COLLEGE STATION, Texas – With a share of the Southeastern Conference regular season title still mathematically feasible and tournament seeding implications on the line, the 10th-ranked Texas A&M women's tennis team closes out its regular season this weekend with two critical home matches against top-25 opponents. The Aggies play host to No. 8 Vanderbilt, Friday at 2 p.m. and No. 21 Kentucky, Sunday at 9 a.m. at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
The first 100 fans at Friday's 2 p.m. tilt against Vanderbilt will receive a free Texas A&M bandana. Texas A&M students also can enter to win an Xbox One as well as Aggie gear.
“Anyone hoping for a more relaxed finale to our regular season will be sorely disappointed,” A&M head coach Howard Joffe said. "In Vanderbilt and Kentucky we will face one of the toughest travelling duos in the SEC. Vanderbilt is a top-10 team that has already beaten Florida and leads the SEC. Kentucky is a top-25 program that is talented from top to bottom. I expect us to meet the challenges and try to finish up our regular season on a high note."
Texas A&M (13-4, 9-2 SEC), riding a five-match win streak after a come-from-behind 4-3 victory at No. 7 Baylor on Wednesday in Waco, has already wrapped up at least a No. 4 seed in the conference tournament and is only one win behind league leaders Vanderbilt (15-5, 10-1 SEC), Florida and Georgia, who are knotted in a three-way tie with two matches remaining.
The Commodores enter the match against the Aggies riding a six-match win streak after handing sixth-ranked Florida its first conference loss with a 4-1 victory Sunday in Nashville.
Kentucky is 15-10 overall and dropped from fifth to seventh place in the SEC after suffering its fourth consecutive loss, a 4-0 setback at LSU on Thursday.
Although A&M trails Vanderbilt, 7-2, in the all-time series, the Aggies have won the last two meetings. In the most recent matchup, A&M defeated the then-No. 7 Commodores, 4-2, last year at the Mitchell Tennis Center to improve to 2-0 against Vanderbilt in SEC matches only.
A&M also has won the last two matches against the Wildcats but trails the all-time series, 10-3
Individually, the Aggies have four players ranked in the national singles rankings. Sophomore Rachel Pierson, 19-12 overall, is the highest ranked player on the team at No. 39. Sophomore Saska Gavrilovska, riding a team-best six match win streak, is No. 45, and sophomore Rutuja Bhosale, who won the last match standing to complete the victory at Baylor and improved to 21-10 overall, is a career-high No. 52. Junior Stefania Hristov follows at No. 124.
In doubles, Hristov and junior Ines Deheza are a team-high No. 18. Pierson and freshman Eva Paalma are riding a five-match win streak and climbed to No. 33. Bhosale and Gavrilovska, 11-4 in dual matches, climbed 12 spots to No. 68 this week and have won their last three matches.
Vanderbilt also boasts four ranked singles players: No. 7 Sydney Campbell, No. 44 Astra Sharma, No. 80 Courtney Colton and No. 88 Marie Casares.
In doubles, Sharma and Ashleigh Antal are No. 15 and are 10-0 at the No. 2 line. Colton and Campbell are right behind at No. 16, and Casares and Antal are No. 65.
The Wildcats are led by 66th-ranked Nadia Ravita in singles. In doubles, Aldila Sutjiadi and Mami Adachi are a team-high No. 26. Ravita is ranked with two different partners. She is No. 32 with Sutjiadi and No. 85 with Kirsten Lewis.
Live scoring of the matches will be available at 12thMan.com
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.