Feb. 11, 2011
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Texas A&M women's tennis team continues its home stand Saturday as the Aggies play host to former Southwest Conference foe TCU. First serve is slated for 1 p.m. at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
The match has been designated as this year's Breast Cancer Awareness match, and A&M players will be wearing pink jerseys. In addition, fans wearing a 2011 Beat the Hell Outta Breast Cancer T-shirt will be admitted free. Shirts will be on sale at the entrance, and the $8 price includes a ticket to the A&M-Kansas women's basketball game Saturday at 7 p.m. at Reed Arena.
No. 33 A&M is 2-2 on the young season, having evened its record with a 4-3 victory over No. 68 LSU last Saturday in the Aggies' home opener. A&M swept the doubles matches and posted wins at Nos. 1, 2, and 4 singles to clinch the win.
"We did not play our best against LSU, so it is important that we pick up our play and have our focus right from the start," A&M coach Bobby Kleinecke said. "We have been practicing hard with our goal being to keep improving day by day.
"We really don't know a lot about TCU, so we will focus more on ourselves. I do know that they have a new coach and a stronger team this year, and our match against TCU last year was one of our better matches."
No. 54 TCU is 1-1 on the season but has not completed a match since the opening round of the ITA Kickoff Weekend on Jan. 28 when the Horned Frogs took No. 41 Saint Mary's College to the last match standing before dropping a three-setter at the No. 4 singles line. TCU, which won the doubles point against the Gaels, was unable to complete its consolation match against North Texas due to rain.
TCU had opened the season by blanking Texas-Pan American in Fort Worth prior to its match against Saint Mary's.
A&M sophomore Nazari Urbina (Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico) is No. 17 in the national singles rankings and leads the Aggies with a 3-1 record at the No. 1 line. Senior Morgan Frank (Oldsmar, Fla.) is 3-1 at the No. 2 line and is listed No. 102 in the ITA singles rankings.
TCU's Olivia Smith and Gaby Mastromarino are both undefeated at the No. 3 and 6 lines, respectively, with 2-0 records. In addition, the Frogs have won the doubles point in each of their two matches.
A&M holds a narrow 17-16 lead in the all-time series (since 1985) after defeating the Frogs, 5-2, last year in Fort Worth. The win snapped a two-game losing streak against TCU.
Saturday's match is the second of a six-match home stand for the Aggies, who will not play again until they host Fresno State on Feb. 24.
Free live video and scoring of all A&M home matches is available at AggieAthletics.com.