UNLV/Freeman Memorial draws
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The 10th-ranked Texas A&M women's tennis team will be in action this weekend as the Aggies send split squads to both the Freeman Memorial in Las Vegas and the National Collegiate Tennis Classic (NCTC) in Rancho Mirage, Calif. The talent-laden tournaments mark the Aggies' final competition before opening dual match play Saturday, Jan. 24 by hosting North Texas, Houston and TCU in the 2015 ITA Kick-off Weekend at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
"Both events will be bursting at the seams with stellar players and quality teams,” said A&M coach Howard Joffe, who is entering his fourth season at the helm of the Aggies. “No doubt it will be a little daunting, but our goal is to use the events to shake off a little holiday rust and get the competitive juices flowing for the 2015 Texas Aggies."
"The miserable weather has plagued our ability to practice as effectively as we had hoped, but if this is the biggest adversity our group faces this season then we will be delighted. The players and coaches are excited and keen to get the season underway."
Aggie juniors Stefania Hristov and Anna Mamalat, along with sophomore Mason Strickland and freshman Eva Paalma, are slated to compete at the Freeman Memorial, hosted by UNLV and held at the Fertitta Tennis Complex. Six other teams will be represented in the three-day tournament: top-ranked and reigning national champion UCLA, No. 4 North Carolina, No. 8 Stanford, No. 14 USC, No. 34 Tennessee and UNLV.
The doubles round of 16 gets underway Friday at 10 a.m. (12 p.m. CT) with the singles rounds of 32 and 16 to follow. Mamalat and Strickland open against Paola Artiga and Mercedes Lopez of UNLV while No. 4 seeded Hristov and Paalma take on Nora Tan and Paulette Wolak of Stanford.
In singles, Strickland is slated to face No. 3 seed Jennifer Brady of UCLA. Mamalat faces Whitney Kay of UNC and Hristov and Paalma meet Stanford's Tan and Ellen Tsay, respectively.
Complete draws for the Freeman Memorial are available here.
The 36th annual NCTC will be held Friday-Sunday at the Sunrise Country Club, just outside of Palm Springs, Calif. Twenty-ninth ranked Saska Gavrilovska, the 2014 ITA Texas Region Rookie Player of the Year, heads up the Aggie foursome competing in the tournament, dubbed the Wimbledon of college tennis. She will be joined by Rachel Pierson, a sophomore transfer from Virginia who enters the spring ranked 56th in the nation in singles. Pierson, who led the Aggies in both singles (7-3) and doubles (9-3) in the fall, holds a dual ranking in doubles as she is tabbed No. 21 with Paalma and No. 30 with junior Ines Deheza, who also will be competing at the NCTC. Sophomore Rutuja Bhosale rounds out the Aggie squad competing in California.
Other schools represented in the NCTC include Arizona, Pepperdine, San Diego, UCLA, USC and Wake Forest.
More information will be posted on 12thMan.com as it becomes available. 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 Facebook.com/AggieWomensTennis.