April 4, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Texas A&M women's tennis team puts its five-match winning streak on the line as the No. 39 Aggies play host to No. 6 Notre Dame on Monday at 6 p.m. at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
The match is part of a tripleheader with the Aggie men's team, which plays host to UTSA at noon and the Notre Dame men's team at 6 p.m. Hotdogs, drinks and popcorn will be available for $1 each throughout the day as long as supplies last.
A&M (8-4, 3-0 Big 12) won its fifth consecutive match and remained undefeated in Big 12 Conference play with a 5-2 victory over No. 67 Texas Tech on March 28 in Lubbock. The match marked A&M's 26th consecutive victory against the Lady Raiders.
The Irish are 15-3 after dropping a 6-1 decision at No. 2 Baylor on Saturday. The match at A&M will wrap up a seven-match road swing for Notre Dame.
A&M has been most successful at the No. 2 and No. 3 singles positions this season, posting a 12-1 record at each line. Junior Morgan Frank (Oldsmar, Fla.) and freshman Nazari Urbina (Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico), listed No. 116 and No. 70, respectively, in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) singles rankings, have split time at the two positions. Frank is 5-1 at No. 2 and 7-0 at No. 3, where she has played the last three matches. Frank is riding a career-high 12-match winning streak.
Urbina is 7-0 at No. 2 and 5-1 record at No. 3. She enters the Notre Dame match riding an 11-match winning streak.
Elzé Potgieter (Bloemfontein, South Africa), who is tied for eighth place in the A&M career records with 85 career singles victories, is 8-5 at the No. 1 line and ranked No. 58 in the nation. In doubles, the senior is ranked No. 71 with Urbina, and the tandem sports a 7-3 record at the No. 1 line.
A&M, 3-0 in home matches (the team's home opening loss to SMU has been nullified), has won the doubles point in 10 of 12 matches. Frank and junior Stephanie Davidson (Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas) are riding a seven-match winning steak and are 7-0 at the No. 2 doubles line. A&M has used three different combinations at the No. 3 doubles line, where the Aggies are 9-4.
Notre Dame also is impressive in doubles, where the Irish are led by the fourth-ranked duo of Kristy Frilling and Kali Krisik. The pair won its 14th straight match in the Baylor match, defeating No. 12 Lenka Broosova and Csilla Borsanyi at No. 1 doubles to help the Irish clinch the doubles point against the Bears.
In singles, Frilling leads the Irish with a 14-4 mark at No. 1 singles and is ranked 18th in the latest ITA poll. Chrissie McGaffigan is ranked No. 113 and has 12 wins on the season. Cosmina Ciobanu has won 11 of her last 12 matches and is 15-3.
Notre Dame holds a 6-1 advantage in the all-time series against the Aggies and has won the last six meetings. Last year, the then-No. 4 Fighting Irish defeated A&M, 6-1, at Notre Dame's Eck Tennis Pavilion. The teams last met in College Station in 2008, with the then-No. 24 Irish topping No. 27 A&M, 4-3, at the Mitchell Tennis Center.
The Aggies return to Big 12 Conference play next weekend as A&M travels to Oklahoma to take on the Sooners in Norman on Saturday and the Oklahoma State Cowgirls on Sunday. Match time against OU is 11 a.m. at Headington Family Tennis Center. First serve against OSU is slated for 12 p.m. at the DeBois Tennis Center in Stillwater.
Free live video and scoring of A&M home tennis matches is available at AggieAthletics.com.