COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M women's tennis team will enter the 2015 season ranked No. 10 in the nation, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced today.
Fourth-year head coach Howard Joffe returns six of seven players from last year's team that went 21-7, reached the NCAA round of 16 and finished No. 9 in the final ITA rankings. He also welcomes two highly touted newcomers. None of the players on the eight-member roster are seniors.
Individually, sophomore Saska Gavrilovska is the Aggies' highest ranked singles player, as she enters the spring a career-high 29th in the nation. The Serbia native, who went 20-9 as a freshman, including 16-4 in dual matches only and was No. 47 in the final 2014 rankings, is No. 3 in the Texas Region.
Rachel Pierson, a sophomore transfer from the University of Virginia, is tied for 56th in the national preseason singles rankings and is No. 5 in the Texas Region. From Princeton, N.J., Pierson led the Aggies in singles victories in the fall with a 7-3 record.
Pierson pulled in two preseason doubles rankings and enters the spring a team-high No. 21 with freshman Eva Paalma. Pierson and Paalma teamed to defeat seventh-ranked Giuliana Olmos and Zoe Scandalis of USC in their A&M doubles debut last September.
Pierson is listed No. 30 in the national doubles rankings with junior Ines Deheza. The pair, ranked No. 1 in the Texas Region, went 6-1 in the fall, winning the ITA Texas Regional and advancing to the quarterfinals at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship.
Defending national champion UCLA is No. 1 in the team rankings. Twelve of 14 teams from the Southeastern Conference are listed in the preseason rankings, including four that are listed in the top 10: No. 3 Florida, No. 5 Georgia, No. 8 Alabama, the defending SEC regular season champion, and No. 10 Texas A&M.
Texas A&M is one of five teams in the nation with both its men's and women's programs ranked in the top 10 in the nation as the Aggie men's team also enters the spring No. 10.
In the individual rankings, Julia Elbaba of Virginia is No. 1 in singles, and UCLA's Catherine Harrison and Kyle McPhillips nailed down the top spot in the national doubles rankings.
The Aggies open spring practice on Thursday, Jan. 8. They will send a split squad to compete at both the National Collegiate Tennis Classic near Palm Springs, Calif., and the Las Vegas Invitational on Jan. 16-18 before opening the dual season on Saturday, Jan. 24 as A&M hosts North Texas, Houston and TCU in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
Season tickets for the Stadium Club, which offers covered, courtside seating exclusively to season ticket holders, are now on sale. They are $125 each and are good for all men's and women's regular-season home matches. Season tickets can be purchased online at http://tickets.12thmanfoundation.com/tennis/season-tickets.aspx, by phone at 888-992-4443, or in person at the Ticket Center's Kyle Field location.
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M women's tennis. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M women's tennis team on Twitter by following @AggieWTEN or on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/pages/Aggie-Womens-Tennis/143874782434654
2015 ITA NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Team Rankings (Jan. 6)
Rank School 2014 Final Rank
1. UCLA 1
2. Duke University 2
3 University of Florida 5
4 North Carolina 3
5 Georgia 4
6 Virginia 7
7 California 10
T-8 Alabama 6
T-8 Stanford 8
10 TEXAS A&M 9
11 Vanderbilt 11
12 Miami (FL) 12
13 Clemson 13
14 Southern California 16
15 Baylor 14
16 Michigan 17
17 Northwestern 15
18 Georgia Tech 18
19 Oklahoma State 21
20 Notre Dame 19
21 Rice 23
22 Texas 22
23 South Carolina 26
24 Oklahoma 20
25 Mississippi 28
For the complete team and individual rankings, go to ITATennis.com