April 27, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Texas A&M's Elzé Potgieter and Sheri Olivier have been named to the Academic All-Big 12 Women's Tennis First Team, and teammate Christina Amo has been named to the second team, the Big 12 Conference announced today.
Potgieter, a senior accounting major from Bloemfontein, South Africa, is making her third consecutive appearance on the first team. Olivier, a sophomore human resource development major from Topeka, Kan., and Amo, a senior psychology major from Fort Worth, Texas, are making their first appearance on the team.
To qualify for the Academic All-Big 12 Tennis Team, student-athletes must maintain a 3.00 GPA or higher either cumulative or the two previous semesters and must have participated in 60 percent of her team's scheduled contests. Freshmen and transfers are not eligible in their first year of academic residence. Senior student-athletes who have participated for a minimum of two years and meet all the criteria except percent of participation are also eligible.
First team members consist of those who have maintained a 3.20 or better GPA, and the second team is made up of those who have a 3.00 to 3.19 GPA.
Potgieter, who is enrolled in A&M's Professional Program in Accounting five-year plan and is on tract to receive both a bachelor's and a master's degree next May, plays the No. 1 line in both singles and doubles for the Aggies. She is 19-13 in singles as a senior and is listed No. 59 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's (ITA) national singles rankings, released today. Potgieter is 89-53 in her collegiate singles career, ranking seventh in A&M career records.
In doubles, Potgieter is 21-12 this season and ranked 35th in the ITA national doubles rankings with partner Nazari Urbina (Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico). The pair posted a 7-3 mark in Big 12 matches only.
Olivier is 15-17 overall in singles, having played mainly the No. 4-6 positions. In A&M's most recent outing, however, Olivier played the No. 3 position for the first time in her career and came up with a crucial straight-set victory to help lead the Aggies to a 4-3 come-from-behind victory against Missouri.
Olivier is 24-10 overall in doubles and went 7-4 with Christi Liles (Largo, Fla.) in Big 12 matches at the No. 3 line.
Amo, the team's spirit award recipient in 2009, is 4-5 overall in singles this year and 15-9 in her three-year career with the Aggies.
A&M returns to action this weekend, as the 4th-seeded Aggies compete in the 2010 Big 12 Championships. A&M (13-8, 8-3 Big 12) received a first-round bye and will play the winner between No. 5-seed Oklahoma and No. 12 seed Kansas Friday at noon at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center in Austin, Texas.
Live scoring of A&M matches is available at AggieAthletics.com.