COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Saska Gavrilovska (pronounced saush-kah gav-ril-ov-ska) will represent Texas A&M in the 64-player field at the 2016 NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Singles Championship, the NCAA announced today. In addition, A&M's doubles team of Rachel Pierson and Eva Paalma (pronounced A-vah palm-uh) has an outside chance of making the 32-team NCAA Doubles Championship after being selected the fifth alternate.
The singles and doubles competition will be conducted May 25-30 at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, following the conclusion of the team championship, which runs from May 19-24. The University of Tulsa will serve as host.
Gavrilovska, who earned ITA All-America honors last year by reaching the NCAA singles round of 16, will be competing in the singles tournament for the third consecutive season. The junior from Serbia will become only the second A&M player in program history to compete in the prestigious event each of the first three years of her career, joining former Aggie standout Nazari Urbina, who is A&M's only four-time NCAA singles participant.
A member of the 2016 All-SEC first team, Gavrilovska is currently ranked No. 27 in the nation in singles with an 18-10 overall record. She enters the NCAA team championship 10-7 in dual matches, having played all but one match at the No. 1 line. Gavrilovska is 10-9 against ranked opponents in 2015-16.
Last year, Gavrilovska became A&M's first-ever underclassman to reach the round of 16, as well as the program's first underclassman to achieve All-America distinction. The then-sophomore defeated Taylor Ng of Dartmouth, 6-4, 6-2, in the round of 64 and then upset No. 8 seed Sydney Campbell of Vanderbilt, 6-4, 6-3, to reach the round of 16 and earn All-America status. Gavrilovska, who entered the tournament ranked No. 54, then fell to No. 9-16 seed Stephanie Wagner of Miami, 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, in a match that was interrupted several times by a light rain at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas.
As a freshman, Gavrilovska fell to No. 9-16 seed and senior All-American Anett Schutting of California, 6-4, 6-1, in the opening round.
Pierson, a junior from Princeton, N.J., and Paalma, a sophomore from Tallinn, Estonia, are currently ranked No. 32 in the ITA doubles rankings with an 11-13 overall record, including an 11-11 record in dual matches only. The pair played in last year's NCAA Doubles Championship but was eliminated in the first round after falling to Desirae Krawczyk and Stephanie Vlad of Arizona State, 6-2, 6-3.
Should the tandem make this year's field, it will mark the third consecutive doubles appearance for Pierson, who played her freshman year at the University of Virginia, where she was a No. 5-8 seed with Cavaliers partner Julia Elbaba. The UVA duo suffered a first-round 6-3, 7-6 (8) loss to Brynn Boren and Zoe Katz of USC in Athens, Ga.
All matches shall be the best-of-three sets. No-ad scoring and a seven-point tiebreaker (first to seven points, must win by two points) at six-games-all will be used for all matches. In doubles, a 10-point match tiebreaker will be played in lieu of a third set. The draws for both tournaments will be announced May 24.
This is the seventh consecutive year and 15th time overall A&M has been represented in the singles championships. A&M players are a combined 15-19 in singles matches since Kim Labuschagne became the first Aggie to compete in the postseason event in 1987. Labuschagne and Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar are tied for the best finish in school history, reaching the quarterfinals in 1987 and 2012, respectively.
As a team, Texas A&M (16-10) received an at-large berth in the 64-team 2016 NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship and will open against the Denver Pioneers on Friday, May 13 at 1 p.m. (11 a.m. PT) at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium in Stanford, California. The Aggies are making their 17th consecutive and 22nd overall appearance in the team tournament.
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.
The complete list of players selected to compete in the 2016 NCAA Individual Championships is available at NCAA.com.
The singles and doubles competition will be conducted May 25-30 at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, following the conclusion of the team championship, which runs from May 19-24. The University of Tulsa will serve as host.
Gavrilovska, who earned ITA All-America honors last year by reaching the NCAA singles round of 16, will be competing in the singles tournament for the third consecutive season. The junior from Serbia will become only the second A&M player in program history to compete in the prestigious event each of the first three years of her career, joining former Aggie standout Nazari Urbina, who is A&M's only four-time NCAA singles participant.
A member of the 2016 All-SEC first team, Gavrilovska is currently ranked No. 27 in the nation in singles with an 18-10 overall record. She enters the NCAA team championship 10-7 in dual matches, having played all but one match at the No. 1 line. Gavrilovska is 10-9 against ranked opponents in 2015-16.
Last year, Gavrilovska became A&M's first-ever underclassman to reach the round of 16, as well as the program's first underclassman to achieve All-America distinction. The then-sophomore defeated Taylor Ng of Dartmouth, 6-4, 6-2, in the round of 64 and then upset No. 8 seed Sydney Campbell of Vanderbilt, 6-4, 6-3, to reach the round of 16 and earn All-America status. Gavrilovska, who entered the tournament ranked No. 54, then fell to No. 9-16 seed Stephanie Wagner of Miami, 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, in a match that was interrupted several times by a light rain at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas.
As a freshman, Gavrilovska fell to No. 9-16 seed and senior All-American Anett Schutting of California, 6-4, 6-1, in the opening round.
Pierson, a junior from Princeton, N.J., and Paalma, a sophomore from Tallinn, Estonia, are currently ranked No. 32 in the ITA doubles rankings with an 11-13 overall record, including an 11-11 record in dual matches only. The pair played in last year's NCAA Doubles Championship but was eliminated in the first round after falling to Desirae Krawczyk and Stephanie Vlad of Arizona State, 6-2, 6-3.
Should the tandem make this year's field, it will mark the third consecutive doubles appearance for Pierson, who played her freshman year at the University of Virginia, where she was a No. 5-8 seed with Cavaliers partner Julia Elbaba. The UVA duo suffered a first-round 6-3, 7-6 (8) loss to Brynn Boren and Zoe Katz of USC in Athens, Ga.
All matches shall be the best-of-three sets. No-ad scoring and a seven-point tiebreaker (first to seven points, must win by two points) at six-games-all will be used for all matches. In doubles, a 10-point match tiebreaker will be played in lieu of a third set. The draws for both tournaments will be announced May 24.
This is the seventh consecutive year and 15th time overall A&M has been represented in the singles championships. A&M players are a combined 15-19 in singles matches since Kim Labuschagne became the first Aggie to compete in the postseason event in 1987. Labuschagne and Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar are tied for the best finish in school history, reaching the quarterfinals in 1987 and 2012, respectively.
As a team, Texas A&M (16-10) received an at-large berth in the 64-team 2016 NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship and will open against the Denver Pioneers on Friday, May 13 at 1 p.m. (11 a.m. PT) at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium in Stanford, California. The Aggies are making their 17th consecutive and 22nd overall appearance in the team tournament.
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.
The complete list of players selected to compete in the 2016 NCAA Individual Championships is available at NCAA.com.