COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The 10th-ranked Texas A&M women's tennis team heads to Waco on Wednesday to battle former Big 12 Conference foe and seventh-ranked Baylor. First serve of the top-10 showdown is slated for 5 p.m. at the Hurd Tennis Center.
"With all the inclement weather, it does feel a little like we have crammed an entire season into six weeks,” A&M head coach Howard Joffe said. “As a result, our group is likely logging a little too much overtime so to speak, and a midweek trip to Waco just adds to that ever growing concern of mine. On the positive side, our ladies will get another chance to play a top-10 team at the site of the NCAAs this year. To that end I know our ladies will rise to the occasion and demonstrate the resilience that is becoming a hallmark of our team.”
The Aggies, who defeated the then-No. 6 Bears, 4-2, on March 19 in College Station, enter the contest 12-4 overall, having won nine of their last 10 matches including each of their last four. Most recently, Texas A&M defeated Missouri, 7-0, and No. 46 Arkansas, 5-2, on the road last weekend to improve to 9-2 in Southeastern Conference matches, securing no less than a fourth place finish in the league standings with two conference matches remaining.
Baylor is 19-5, including 9-4 against top 25 teams. After losing at Texas A&M, the Bears won their next four matches, but that streak was snapped in their most recent outing, a 4-2 loss at No. 18 Texas Tech on Saturday.
Individually, the Aggies have four players ranked in the national singles rankings, released today. Sophomore Rachel Pierson, 19-11 overall, is the highest ranked player on the team at No. 39. Sophomore Saska Gavrilovska, riding a team-best five match win streak, is No. 45, and sophomore Rutuja Bhosale, 20-10 overall after having won nine of her last 10 matches, 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. 17. Pierson and freshman Eva Paalma have won each of their last five matches and climbed to No. 33. Bhosale and Gavrilovska, 10-4 in dual matches, climbed 12 spots to No. 68 this week.
Baylor is led by sophomore Blair Shankle and lone senior Ema Burgic, who are No. 30 and 31, respectively in singles, as well as a team-high No. 10 in doubles. Shankle is 14-2 in dual matches and is riding a team-best five-match win streak in singles. Burgic is 11-4 in dual matches, all played at the No. 1 line. Together, the duo is 8-4 at No. 1 doubles.
A&M has won the last six matches against the Bears and owns a 26-20 lead in the all-time series, which began in 1980. In the matchup earlier this season, A&M took a 1-0 lead as Deheza and Hristov won the final three games to defeat 10th-ranked Burgic and Shankle, 6-4, in the last doubles match standing. The Aggies won four of six first sets in singles with Bhosale putting A&M ahead, 2-0, after her opponent, Leolia JeanJean, defaulted following a 7-6 first-set loss. Baylor tied the score as Kelley Anderson and Shankle completed straight-set wins at courts 6 and 2, respectively. A&M regained the lead after Paalma rallied from a 5-1 deficit to defeat Theresa Van Zyl, 7-5, 6-1, at the No. 5 line. Gavrilovska then clinched the match for A&M, winning a first-set tiebreaker, 7-5, and taking the second set, 6-2, against Kiah Generette on the No. 3 court to close out A&M's 4-2 victory
The Bears' most recent win against the Aggies was a 5-2 decision in a Big 12 regular-season match on April 5, 2012, in Waco. A&M is 11-9 against Baylor in matches played in Waco. Last year, the visiting Aggies held off then-14th-ranked Baylor, 4-1.
Live scoring of Wednesday's A&M-Baylor match will be available here.
The Aggies close out the regular season this weekend by hosting eighth-ranked Vanderbilt, Friday at 5 p.m., and No. 21 Kentucky, Sunday at noon at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
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.