"Ole Miss is another top-25 team that I'm quite certain is hungry and excited to face us,” A&M head coach Howard Joffe said. “This will challenge our group but no doubt toughen us up for the home stretch of the season."
The Aggies have won six of their last seven matches, including a 5-2 victory at No. 35 Mississippi State on Friday to improve to 9-4 overall. Texas A&M also moved to 6-2 in Southeastern Conference matches only, putting the Aggies in a tie with Kentucky for fourth place and only one game behind second-place Georgia and Vanderbilt.
Ole Miss is 11-7 overall and in 10th place in the conference with a 3-6 ledger. The Rebels are looking to snap a three-match losing skid after falling to No. 41 LSU, 4-2, Friday in Oxford.
Individually, Texas A&M's Rutuja Bhosale, the reigning SEC Player of the Week, has won seven consecutive matches to improve to 10-2 in dual matches, including 7-1 in league play. The sophomore from Shrirampur, India, ranked No. 57 in the nation in singles, got her first victory at the No. 2 line on Friday and moved into a tie with No. 32 Rachel Pierson for most overall singles victories on the team with 18.
Sophomore Saska Gavrilovska is ranked 77th, and junior Stefania Hristov, who clinched the win against the Bulldogs, is No. 101 to round out the Aggies' ranked singles players.
In doubles, the duo of Ines Deheza and Hristov received a No. 16 ranking this week, marking the highest doubles ranking of the season for an A&M pair. They are 4-1 overall, including 3-0 at the No. 2 line, although Deheza did not play at Mississippi State.
The duo of Pierson and lone freshman Eva Paalma is No. 56 and is 5-4 overall, including a 3-2 record against ranked opponents. They clinched the doubles point for the Aggies against the Bulldogs, as A&M won the point for the 11th time in 13 matches in which doubles was contested. Meanwhile, Bhosale and Gavrilovska broke into the rankings at No. 80 this week. They are 9-4 overall, 4-2 in SEC matches and 3-0 against ranked opponents.
The Rebels are led in singles by 14th-ranked Julia Jones, who is 24-7 overall, including 14-4 in dual matches only all at the No. 1 line. Arianne Hartono is No. 54 and Natalie Suk, who is riding a team-best three-match win streak, and Mai El Kamash are Nos. 107 and 120, respectively. The Rebels are unranked in doubles.
A&M leads the all-time series against Ole Miss, 4-1, including 2-0 in SEC matches. Last year, the Aggies defeated the then-No. 29 Rebels, 4-3, in College Station.
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