April 13, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Texas A&M women's tennis team puts its undefeated Big 12 Conference record on the line Wednesday, as the Aggies take on No. 2 Baylor (18-2, 6-0 Big 12) in Waco, Texas. First serve is at 6 p.m. at the Baylor Tennis Center.
The No. 34 Aggies improved to 10-5 overall and 5-0 in Big 12 matches after winning matches at No. 37 Oklahoma and No. 58 Oklahoma State last weekend.
Baylor, the five-time defending Big 12 regular season champion and the only team currently ahead of the Aggies in the Big 12 standings, extended its winning streak to 12 with a 6-1 victory at No. 45 Nebraska on Sunday, handing the Huskers their first conference loss of the season.
"We are going in there with the conference title in our hands," said A&M head coach Bobby Kleinecke, who is two wins shy of reaching his 400th career victory. "Baylor has a great team. We played them well in the fall matches, but they are playing with a lot more confidence right now, and that has been the big difference. We are going there to take a great shot at them. We believe we can come away with the match."
At No. 65, Elzé Potgieter (Bloemfontein, South Africa) is the highest ranked of three A&M players listed in the latest ITA national singles rankings. She is 10-6 in dual matches, all at the No. 1 line.
Freshman Nazari Urbina (Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico), who was named the Big 12 Co-Player of the Week earlier today, is No. 72 and is 9-0 at the singles second line. Junior Morgan Frank (Oldsmar, Fla.) is No. 109 and is riding a career-best 15-match winning streak. She is 15-1 in dual matches, including 10-0 at the No. 3 singles line.
Potgieter and Urbina jumped to No. 29 in the doubles rankings and are 9-4 at the No. 1 line. Against Oklahoma, they posted their highest ranked win of the season, defeating Oklahoma's then-No. 29th-ranked pair of Ana-Marie Constantinescu and Teona Tsertsvadze.
Frank and partner Stephanie Davidson (Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas) also have been clutch, going 8-2 at the No. 2 spot.
Baylor has four players in the latest ITA singles rankings, including No. 5 Lenka Broosova who is 6-0 in Big 12 matches only and 16-2 overall at the No. 1 line. Nina Secerbegovic is No. 18 and also boasts a 6-0 league ledger, all at the No. 3 position. In addition, Taylor Ormond is ranked 55th, and Csilla Borsanyi is No. 106.
In doubles, Broosova and Borsanyi are ranked No. 10 in the nation. They are 15-3 at the No. 1 line, including 6-0 in conference matches.
A&M holds a 20-15 lead in the all-time series against the Lady Bears, but Baylor has won the last eight meetings and 13 of the last 15. Last year, then No. 5 Baylor topped A&M, 6-1, in College Station en route to its fifth consecutive Big 12 regular-season championship.
The match against Baylor marks the end of a three-match road swing for the Aggies, who return home this weekend for a pair of matches against Iowa State and Nebraska. First serve against the Cyclones is Friday at 6 p.m., and the match against the Huskers begins at 4 p.m. on Saturday at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
Free live scoring of all A&M matches is available at AggieAthletics.com.