April 19, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Texas A&M women's tennis team plays it final home match of the regular season Tuesday, playing host to No. 20 Texas in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown.
First serve is slated for 5:30 p.m. at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center. Aggie seniors Elzé Potgieter (Bloemfontein, South Africa) and Christina Amo (Fort Worth, Texas) will be honored prior to the match.
It will be a "Maroon Out" match, and any A&M student wearing maroon will be admitted free. In addition, the final "Where's Wilson" grand prize contest will be held during the intermission.
"It's A&M and Texas; need I say more," said A&M head coach Bobby Kleinecke, who is aiming for his 400th career victory in his 25th year at the helm of the Aggies. "It is going to be a great match, a dogfight, and every position will be up for grabs.
"We want all the Aggies to show up early and help us honor our two seniors before the match, and then help us through what should be an exciting match. There is a lot riding on this match, and we need a win."
The Aggies (11-7, 6-2 Big 12) are in fourth place in the Big 12 Conference standings after falling to Nebraska (18-4, 7-2), 5-2, Saturday in College Station. Freshman Nazari Urbina (Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico), last week's Big 12 Player of the Week along with Texas' Aeriel Ellis, improved to 8-0 in conference matches and 12-0 at No. 2 singles with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Husker Madeleine Geibert.
Junior Morgan Frank (Oldsmar, Fla.) earned A&M's other point against Nebraska, topping Wiveca Swarting, 6-3, 6-2, to improve to 7-1 in Big 12 play and 12-1 at the No. 3 line.
Urbina and Potgieter enter the week ranked No. 29 in doubles (new ITA rankings will be released Tuesday) and are 11-5 at No. 1 doubles. They are coming off an 8-2 victory against Geibert and Stephanie Weinstein on Saturday.
The Longhorns (12-4, 7-1 Big 12), second in the conference standings, ran their winning streak to five matches after blanking Iowa State, 7-0, Saturday in Austin.
Texas jumped to No. 20 in last week's ITA College Tennis Rankings after defeating No. 5 Northwestern on April 10. Ellis, a freshman, is ranked No. 22 in singles, and sophomore Krista Damico is No. 57. Senior Vanja Corovic is listed 58th in singles and is No. 33 in doubles with Ellis.
Texas has won the last seven meetings against the Aggies, including a 5-2 win last year in Austin and a 4-2 semifinal victory at the 2009 Big 12 Championship in Norman, Okla. A&M's most recent win against the Horns was 2006 in College Station, 6-1.
A full point is at stake in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown standings. Texas enters the match leading A&M, 7.5 -5, with 6.5 points still to be decided.
A&M completes its regular season schedule this weekend, playing at Colorado on Friday and at Missouri on Sunday. The Aggies then head to Austin for the Big 12 Championships, to be hosted by Texas, April 29-May 2 at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center.
Free live video and scoring coverage of all A&M home matches is available at AggieAthletics.com.