Texas A&M
North Texas
Aggies Blank North Texas in Season Opener
Jan 24, 2015 | Women's Tennis
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 11 Texas A&M women's tennis team opened its 2015 dual season with a 4-0 victory over No. 70 North Texas in the first round of the ITA Kick-Off Classic at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
With the win, the Aggies advance to take on No. 41 TCU, Sunday at 12 p.m. in the championship match, with the winner earning a berth in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, Feb. 6-9, in Charlottesville, Va.
North Texas falls to 0-2 and will take on No. 35 Houston, a 4-0 loser to the Horned Frogs, in the consolation match Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Mitchell Tennis Center.
Texas A&M raced out to a 1-0 lead by winning the first two doubles matches to finish. A&M's 30th-ranked duo of Ines Deheza and Rachel Pierson jumped out to a 3-0 lead against Kseniya Bardabush and Franziska Sprinkmeyer at the No. 1 court and went on to win, 6-2.
A&M clinched the doubles point at the No. 2 line, where Rutuja Bhosale and Saska Gavrilovska pulled away for a 6-3 victory against Anastasiya Shestakova and Alexis Thoma.
The No. 3 court was tied at 4-4 between A&M's Stefania Hristov and Anna Mamalat and North Texas' Ana Sofia Cordero and Agustina Valenzuela, when the match was stopped.
As in doubles, A&M also quickly took control in singles, winning the first set on five of six courts. Newcomers Eva Paalma and Pierson both were successful in their Aggie career debuts as they combined to give A&M a 3-0 lead. Paalma, a freshman from Estonia, put A&M ahead, 2-0, as she cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Cordero at the No. 6 line.
Pierson, who hails from New Jersey and is a sophomore transfer from the University of Virginia, gave A&M a 3-0 lead, winning five of the final six games to pull away for a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Shestakova at the No. 2 line.
Bhosale, a sophomore from India, followed with a 6-0, 7-5 victory over Valenzuela at No. 4 to clinch the winning point for the Aggies.
A&M held leads on two of the three remaining courts when the match was clinched. Deheza, a junior from Bolivia, had dropped her first three games of the match to Thoma at No. 3 but came back to hold a 6-4, 4-1 lead. Hristov was one game away from clinching her match at the No. 5 line when play was stopped. The junior from Romania had reeled off six consecutive games to close out a 7-5 first-set win and jump out to a 4-0 lead in the second set over Sprinkmeyer, but the match went unfinished with Hristov holding a 5-1 second-set lead.
North Texas held its only lead at the No. 1 line, where Bardabush held a 7-5, 4-0 lead over 29th-ranked Gavrilovska.
The win marked A&M's 15 consecutive victory over the Mean Green, which falls to 2-15 in the all-time series.
Texas A&M head Coach Howard Joffe quotes:
On the overall match...
“Obviously the end is that we won the match, which is satisfying and good. The method of approach maybe was characterized by nervousness I would say. Definitely in the doubles, at No. 3 doubles specifically with Anna [Mamalat] and Stefania [Hristov], they were real, I wouldn't say rusty because they are actually playing quite well, but just really nervous. One thing though that I would give the team credit for is in the doubles, even though they were playing below par and very nervous, they didn't flinch. They just stuck to their guns and even on that third court by the time it was all said and done we were in the lead, so that was good. Just to a lesser degree the same was true of the singles: a little bit of nervousness going against a team that has nothing to lose. I don't know that we found out a ton about our team today except they got the job done. We won some of the matches pretty handily, some of the others more of a struggle. Tomorrow a lot of questions will be asked of the team and we'll see how they do.”
On A&M's two new players:
“Eva [Paalma], that was really exciting. That was her first college match. She was the first off of the court. I didn't see a lot of it, but she couldn't have played too badly to win 6-1, 6-1. And Rachel [Pierson] also got off to a really good start and then hung on in the second set to get us to three points. So, yes, the new folks did quite well today.”
On Pierson's strong serve...
“She obviously as you can see is very powerful. She has a very big serve and long reach at the net, and so she is very effective with the doubles and it is a great addition to our team.”
On the strength of the depth of the lineup...
“We got our points at [courts] 6, 4, and 2 and so, again, I don't know that today we found out a ton, but yeah we were definitely very strong and not in any threat of even losing a set at 4, 5, and 6.”
On if he learned anything else about the team…
“I don't think so. I think at this stage at a micro level our kids handled themselves just fine. Hopefully the match today will help us a little bit with nerves and so forth tomorrow. But in TCU or Houston we are going to have our work cut out for us for sure.”
Sophomore Rachel Pierson
On her first dual match as an Aggie...
“It's my first time out here playing under Howard [Joffe] and under Mark [Weaver]. I have to say it is an amazing experience. I played some nice fall matches with them and with the team, but it's always a different feel coming out here, and getting the dual match under my belt was really good. I didn't feel like it was a different or new team. With these girls I felt like I was playing with my friends. It was a good feeling.”
On her feelings about the whole match...
“It went really well. I know our freshman, Eva [Paalma], she finished in maybe 50 minutes. It was 1 and 1 and that was her first match in college tennis and I think that was amazing. When you have your teammates who you feel like are supporting you and are finishing quickly, it takes a lot of pressure off you to feel like you have to clinch the match. It was great having everyone have a good start today, so I didn't feel the pressure of having to really pick up my game.
On all first-set wins on the courts being played next to her…
“It helps for sure for the momentum, too. When you see all your teammates win the first sets 6-1, you get pumped up and you don't feel like you have to carry a lot of weight on your shoulders. You ride that momentum.”
On tomorrow's match...
“Tomorrow will definitely be a tougher match. I know TCU and Houston have great players. It's going to be good. We have the first match under our belts, and we are ready for the second match and we are just going to take it one point at a time.”
#11 Texas A&M 4, #70 North Texas 0
ITA Kick-Off Weekend, First Round
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
College Station, Texas
January 24, 2015
Singles
1. #29 Saska Gavrilovska (TAMU) vs. Kseniya Bardabush (UNT)5-7, 0-3, unfinished
2. # 56 Rachel Pierson (TAMU) def. Anastasiya Shestakova (UNT), 6-1, 6-4
3. Ines Deheza (TAMU) vs. Alexis Thoma (UNT), 6-4, 4-1 unfinished
4. Rutuja Bhosale (TAMU) def. Agustina Valenzuela (UNT), 6-0, 7-5
5. Stefania Hristov (TAMU) vs. Franziska Sprinkmeyer (UNT), 7-5, 4-1
6. Eva Paalma (TAMU) def. Ana Sofia Cordero (UNT), 6-1, 6-1
Doubles (Texas A&M wins the point)
1. #30 Deheza/Pierson (TAMU) def. Bardabush/Sprinkmeyer (UNT), 6-2
2. Bhosale/Gavrilovska (TAMU) def. Shestakova/Thoma (UNT), 6-3
3. Hristov/Anna Mamalat (TAMU) vs. Cordero/Valenzuela (UNT), 4-4 unfinished
#41 TCU 4, #35 Houston 0
ITA Kick-Off Weekend, First Round
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
College Station, Texas
January 24, 2015
Singles
1. #21 Despoina Vogasari (UH) vs. Stefanie Tan (TCU), 6-5, 1-2 unfinished
2. #52 Elena Kordolaimi (UH) vs. Simona Parajova (TCU), 7-5, 1-5 unfinished
3. Rocio Martin (UH) vs. Sofiko Kadzhaya (TCU), 6-0, 5-5 unfinished
4. Palina Dubavets (TCU) def. Mina Markovic (UH), 6-3, 6-3
5. Alexis Pereira (TCU) def. Maria Cardenas (UH), 6-1, 6-0
6. Seda Arantekin (TCU) def. Charlotte Phillips (UH), 6-3, 6-1
Doubles (TCU wins the point)
1. Markovic/Vogasari (UH) vs. Arantekin/Tan (TCU), 4-5 unfinished
2. Kadzhaya/Parajova (TCU) def. Kordolaimi/Martin (UH), 6-0
3. Dubavets/Pereira (TCU) def. Cardenas/Phillips (UH), 6-3
Order of finish:
Doubles: 2, 3
Singles: 5, 4, 6
Team Records:
Houston: 1-2
TCU: 2-0
Sunday Schedule
12 p.m. Texas A&M vs. TCU (Championship match)
3 p.m. Houston vs. North Texas (Consolation match)
Live scoring of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend matches at Texas A&M in College Station, Texas, is available at AggieAthletics.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: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/pages/Aggie-Womens-Tennis/143874782434654
Players Mentioned
