"The team has been working hard and the girls are eager to compete," said Howard Joffe, who enters his first season as head coach of the Aggies. "We have a very young team in the sense that four of the eight players are new to Texas A&M. We do have a number of injuries, so the entire squad will not be competing. That is a little disappointing, but my expectations are to let everyone have an opportunity to get their feet wet.
"I'm interested in the team getting better and better and having good effort from everyone. We are excited to get started."
Joffe will be at the Duke tournament with junior Nazari Urbina, ranked 20th in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association singles rankings, senior Lauren Santacroce and junior transfer Sun Wen, the 2011 NJCAA ITA Player of the Year.
Urbina is the No. 1 seed in the White Bracket and will play Brittany Dubins of Miami at 12:30 p.m. (CT). Santacroce opens play in the Blue Bracket against top-seeded and 14th-ranked Aeriel Ellis of Texas at 1:30 p.m. (CT). Wen takes on Annie Mulholland of Duke in the Black Bracket also at 1:30 (CT).
Wen makes her A&M debut earlier in the day, teaming with Urbina in doubles and taking on Alexa Guarachi and Mary Anne Macfarlane of Alabama at 8 a.m. (CT).
Santacroce is slated to play doubles, but not with an A&M teammate. She and her partner will face No. 1 seed Emily Fraser and Hana Tomljanovic of Virginia at 8 a.m. (CT).
Aggie assistant coach Mark Weaver is in Midland, where action gets underway at 9 a.m. with senior Sheri Olivier taking on Laura Mongin of Abilene Christian. Aggie freshman Dané Vorster competes for the Maroon and White for the first time, facing Kenna Kilgo of Texas Tech also at 9 a.m.
Olivier and Vorster will pair together in doubles and will meet Nicki Sanders and Caroline Starck of Texas Tech in first-round action, which begins at 4 p.m.
More information on the Racquet Club Collegiate Invitational is available at http://rc10s.com.