March 3, 2011
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Texas A&M women's tennis team will be aiming for its fourth consecutive victory and looking to remain undefeated at home when the No. 32 Aggies play host to No. 48 Rice on Saturday. The start time has been changed to 3 p.m. at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
"Rice is a hard fighting team and they've gotten good results this year," A&M head coach Bobby Kleinecke said. "They've improved a lot over the last two years and they are playing a lot harder. They are well coached and very competitive, and they will fight to the end."
A&M is 4-2 overall - all against ranked opponents -- and 3-0 in home matches. Most recently, the match against No. 21 Washington on Saturday was canceled after Washington would not continue the match indoors. A&M held the momentum after winning the doubles point and taking three of the four first sets that had been completed when a steady light rain made the outdoor courts unplayable. A&M has petitioned the Intercollegiate Tennis Association to award the win to the Aggies by default, and the ITA's decision is pending.
Individually, Aggie sophomore Nazari Urbina (Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico) enters the Rice match ranked No. 19 in the nation in singles. She is riding a five-match winning streak and is 17-4 overall, including 5-1 in dual matches all at the No. 1 line. She is 11-4 against nationally ranked players in 2010-11, with three of her four losses coming against players who are currently ranked in the top eight in the country.
In addition to Urbina, Aggie seniors Morgan Frank (Oldsmar, Fla.) and Christi Liles (Largo, Fla.) have played a major part in A&M's current success and are both riding three-match winning streaks in singles.
Senior Stephanie Davidson (Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas) leads the Aggies in doubles victories with a 12-6 overall ledger. She has won her last five matches, including four with freshman Christi Potgieter (Petrusville, South Africa). With an 8-4 victory against Washington on Saturday, Davidson moved into a tie for ninth place in the A&M all-time records with her 85th career doubles victory. She needs one more win to move into a tie for eighth.
The duo of Urbina and Frank is 5-0 in dual matches -- 7-1 overall - and the pair is riding a six-match winning streak dating back to the fall.
The Owls, who will be playing their sixth consecutive road match, are 8-5 after falling, 5-2, at No. 30 Tulsa in a Conference USA match-up on Tuesday. Rice, 3-5 against ranked opponents, earned its points at Nos. 2 and 3 singles after Tulsa had already clinched the team victory.
Senior Rebekka Hänle plays No. 1 singles for Rice and is ranked No. 101 in the nation. Freshman Dominique Harmath leads the Owls with an 8-4 mark in singles and is riding a four-match winning streak.
In doubles, senior Jessica Jackson and sophomore Daniella Trigo are 10-1 in dual doubles matches, all at the No. 3 line.
Rice is 2-2 against Big 12 opponents this season, defeating Oklahoma State, 4-3, and Colorado, 6-1, and falling to Texas, 7-0, and Baylor, 4-3. Other common opponents that A&M also has faced this season include LSU, which the Owls defeated, 4-3, and Arkansas, which defeated Rice, 5-2.
A&M has won the last seven meetings and is 24-8 all-time against the former Southwest Conference-foe Owls. The teams last met in 2008 with A&M outlasting Rice, 4-3, in Houston. The Owls' last win against A&M was 5-4 decision in 2000 in Houston.
"Our matches with Rice always seem to be very close and competitive," Kleinecke said.
Free live video and scoring of all A&M home matches is available at AggieAthletics.com. Also follow @AggieTennis on Twitter.
Note: The match, originally slated to begin at 1 p.m., was moved back two hours to allow fans to attend both the tennis match and the Aggie men's basketball game against Texas Tech, which tips at 12:45 p.m. on Saturday at Reed Arena. Also fans can catch the tennis match before heading to the A&M women's basketball game against Nebraska, beginning at 7 p.m. at Reed.