No. 30 Texas A&M Hosts No. 6 Baylor, Thursday, 5 p.m.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The 30^th-ranked Texas A&M women's tennis team begins a challenging four-match homestand Thursday as the Aggies play host to former Big 12 Conference foe and sixth-ranked Baylor. First serve is at 5 p.m. at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center, and the first 100 fans will receive a free 12^th Man T-shirt.

The match against the Bears is the first of three top-10 teams the Aggies will face during their homestand, spanning only six days. On Friday, A&M welcomes No. 37 Auburn at 3 p.m. and then takes on defending Southeastern Conference regular-season champion and ninth-ranked Alabama, Sunday at noon. The Aggies conclude the homestand Tuesday with a make-up match against No. 2 Florida at 2 p.m.

"Without a doubt, our upcoming four matches over the next six days will reveal a lot about where our team really is,” A&M head coach Howard Joffe said. “In Baylor, we will have a confident and supremely hungry opponent. I know that our ladies are itching for the challenge that this represents.”

A&M is 5-3, including victories against higher ranked opponents in each of its last two matches. Most recently, the then-No. 46 Aggies got a clutch road victory at No. 32 LSU, 4-3. Rachel Pierson, playing the No. 1 line for the first time, clinched the win and gave A&M a 4-2 lead as she came from behind to defeat 40^th-ranked Joana Vale Costa, 2-6, 7-5, 6-0.

The Aggies, who won the doubles point for the seventh time in eight matches, were playing without the services of their hottest player of late, Ines Deheza, who missed the match to attend her brother's wedding in Bolivia. Deheza is 3-0 in SEC singles matches and is riding a team-high, five-match win streak overall. She and Stefania Hristov are 3-0 in doubles matches and ranked a team-high No. 29.

Deheza, 13-3 overall in doubles, is tied with Pierson (13-8) for most doubles victories. Pierson leads the Aggies in singles wins with a 16-7 overall mark, and her No. 46 national singles ranking is the highest on the team. Rutuja Bhosale is No. 57, and Saska Gavrilovska and Stefania Hristov are ranked 62^nd and 123^rd, respectively in singles.

Baylor is 15-3, including eight wins against Top 25 teams. The Bears, who opened the dual match season with back-to-back victories against both No. 5 Georgia and No. 4 Virginia, are coming off a 4-2 win against No. 14 Miami on Tuesday in Waco. Baylor won the doubles point for the 14^th time this year and got straight-set victories from No. 75 Kiah Generette, Leolia JeanJean, and Theresa Van Zyl at the Nos. 3, 4 and 6 courts, respectively. It was the ninth consecutive win for JeanJean.

Baylor's lone senior, Ema Burgic, is ranked a team-high No. 22 in singles, and sophomore Blaire Shankle is No. 31. The two are a team-best No. 10 in doubles and are riding a four-match win streak.

A&M has won the last five matches against the Bears and owns a 25-20 lead in the all-time series which began in 1980. The Aggies are 13-8 against Baylor in matches played in College Station. Last year, A&M defeated the 15^th-ranked Bears, 4-3 in College Station and then held off then-14^th-ranked Baylor, 4-1, in Waco.

The teams, who have continued to play a home-and-home series every year since A&M joined the SEC, will meet again on April 8 in Waco.

Live scoring of Thursday's A&M-Baylor match will be available here.

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.