April 13, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Texas A&M's Nazari Urbina has been named the Big 12 Women's Tennis Player of the Week for matches of April 5-11, the conference office announced today. She shares the honor with Texas' Aeriel Ellis.
Urbina, a freshman from Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, went a combined 4-0 in Big 12 matches only last week, winning both singles matches at the No. 2 line and both doubles matches at the No. 1 line to help the Aggies improve to 10-5 overall and remain undefeated in conference play at 5-0. She came from behind to defeat Oklahoma's Marie-Pier Huet, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, in the last match standing to clinch the winning point in the then-No. 41 Aggies' 4-3 upset over the 37th-ranked Sooners in Norman.
Urbina improved to 9-0 overall at the No. 2 line, including 5-0 in Big 12 matches, with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Oklahoma State's Alisa Buslaieva in A&M's 6-1 victory over the Cowgirls on Sunday in Stillwater.
In doubles matches, Urbina and partner Elzé Potgieter upset OU's 29th-ranked duo of Ana-Marie Constantinescu and Teona Tsertsvadze, 8-6, at the No. 1 line. It marked A&M's highest ranked doubles win in a dual match this season.
The same Aggie pair also defeated OSU's Alisa Buslaieva and Nataliya Shatkovskaya, 8-5, helping A&M capture the doubles point in both matches.
Urbina receives the weekly honor for the first time in her career, and she is the second Aggie to earn the accolade this season, following junior Morgan Frank (Oldsmar, Fla.), who was named the league's player of the week on March 24.
Listed No. 72 in the nation in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association singles rankings, Urbina leads A&M with a 25-5 overall singles record and is 14-2 in dual matches only. She is 22-8 overall in doubles, including 11-5 in dual matches only, and is ranked 29th in the country with Potgieter.
Urbina and the No. 34 Aggies return to action Wednesday for a crucial battle against 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 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.
Pronunciation: nah-ZAR-ee ur-BEE-na