Jan. 5, 2011
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Texas A&M sophomore Nazari Urbina will open the spring season ranked a career-high No. 17 in singles according to the Campbell/ITA College Tennis Women's Rankings, released Tuesday. It is the second highest spring preseason ranking in the history of the A&M women's program, as former Aggie All-American Lynn Staley opened the 1991 season ranked No. 9.
"It is a great honor to be ranked this high, and Nazari is very deserving," A&M head coach Bobby Kleinecke said. "She had only three losses in the fall, and they were all against opponents who are ranked in the top seven.
"Nazari is playing at a level where she can beat anybody. She will be starting the season with a lot of confidence, and that will have a positive impact on the team as well."
Urbina (Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico), the 2010 ITA Texas Region Player to Watch, was No. 50 in the final ranking of her freshman season after going 32-6 overall and playing in the NCAA Singles Championship. She entered the fall ranked a career-high No. 33 and posted a 12-3 record, including a 7-3 mark against ranked opponents. Her losses were to Denise Dy of Washington, Allie Will of Florida and SMU's Marta Lesniak. Lesniak, who eliminated Urbina in the semifinals of the Texas Regional, enters the spring ranked No. 2 in the nation, and Dy and Will are No. 6 and 7, respectively.
Aggie senior Morgan Frank (Oldsmar, Fla.) also is ranked in singles, coming in at No. 102. As a team, the Aggies are listed No. 36.
"The team ranking is what we expected, but with the schedule we have, there will be plenty of opportunities to improve on the ranking. It is just a matter of taking advantage of those opportunities and closing out the wins.
"Morgan has a goal of making the NCAAs, so she will need to improve on her ranking, but our schedule will give her the opportunity to do that."
Kleinecke returns six letterwinners as well as one redshirt from last year's team that went 14-10 and was No. 37 in the final ranking after falling in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The team begins practice Jan. 12 and opens the season Jan. 23 at No. 22 Arkansas.
The Aggies make their home season debut Feb. 5 against No. 68 LSU. All but one of their 11 non-conference opponents is nationally ranked, including No. 4 Notre Dame.
The Aggies open Big 12 Conference play at No. 17 Texas on March 12. Baylor, who A&M plays in College Station on April 20, enters the season ranked No. 3.
For a complete list of the team and individual rankings, go to itatennis.com.