March 17, 2011
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Texas A&M women's tennis team (6-3, 0-1 Big 12) returns to Big 12 Conference action Friday when the 26th-ranked Aggies play host to Colorado (3-7, 0-1 Big 12) at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center. The contest against the Buffaloes, playing their last scheduled match against A&M as members of the Big 12, begins at 6 p.m.
The Aggies, winners of five of their last six matches and on the cusp of breaking into the Top 25 after moving up one spot to No. 26 in this week's ITA rankings, are 6-3 overall, including 5-0 in home matches. A&M is 0-1 in Big 12 matches and has not played since beginning the conference schedule with a 6-1 loss at then-No. 24 Texas on Saturday.
"It was important that we took a couple of days off to rest up and get over some nagging injuries before we get back into the stretch of the season," A&M coach Bobby Kleinecke said. "Now its time to get back to work again and it is important that we bounce back. No one was happy with how we did in the last match.
"Going undefeated at home is one of our big goals. So far we have managed to stay undefeated, but nothing has been easy and we've had to fight through some adversity. We have to be prepared for everything. We have to have everybody ready to play every single time."
Sophomore Nazari Urbina (Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico) leads the Aggies and is 19-5 overall, including 7-2 in dual matches all at the No. 1 line. She improved to 13-5 against ranked opponents and moved up one spot to No. 18 in the national singles rankings after knocking off then-No. 16 Aeriel Ellis of Texas, 2-6, 7-5 (5), 1-0 (4) on Saturday.
Senior Morgan Frank (Oldsmar, Fla.) is 13-5 overall, including 7-2 in dual matches at the No. 2 position. She is 78-26 (.750) in her career and is five wins shy of breaking into the top 10 in the A&M career singles records.
Senior Christi Liles (Largo, Fla.) has won five of her last six matches and is 3-1 since moving into the No. 3 singles position. Freshman Christi Potgieter (Petrusville, South Africa) has settled in at the No. 4 spot, where she has won two of her last three matches.
Sophomore Janelle Cuthbertson (Perth, Australia) is slated to play No. 5 singles, and senior Stephanie Davidson (Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas) has solidified the No. 6 singles position, winning four of her last five matches.
Davidson also has won seven of her last eight doubles matches with six of the wins coming with Potgieter at No. 3. Davidson, who is 7-2 in dual matches and 14-7 overall this season, is 87-40 in her career and needs one more victory to move into a tie with Martina Nedorostova (1999-2002) for seventh in the A&M career records.
Colorado enters the contest looking to snap a four-match losing streak. Most recently the Buffs were blanked at home by No. 18 Oklahoma, 7-0, in the first conference match of the season for both teams. The Sooners swept the three doubles matches and won all six singles matches in straight sets.
Colorado also will be aiming to end a 12-match losing skid against the Aggies, who are 13-2 in the all-time series. Last year the Aggies defeated the Buffs, 5-2, in Boulder, giving Kleinecke his 400th career victory although he missed the match due to a family emergency. A&M swept the doubles matches and won four singles matches in straight sets.
Colorado's last win against A&M came in 1998.
The match against the Buffs is the first of two home matches for the Aggies this weekend. The Aggies play host to Missouri on Sunday at the Mitchell Tennis Center. First serve against the Tigers is slated for noon.
General admission tickets are $7 for adults and $4 for youth.
Free live video and scoring of all A&M homes matches are available at AggieAthletics.com. In addition, get updates on Twitter @AggieTennis.