The Aggies (2-2) have not played since defeating Texas Arlington, 5-2, on Feb. 12 at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station. Tennessee is 8-4 overall -- including 6-2 at home -- after winning the last match standing to hold off Tennessee Chattanooga, 4-3, and then defeating Belmont, 6-1, in a doubleheader played Sunday in Knoxville.
"After a long stretch without a match, I know our ladies are excited to get back to competing,” said Aggie fourth-year head coach Howard Joffe. “The group is working particularly hard, and I'm confident that they are up for the challenge that starting league play at Tennessee represents.”
Texas A&M, which finished fifth in the SEC last year and has been picked to finish fifth this year according to a preseason poll of the league's head coaches, is 1-1 in SEC openers since joining the league. The Aggies defeated No. 43 South Carolina, 5-2, in their inaugural SEC match in 2012 and went on to tie Florida and Georgia for the regular season title. In the 2013 SEC opener, A&M fell to No. 5 Florida, 4-0, in the Aggies' first-ever trip to Gainesville, Fla.
Tennessee, which finished in a four-way tie for sixth place in the 2014 SEC standings and went on to make its 20th consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament, was picked to finish 11th this season according to the coaches' preseason poll.
The Aggies trail the all-time series against Tennessee, 6-4, but A&M is 2-0 in SEC matches only. In the most recent meeting, A&M defeated the Volunteers, 4-0, last year in Knoxville. Tennessee's most recent win against A&M was a 5-4 victory on March 8, 1996, in College Station.
Sophomore Rachel Pierson, a transfer from the University of Virginia, leads the Aggies in both singles (13-6) and doubles (12-5) victories. She also is the Aggies' highest ranked player in both categories, as her No. 40 singles ranking tops an A&M contingent of five players listed in this week's ITA rankings. Sophomores Saska Gavrilovska and Rutuja Bhosale are Nos. 54 and 59, respectively, and juniors Stefania Hristov and Ines Deheza are ranked 113th and 117th, respectively.
In doubles, Pierson and Deheza are a team-high No. 29. Pierson also is ranked 35th with Aggie lone freshman Eva Paalma.
Tennessee, which has been plagued by injuries and had to forfeit at No. 6 singles against both UT-Chattanooga and Belmont due to a lack of available players, is led by Joanna Henderson, who is 17-10 overall in singles, including 7-5 at No. 1 singles. The senior from Scotland is 5-1 at No. 1 doubles with partner Caitlyn Williams and ranked 34th in the nation.
Following the Tennessee match, the Aggies head to Athens, Ga., to take on the No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs, Sunday at 12 p.m. (CT) at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
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 Facebook.com/AggieWomensTennis.