2015 SEC Women's Tennis Tournament
April 15-19, University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C.
(All times are Eastern)
Wednesday, April 15
Match 1 #12 Auburn def. #13 Tennessee 4-3
Match 2 #14 Missouri def. #11 Arkansas 4-3
Thursday, April 16
Match 3 #9 Ole Miss def. #8 Kentucky 4-0
Match 4 #5 Alabama def. #12 Auburn 4-
Match 5 #7 South Carolina vs. #10 Mississippi State in progress
Match 6 6 LSU def. 14 Missouri 4-1
*Friday, April 17 - Quarterfinals
Match 7 #1 Florida vs. #9 Ole Miss 9 a.m.
Match 8 #4 Vanderbilt vs. #5 Alabama 9 a.m.
Match 9 #2 Georgia vs. Match 5 winner 1 p.m.
Match 10 #3 Texas A&M vs. #6 LSU 1 p.m.
*NOTE: Times have been pushed up an hour due to inclement weather
Saturday, April 18 - Semifinals
Match 11 Match 7 winner vs. Match 8 winner noon
Match 12 Match 9 winner vs. Match 10 winner noon
Sunday, April 19 – Championship Match
Final Match 11 winner vs. Match 12 winner noon
TOURNAMENT PREVIEW
- Seventh-ranked Texas A&M (15-4, 11-2 SEC) is the No. 3 seed at the 2015 SEC Women's Tennis Tournament and will face No. 6 seed and 24th-ranked LSU, Friday at the Carolina Tennis Complex in Columbus, S.C. The match time has been moved up an hour to 1 p.m. (ET). LSU (18-9, 7-6 SEC), the No. 6 seed, defeated No. 14 seed Missouri, 4-1, on Wednesday to advance.
- The Aggies tied Georgia and Vanderbilt for second place in the SEC standings with 11-2 conference records and was awarded the No. 3 seed based on the tiebreaker that considers head-to-head competition among the tied teams. Florida won the SEC regular season championship with a 12-1 mark.
- Georgia is the defending SEC tournament champion, played last year in Columbia, Mo.
- Texas A&M is 3-2 all-time at the SEC Tournament, having reached the semifinals in each of the two years as a member of the league.
- Last year, A&M was the No. 5 seed and opened with a 4-0 victory over No. 13 seed Missouri in the second round. The Aggies then stunned No. 4 seed and defending tournament champion Florida, 4-3, in the quarterfinals to reach the semifinals for the second consecutive year. A&M fell to regular-season champion Alabama, 4-2 in the semifinal match.
- A link to the SEC Tournament Central page, live scoring and video will be available at 12thMan.com.
TEXAS A&M NOTES
- Texas A&M enters the tournament riding a season-best seven-match winning streak, the longest active win streak in the SEC.
- The Aggies have won 12 of their last 13 matches, including a 4-3 victory against then-No. 8 Vanderbilt and a 4-0 win over No. 21 Kentucky last weekend in College Station to close out the regular season.
- A&M, which also upset No. 7 Baylor, 4-3, last week in Waco, Texas, the site of the NCAA Championships, climbed three spots to a season-high No. 7 in this week's ITA team rankings. The previous high was a No. 10 ranking on both April 7 and the preseason ranking on Jan. 6.
- The Aggies are 12-4 against nationally ranked opponents, including 4-3 against top-10 teams and 6-3 against teams in the top 25.Texas A&M head coach Howard Joffe enters the SEC Tournament 129-59 (.686) in the eighth season of his head coaching career and 81-21 (.794) in his fourth season at A&M.
SERIES NOTES VS. LSU
- A&M owns a 26-10 record in the all-time series against the Tigers and has won the last seven consecutive meetings and 10 of the last 11 matchups.
- In the most recent meeting (March 13, 2015) then 46th-ranked Texas A&M posted a 4-3 road victory over No. 32 LSU, with sophomore Rachel Pierson coming from behind to put the Aggies up, 4-2, to clinch the match played at W.T. 'Dub' Robinson Stadium in Baton Rouge, La. The Aggies entered the match shorthanded as junior Ines Deheza missed the contest to attend her brother's wedding in Bolivia. A&M won two of three doubles matches, to take a 1-0 lead, but the momentum quickly shifted in favor of the Tigers at the start of singles as LSU would win the first set on four courts. Rutuja Bhosale and Eva Paalma posted straight-set wins for A&M, while Anna Mamalat dropped a two-set decision. A&M rebounded with second-set wins by Pierson, Saska Gavrilovska and Stefania Hristov to force third sets. Gavrilovska would fall in the third set to put the Tigers within 3-2. Pierson had dropped her first set, 6-2, to 40th-ranked Joana Vale Costa at the No. 1 court and was trailing the second, 5-3. In a must-win pressure situation, Pierson began to rally, winning the next four games to take the set, 7-5, and force a third set. Pierson then won six straight games to win the third set and clinch the victory for A&M. Once the match was clinched, Hristov, who was hampered by leg cramps, retired trailing the third set, 4-3.
- LSU's most recent victory against the Aggies was a 4-3 decision on Feb. 8, 2009, in a match that began outdoors at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center and was completed at the City of Bryan Tennis Center indoor courts.
- This will be the first time the teams are meeting at an SEC Tournament.
MOST RECENT TEXAS A&M LINEUP
Overall Dual SEC
1 Singles: #34 Rachel Pierson (So., Princeton, N.J.) 21-12 10-8 8-5
2 Singles: #54 Rutuja Bhosale (So., Shrirampur, India) 22-11 14-4 10-3
3 Singles: Ines Deheza (Jr., Santa Cruz, Bolivia) 12-9 8-6 6-3
4 Singles: #63 Saska Gavrilovska (So., Vrsac, Serbia) 17-10 10-6 7-4
5 Singles: Eva Paalma (Fr., Tallinn, Estonia) 16-10 10-4 7-3
6 Singles: Anna Mamalat (Jr., Philadelphia, Pa.) 15-9 9-2 7-1
Others available: Stefania Hristov (Jr., Iasi, Romania)
1 Doubles: #26 Paalma/Pierson 9-4 7-4 7-3
2 Doubles: #20 Deheza/Hristov 5-2 5-2 3-2
3 Doubles: #75 Bhosale/Gavrilovska 12-6 11-5 6-4
TEXAS A&M IN THE ITA RANKINGS
- Texas A&M climbed three spots and enters the SEC Tournament No. 7 in the most recent ITA national rankings. It is the Aggies' highest ranking of the season, bettering the previous high of No. 10 set in the preseason poll on Jan. 6 and matched on April 7.
- Sophomore Rachel Pierson, in her first year at A&M after transferring from Virginia, is the Aggies' highest ranked singles player at No. 34, two spots shy of her collegiate career high of No. 32 set on March 24.
- Sophomores Saska Gavrilovska and Rutuja Bhosale are ranked 47th and 54th, respectively in singles
- All three doubles teams are ranked. Juniors Ines Deheza and Stefania Hristov are a team-high No. 20. Pierson and freshman Eva Paalma are No. 26 and Bhosale and Gavrilovska are 75th.
RECENT RESULTS
- Texas A&M went 3-0 last week, including two top-10 victories after winning the last match standing to defeat both No. 7 Baylor and No. 8 Vanderbilt, 4-3, in consecutive matches.
- On Wednesday, April 8, Rutuja Bhosale posted a come-from-behind three-set victory in the last match standing as the Aggies rallied to defeat No. 7 Baylor, 4-3, in a contest that began at the Hurd Center outdoor courts and was complete at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center in Waco, Texas.
- The Aggies trailed, 3-1, before Saska Gavrilovska and Anna Mamalat closed out straight-set victories to begin the comeback charge and tie the team score at 3-3. Bhosale, who lost her first set and had trailed the second set, 5-4, then completed her heroic comeback as A&M posted its seventh consecutive win in the series against the Bears.
- On Friday, April 10, Rachel Pierson won a third-set tiebreaker in the last match standing to close out the 4-3 victory over the Commodores.
- Vanderbilt, which never trailed in the team score until the final match was completed, fought off two match points in the deciding doubles match to take a 1-0 lead.
- A&M tied the score at 1-1, 2-2 and again at 3-3 before Pierson clinched the win.
- In the regular season finale against No. 21 Kentucky on Sunday, April 12 at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center, the Aggies and Wildcats started out with singles due to inclement weather moving into the area. A&M made quick work of the Wildcats, winning the first set on all six courts and completing four straight-set victories to close out the 4-0 victory.
PASSING SHOTS
- Texas A&M is 8-2 in home matches, 7-1 in away matches and 0-1 at neutral sites.
- The Aggies' only match at a neutral site came down to the last match standing in a 4-3 loss to current No. 1 North Carolina on Feb. 1 at the Houston Galleria Tennis Club indoor courts.
- A&M is 12-4 against ranked opponents with the highest ranked win being a 4-2 victory against No. 6 Baylor on March 19 in College Station.
- A&M's four losses this season were against teams currently ranked in the top 20: No. 1 North Carolina, No. 3 Florida, No. 6 Georgia and No. 19 TCU. The matches against UNC and Florida were decided in the last match standing, while A&M suffered 4-2 setbacks against both Georgia and TCU.
- The Aggies went a combined 50-23 in SEC singles matches and 18-10 in SEC doubles matches.
- Sophomore Saska Gavrilovska and junior Anna Mamalat each enter the SEC tournament riding a team-high seven-match win streak in singles.
- In doubles, the 26th-ranked duo of sophomore Rachel Pierson and freshman Eva Paalma is riding a team-leading six-match win streak.
- A&M is 8-0 when No. 1 singles wins and 9-0 when No. 2 singles wins.
- The Aggies are 10-3 when winning the doubles point.
- A&M won the doubles point in eight of the 11 SEC matches in which the doubles matches were competed.
- A&M is 9-1 when No. 1 doubles wins.
- The Aggies have no seniors on the team.
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.