Oct. 21, 2010
WACO, Texas - The Texas A&M women's tennis team will compete at the USTA/ITA Texas Regional, Oct. 22-26, in Waco, Texas. Matches will be played at both the Baylor Tennis Center and the Waco Regional Tennis Center.
"Everyone has been working hard, and we are excited to see how that pays off," A&M coach Bobby Kleinecke said. "This is a tough tournament, but we have been looking forward to this tournament and are ready to get out there and play."
Sheri Olivier is first on the court for the Aggies as she takes on Nadia Lee of North Texas Friday at 8 a.m. at Baylor in the first round of the 128-player draw.
A&M's Lauren Santacroce takes the court at 10 a.m. to take on Brittany Tobin of Lamar also at the Baylor courts.
Christi Liles and Stephanie Davidson both have 10:15 a.m. matches to be played at the Waco Regional Tennis Center. Liles faces Leah Fried of Rice, and Davidson takes on Varsha Shiva Shankar of Rice.
Nazari Urbina is the No. 3 seed and has a first-round bye, as does Morgan Frank, who is the No. 7 seed. Urbina, No. 33 in the preseason ITA national rankings, will open second round action at noon on the Baylor courts against the winner between Cierra Gaytan-Leach of Texas and Cristina Danaila of Baylor.
Frank, ranked No. 71 nationally, will take on the winner between Katarina Micochova of UT Arlington and Reetta Raty of UT Pan American at 1:30 p.m. at Baylor.
The 64-team doubles play begins Saturday at Baylor. Davidson and Olivier face Marta Babanova and Idunn Herzberg of TCU at 10 a.m., and Frank and Santacroce meet Shiva Shankar and Fried of Rice at 10:15 a.m.
Urbina and Liles have a first-round bye and will open play at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Baylor.
The singles and doubles champions of the 12 regional sites advance to the UTSA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, to be held Nov. 4-7, at the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.