The Aggies (14-4, 10-2 SEC) are riding a six-match winning streak and are coming off back-to-back thrilling 4-3 victories over top-10 opponents, clinching matches against both No. 7 Baylor and No. 8 Vanderbilt in the third set of the last match standing. Most recently Aggie sophomore Rachel Pierson won a third-set tiebreaker in the deciding match to cap Texas A&M's 4-3 win against the Commodores, moving A&M into a three-way tie with Vanderbilt and Georgia for second place in the Southeastern Conference standings with one match remaining.
A&M is mathematically still in the running for a share of the SEC championship as the Aggies stand one win behind league-leader and sixth-ranked Florida (19-2, 11-1 SEC). However, in order for the Aggies to snare a share of their second SEC regular season title, they must defeat Kentucky and rely on 11th-place Tennessee to knock off the Gators in Gainesville, Fla., on Sunday.
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.
A&M has won the last two meetings against the Wildcats but trails the all-time series, 10-3. Kentucky is 4-1 all-time in matches played in College Station. Last year, A&M defeated No. 22 Kentucky, 4-2, at the Mitchell Tennis Center. The Wildcats' most recent victory against A&M was a 4-3 decision in the 2006 season opener, played at Maryland.
Individually, the Aggies have four players ranked in the national singles rankings. Pierson, 20-12 overall, is the highest ranked player on the team at No. 39. Sophomore Saska Gavrilovska, riding a team-best seven-match win streak, is No. 45, and sophomore Rutuja Bhosale, who won the last match standing to complete the victory at Baylor, 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 six-match win streak and climbed to No. 33. Bhosale and Gavrilovska, 11-5 in dual matches, climbed 12 spots to No. 68 this week and have won three of their last four matches.
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.