Women's Tennis Hosts No. 9 Alabama, Sunday at Noon
Mar 21, 2015 | Women's Tennis
The match is the third match in four days for the Aggies, who upset No. 6 Baylor on Thursday, 4-2, and then blanked No. 37 Auburn, 4-0 on Friday to improve to 7-3 overall and 4-1 in SEC action.
"Our ladies have definitely benefited from our recent matches,” A&M head coach Howard Joffe said. “Our quality of tennis and confidence is rising, and we will need both those things if we are to topple the defending SEC champs. I know I'm excited to see the matchups.”
Alabama is 13-3 overall and 5-2 in SEC play after defeating LSU, 5-2, Friday in Baton Rouge. The victory put the Tide back in the win column after they suffered a 4-3 upset last weekend at No. 41 Mississippi State, snapping Alabama's four-match win streak. Alabama's other conference loss was at No. 2 Florida in the SEC season opener.
A&M trails Alabama, 4-2, in the all-time series after suffering two losses to the Crimson Tide last year, a 4-1 loss at Tuscaloosa in a regular-season match against then-fifth-ranked Alabama and a 4-2 setback to the third-ranked Tide in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament at Missouri.
Individually, A&M sophomore Rachel Pierson is ranked 46th in the nation in singles and leads the Aggies in wins with a 17-7 overall record. She and Rutuja Bhosale are both 4-1 in SEC matches and riding three-match win streaks.
Junior Ines Deheza, who improved to 4-0 in SEC singles matches after clinching the Aggies' win against Auburn, and partner Stefania Hristov are ranked a team-high No. 29 in doubles. They are 3-0 in SEC matches and have won their last four contests, including a win against No. 6 Baylor's 10th-ranked duo of Ema Burgic and Blair Shankle to clinch A&M's eighth doubles point in nine matches.
The Tide has three players listed in the singles rankings, including sophomore Erin Routliffe, who is a team-high No. 26. Maya Jansen and Danielle Spielmann are 48th and 54th, respectively.
In doubles, Routliffe and Jansen are No. 9 in the nation and boast a 14-0 record at the No. 1 line, including a 5-0 mark in conference play. Jansen and Luicelena Perez are No. 37, and Natalia Maynetto and Emily Zabor are No. 46.
Live scoring of the match will be available at 12thMan.com.
A&M concludes its four-match home stand Tuesday as the Aggies welcome back No. 2 Florida to College Station. The match, which was rained out early this month, begins at noon at the 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.
Players Mentioned
