Texas A&M
Baylor
No. 10 Texas A&M Gets Thrilling 4-3 Victory Over No. 7 Baylor
Apr 08, 2015 | Women's Tennis
It was the fifth consecutive victory for the Aggies, who improve to 13-4. Baylor, which was aiming to avenge a 4-2 loss to then-No. 30 Texas A&M earlier this season in College Station, suffers its second consecutive loss and drops to 19-6.
“Two words likely sum up our reason for tonight's improbable win: Rutuja Bhosale,” A&M head coach Howard Joffe said. "As expected the intense travel schedule had our group out of sorts. Also moving indoors was another challenge as the rain came unexpectedly. And yet the resilience of our ladies was on show."
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.
The match began outdoors, where A&M won the first two doubles matches to be completed to take a 1-0 lead. Gavrilovska and Bhosale, ranked No. 68 in doubles, gave the Aggies the early advantage in the race to the doubles point, going up a break at 4-2 against Rachael James-Baker and Theresa Van Zyl on Court 3. Both teams then held serve as A&M held on to win, 6-3.
At the No. 1 court, the 18th-ranked tandem of Ines Deheza and Stefania Hristov had jumped out to a 3-0 lead against Ema Burgic and Kelley Anderson. Baylor got back on serve at 4-3, but neither team could hold serve for the remainder of the match and A&M went on to win, 6-4, to clinch the point.
A&M's Eva Paalma and Rachel Pierson, riding a team-best five-match win streak, were tied at 5-5 with Blaire Shankle and Kiah Generette at the No. 2 line when the doubles point was clinched and play was stopped.
Once singles began, no more than three games had been completed on a court when a light rain began to fall and the decision was made to move to the indoor courts. Play resumed following a 43-minute delay.
Baylor began to gain momentum by winning four of six first sets in singles. No. 31 Burgic, who had trailed No. 39 Pierson, 2-0, at the No. 1 line when the match was moved indoors, came back to win, 6-4, 6-1, and tied the team score, 1-1.
Baylor then took a 2-1 lead as Van Zyl defeated Hristov, 6-3, 6-2 at No. 5. Shankle, ranked No. 30, then gave the Bears a 3-1 lead, overcoming a 4-1 second-set deficit to defeat Deheza, 6-3, 7-5, at No. 3
Gavrilovska put A&M within 3-2 as the 45th-ranked sophomore put away 108th-ranked James-Baker, 7-5, 6-3 at the No. 4 line. A&M's Anna Mamalat then evened the score at 3-3, holding off Anderson, 7-5, 7-6 (5) at Court 6, and the match would come down to Bhosale at the No. 2 line.
Bhosale, who had won nine of her last 10 matches entering the contest against the Bears, fell behind 5-2 in the first set to 85th-ranked Generette and dropped the opening frame, 6-4. In the second set, Generette won three consecutive games to take a 5-4 lead, putting the Bears within one game of the team victory. With the momentum and the home crowd on Baylor's side and the outcome appearing dismal for the Aggies, Bhosale countered with her own three-game run to take the set, 7-5, and force a third and final set.
The match was on serve with Generette up, 3-2, before Bhosale reeled off four intensely competitive games to close out the thrilling victory.
The contest against the Bears wraps up A&M's three-match road swing and was the first of three consecutive top-25 matches for the Aggies. A&M closes out its regular-season home slate this weekend, hosting No. 8 Vanderbilt and No. 21 Kentucky, Friday and Sunday, respectively, at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center. First serve against the Commodores is slated for 5 p.m., and Texas A&M students who come to the match can enter to win an Xbox One as well as Aggie gear. The Sunday match against Kentucky begins at noon.
"My hope is we can get through these next few matches and catch our breath,” Joffe added. “We have an excellent team that is still searching for our collective best tennis.”
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.
#10 Texas A&M 4, #7 Baylor 3
Singles – Order of finish: 1, 5, 3, 4, 6, 2
1. #31 Ema Burgic (BU) def. #39 Rachel Pierson (A&M), 6-4, 6-1
2. #52 Rutuja Bhosale (A&M) def. #85 Kiah Generette (BU), 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
3. #30 Blair Shankle (BU) def. Ines Deheza (A&M), 6-3, 7-5
4. #45 Saska Gavrilovska (A&M) def. #108 Rachael James-Baker (BU), 7-5, 6-3
5. Theresa Van Zyl (BU) def. #124 Stefania Hristov (A&M), 6-3, 6-2
6. Anna Mamalat (A&M) def. Kelley Anderson (BU), 7-5, 7-6 (5)
Doubles – Order of finish: 3, 1
1. #18 Deheza/Hristov (A&M) def. Burgic/Anderson (BU), 6-4
2. #33 Eva Paalma/Pierson (A&M) vs. Generette/Shankle (BU), 5-5 unfinished
3. #68 Bhosale/Gavrilovska (A&M) def. James-Baker/Van Zyl (BU), 6-3
Team records:
Texas A&M: 13-4
Baylor: 19-6
Players Mentioned
