Aggies Blank South Alabama in Season Opener

Saturday, January 23

College Station

12:00 PM

Texas A&M

South Alabama

Jan 23, 2016 | Women's Tennis

By: Texas A&M Media Relations

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 10 Texas A&M women's tennis team opened its 2016 dual match season with a 4-0 victory over No. 73 South Alabama in the first round of the ITA Kick-Off Classic this afternoon at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.

With the win, which also gave A&M's Mark Weaver a victory in his head coaching debut, the Aggies advance to the championship match. They will take on 37^th-ranked Wichita State, Sunday at 12 p.m.at the Mitchell Tennis Center, with the winner earning a berth in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, Feb. 5-8, in Madison, Wis. The Shockers improved to 4-0 and advanced to the championship match with a 4-1 victory over No. 61 Minnesota.

South Alabama falls to 1-2 and will take on the Gophers (2-1) in the consolation match Sunday. Doubles matches will begin at 1:30 p.m. on the Texas A&M Intramural Courts, and singles matches will begin at the conclusion of the Texas A&M-Wichita State match at the Mitchell Tennis Center.

The Aggies jumped out to a 1-0 lead against the Jaguars as Texas A&M won the first two doubles matches to be completed by identical 6-1 scores. Senior Anna Mamalat and junior Rutuja Bhosale reeled off five consecutive games to pull away for a 6-1 victory against Cinta Papke and Alexandria Stiteler at the No. 2 line. Senior Ines Deheza and junior Saska Gavrilovska soon followed, winning their last four games against Monica Mitta and Paula Sanchez at No. 3 to close out the match and clinch the point for the Aggies.

At the No. 1 line, A&M Eva Paalma and Rachel Pierson got off to a sluggish start, dropping the first five games to Laura Valkova and Michaela Meszarosova before winning the next two games to get within 5-2. The match was stopped after Deheza and Gavrilovska won their match to give A&M the 1-0 lead.

In singles, A&M won four of six first sets en route to three straight-set victories to complete the shutout against the Jaguars. Bhosale was first off, dropping her opening game and then reeling off 12 consecutive games to defeat Mitta, 6-1, 6-0, at the No. 3 line.

Mamalat gave the Aggies a 2-0 lead, jumping out to a 4-0 lead to start the match and cruising to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Laura Matuskova at No. 6.

Paalma closed out the victory at No. 4. The Estonian won her first set against Papke, 6-1, and the second set was on serve at 4-3 before Paalma broke to go up, 5-3. Paalma then held serve to win the second set, 6-3, to secure the victory for the Aggies and their new head coach.

Play was stopped on the remaining three courts. Stiteler had won her first set, 6-4, against 53^rd-ranked Gavrilovska at No. 1, and the second set was tied 4-4 when the match was stopped.

In a match-up of ranked opponents, No. 58 Pierson held a 2-0 lead in the third set against 86^th-ranked Valkova at No. 2. Pierson won the first set, 6-1, after winning the opening four games, but Valkova broke away from a 3-3 tie to take the second set, 6-4, to force the third set, which went unfinished.

South Alabama's Meszarosova won her first set, 6-3, against Deheza at No. 5, and the second set was tied at 2-2 when the match was halted.

It was the third consecutive season-opening victory for A&M, which improved to 26-8 in season openers since 1982.

Texas A&M quotes:

Head Coach Mark Weaver:
On making his head coaching debut…
"It was a very good day for the Aggies. It was a good start to the season. I was a little bit more anxious than I have been in previous years, but I was also very confident in our team that we would do well today. I think the first-match jitters showed up in some of our girls today. It showed up at No. 1 doubles and maybe in some of the singles matches. Overall we are a veteran team, so I think we handled the first-match nerves pretty well."

On heading into the season…
"I have already talked to the players a bit, and the main message today is just getting more match tough. It can only happen from playing against other teams. You try to simulate it as much in practice against each other, but it is just a different ballgame when you are playing against an opposing team. I think the real plan for early here in the season is to toughen us up by playing more matches. We will have a more difficult and challenging match tomorrow, and in the following week we will have Baylor and North Carolina on the road. The key to the early season is keeping the girls healthy moving forward and keep on toughening up with the matches."

On the mindset of being head coach…
"It is basically the same mindset for me. It is a little different of a feel, because I am the one making all the decisions. Did I make the right line up? Did I put the right doubles teams together? [Associate Head Coach Patrick Sullivan] and I talked those things through, and I feel like we made the right decisions. Definitely a bit of a different feel, but I thought things went pretty smooth today for the most part."

Sophomore Eva Paalma
On the first match of the season…
"It feels great. We have been practicing hard for two weeks and kind of beating up each other in practices. It finally feels good to play against new players and get the one win under our belt."

On having Mark Weaver as head coach…
"It is different but good. I like it a lot. It is less pressure, and you have your own decisions to make on what to do, how to play, and for me it worked for sure. I think for the other girls it worked as well."

On today setting the tone for the rest of the season…
"For sure we didn't play our best today, so we want to play better. We are going to go after it, after every game. It doesn't matter who we play, we always fight and do our best. It is our tone and in that way we gave the tone."

On how she played…
"I feel great. I mean doubles we started kind of rusty because I haven't played with Rachel [Pierson] in a long time. I wouldn't take [the results] to seriously right now, but I feel I fought well and did great. I feel I am in good shape and I prepared over the winter, so I am happy with myself."

#10 Texas A&M 4, #73 South Alabama 0
ITA Kick-Off Weekend, First Round
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
College Station, Texas
January 23, 2016

Singles
1.     #53 Saska Gavrilovska (A&M) vs. Alexandria Stiteler (USA), 4-6, 4-4 unfinished
2.     # 56 Rachel Pierson (A&M) vs. Laura Valkova (USA), 6-1, 4-6, 2-0 unfinished
3.     #106 Rutuja Bhosale (A&M) def. Monica Mitta (USA), 6-1, 6-0
4.     Eva Paalma (A&M) def. Cinta Papke (USA), 6-1, 6-3
5.     Ines Deheza (A&M) vs. Michaela Mesarosova (USA), 3-6, 2-2 unfinished
6.     Anna Mamalat (A&M) def. Laura Matuskova (USA), 6-2, 6-1

Doubles (Texas A&M wins the point)
1.     Paalma/Pierson (A&M) vs. Meszarosova/Valkova, 2-5, unfinished
2.     Bhosale/Mamalat (A&M) def. Papke/Stiteler (USA), 6-1
3.     Deheza/Gavrilovska (A&M) def. Mitta/Sanchez (USA), 6-1

Order of finish
Doubles: 2, 3
Singles: 3, 6, 4

Team records
Texas A&M: 1-0
South Alabama: 1-2

Sunday Schedule
12 p.m.            Texas A&M vs. Wichita State (Championship match)
3 p.m.              Minnesota vs. South Alabama (Consolation match)

Live scoring of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend matches at Texas A&M in College Station, Texas, is available at 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: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/pages/Aggie-Womens-Tennis/143874782434654

Pronunciations
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                             MAM-ah-LOT
Eva Paalma                                   A-va palma