No. 17 Texas A&M Faces No. 3 North Carolina Sunday at Houston Galleria
Jan 31, 2015 | Women's Tennis
The teams met twice last year, with the Aggies posting the highest ranked win in program history, upsetting the No. 3 Tar Heels, 4-3, in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Feb. 4. The teams met again in the 2014 NCAA Championship round of 16 in Atlanta, where UNC defeated the Aggies, 4-0, to take an 8-3 lead in the all-time series.
“North Carolina has likely upgraded its lineup from the team that went to the NCAA final last year,” A&M head coach Howard Joffe said. “They are experienced and talented and we will be tested in every position and every respect.”
The Aggies, who have no seniors on the squad, enter the match 1-1 after defeating No. 70 North Texas, 4-0, in the first round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend last weekend at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station. A&M then fell to No. 41 TCU in the championship match, missing out on a third consecutive trip to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship.
The Aggies' practices were hindered by inclement weather during the week leading up to the season opener, but the team benefitted from the unusually warm weather that blanketed the area this past week and was able to stick to its full practice schedule.
“The superb weather this past week has allowed our group to get some really focused practices,” Joffe said. “We have a resilient and very cohesive team, and I fully expect to see a vast improvement in our performance this week.”
The Tar Heels, 4-0, are coming off back-to-back 4-0 victories over both No. 73 Minnesota and No. 37 LSU in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend to qualify for the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Va., Feb. 6-9, at the Boar's Head Sports Club.
Individually, Saska Gavrilovska is A&M's highest ranked singles player with a career-high No. 29 listing. Rachel Pierson, a sophomore transfer from the University of Virginia, is No. 56 in singles. She also is the Aggies' top-ranked doubles player, sporting a No. 21 ranking with freshman Eva Paalma and a No. 30 listing with junior Ines Deheza.
UNC features three players ranked in the ITA Top 125 in singles: No. 8 Jamie Loeb, No. 22 Caroline Price and No. 31 Hayley Carter. Ashley Dai and Kate Vialle are No. 13 in doubles.
Live scoring of the A&M-UNC match will be available at http://www.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.
