No. 14 Texas A&M (8-4, 0-1 SEC) vs. No. 38 Alabama (4-5, 0-1 SEC)
Saturday, March 5, 12 p.m.
Alabama Tennis Stadium, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Live Stats
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama – The 14th-ranked Texas A&M women's tennis team concludes its Southeastern Conference season-opening road swing Saturday as the Aggies face No. 38 Alabama at the Alabama Tennis Stadium. First serve is slated for 12 p.m.
Both teams will be looking to rebound after dropping their SEC openers on Thursday. The Aggies (8-4, 0-1 SEC) had their four-match winning streak snapped after suffering a 4-2 setback at No. 29 Auburn. Alabama (4-5, 0-1 SEC) came up short in a 4-3 loss to No. 9 LSU, marking the Crimson Tide's first home loss of the season after winning their first three.
All-American Saska Gavrilovska is the Aggies' top-ranked singles player at No. 53. The junior from Serbia is 11-4 overall, but she suffered a loss at Auburn to slip to 3-1 in dual matches only. Freshman Domenica Gonzalez is riding a team-leading six-match win streak and is 7-2 in dual matches after earning one of the Aggies' two points in the loss against the Tigers on Friday.
Junior Rutuja Bhosale and senior partner Anna Mamalat are No. 48 in the ITA doubles rankings and lead the Aggies with a 14-4 overall mark, including a 6-2 record in dual matches only.
Alabama, which will be meeting its third consecutive top 15 opponent when the Tide takes on the Aggies, is led by 38th-ranked Andie Daniell in singles. Daniell is 17-4, including 7-3 against ranked opponents and 5-1 in dual matches only. Daniell and partner Erin Routliffe, a two-time NCAA doubles champion with Maya Jansen, are 13-3 in doubles.
Alabama owns a 4-3 edge in the all-time series against the Aggies, including a 2-0 lead in matches played in Tuscaloosa. Then-No. 30 A&M won the most recent meeting, upsetting the ninth-ranked Tide, 4-3, in College Station as then-freshman Eva Paalma won the last match standing, 7-6 (3), 6-7 (5), 7-5, against Emily Zabor at No. 5 singles to clinch the win for the Aggies.
Texas A&M, in its fourth season as a member of the SEC, is picked to finish fourth in the conference standings this year according to a preseason vote of the league's head women's tennis coaches. The Aggies, who won the SEC regular season title with Florida and Georgia in their inaugural season in the conference, went 11-2 and finished in a three-way tie with Georgia and eventual national champion Vanderbilt for second place in the SEC standings last year.
Alabama went 8-5 in SEC play in 2015 to finish in fifth place and is picked to finish fifth again this season according to the coaches' preseason poll.
The SEC leads the nation with three teams ranked in the top 10 as well as a nation-leading eight teams in the top 25: Georgia (7); Vanderbilt (8); LSU (9); South Carolina (12); Texas A&M (14); Florida (15); Kentucky (17); Mississippi State (25).
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.
Texas A&M Pronunciation Guide:
Rutuja Bhosale roo-too-jah bo-slay
Ines Deheza ee-NAY de-HAY-za
Saska Gavrilovska saush-ka gav-ril-ahv-ska
Stefania Hristov steff-on-ya RIS-tov
Anna Mamalat anna MAM-ah-LOT
Eva Paalma A-va paul-ma