Feb. 5, 2011
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Texas A&M women's tennis team makes its home debut on Sunday as the No. 34 Aggies play host to non-conference rival LSU. First serve against the Lady Tigers is slated for at 1 p.m. at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
"It will be fun to finally play in front of the home crowd and have people hollering for us," A&M coach Bobby Kleinecke said. "This is going to be a fun team for our fans to watch because of the tremendous fight and grit they show. Plus with LSU coming in, it should be exciting because those are always close matches with both teams battling it out until the end."
A&M holds a 20-10 lead in the all-time series against LSU (0-1), including a 6-1 victory against the Lady Tigers last year in Baton Rouge, La. LSU, however, came from behind to upset A&M, 4-3, when the teams last met in College Station in 2009.
The Aggies are 1-2 on the young season, with both losses coming to Top 25 teams on the road. A&M opened the season with a 5-2 loss at No. 22 Arkansas and then defeated No. 34 Tulsa, 5-2, in the opening round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Durham, N.C. The Aggies then fell at No. 7 Duke, 6-1, in the second round on Monday.
Sophomore Nazari Urbina (Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico) is No. 17 in the national singles rankings and leads the Aggies with a 2-1 record at the No. 1 line. Senior Morgan Frank (Oldsmar, Fla.) is 2-1 at the No. 2 line and is listed No. 102 in the ITA singles rankings.
Urbina and Frank are 2-0 at the No. 2 doubles line and are coming off an 8-5 victory over 39th-ranked Mary Clayton and Monica Gorney of Duke on Monday.
Also competing for A&M are seniors Stephanie Davidson (Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas) and Christi Liles (Largo, Fla.); juniors Sheri Olivier (Topeka, Kan.) and Lauren Santacroce (Spring, Texas); redshirt sophomore Janelle Cuthbertson (Perth, Australia) and freshman Christi Potgieter (Petrusville, South Africa)
LSU, listed No. 68 in the most recent national team rankings, is coming off a season-opening 5-1 loss to unranked Texas Tech (3-0) on Thursday. The match was played at the three-court New Orleans Hilton Indoor Tennis Center due to inclement weather in Baton Rouge.
Junior Whitney Wolf, ranked No. 33 in singles, earned the Tigers' only point with a 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Elizabeth Ullathorne at No. 1. The teams did not compete in doubles.
A&M's match against the Tigers, which was postponed a day due to hazardous driving conditions between Baton Rouge and College Station, is the first of six consecutive home matches for the Aggies.
Free live video and live scoring of all A&M home matches will be available at AggieAthletics.com.