 9 against SMU.
Weekend schedule (all times are PST)
Friday, Feb. 19
No. 39 Texas A&M vs. No. 56 San Diego, 10 a.m.
Saturday, Feb. 20
No. 39 Texas A&M vs. No. 41 Fresno State, 10 a.m.
Sunday, Feb. 21
No. 39 Texas A&M vs. No. 50 UNLV, 10 a.m.