Wednesday, February 24
College Station
4:00 PM
Texas A&M
vs
Baylor
Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics
No. 20 Texas A&M Hosts Baylor, Wednesday at 4 p.m.
Feb 23, 2016 | Women's Tennis
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No. 20 Texas A&M (7-3) vs. No. 45 Baylor (4-5)
Wednesday, Feb. 24, 4 p.m.
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center, College Station, Texas
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The 20th-ranked Texas A&M women's tennis team concludes a four-match homestand and closes out non-conference play Wednesday as the Aggies face a rematch against No. 45 Baylor. First serve is at 4 p.m. at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center, where the Aggies are a perfect 5-0 this season.
Texas A&M (7-3), which defeated then-No. 15 Baylor, 4-0, last month at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center in Waco, has won its last three matches. In their most recent outing, the Aggies drubbed Stephen F. Austin, 7-0, on Saturday.
Baylor, which opened its season 3-0 before suffering the loss against the Aggies, has fallen to 4-5 overall and dropped to No. 45 in the Oracle/ITA team rankings after losing its last three matches to be completed and five of its last six. Three of the Bears' five losses this season have come against top-10 SEC teams, including a 5-2 loss to sixth-ranked and defending national champion Vanderbilt on Saturday in Waco.
"As always, it will be another battle with Baylor," A&M first-year head coach Mark Weaver said. "They have had a slow start to the season for their standards, and they will be coming in to town hungry for a win. Our girls have made some excellent progress over the last couple of weeks, and I am excited to see how they perform against a strong team in Baylor."
A&M junior Saska Gavrilovska is a team-high No. 53 in the ITA national singles rankings with a 10-3 overall record and a 2-0 mark in dual matches only. Senior Anna Mamalat and junior Rutuja Bhosale are No. 48 in the doubles rankings with a team-best 5-2 record in dual matches and a 13-4 overall ledger.
Bhosale and freshman Domenica Gonzalez lead the Aggies in overall singles victories with identical 11-6 records. In dual matches only, Bhosale, Gonzalez and sophomore Eva Paalma are tied for the team lead with 5-2 records, and Gonzalez is riding a team-best four-match win streak in dual matches.
Baylor, the three-time defending Big 12 Conference regular-season champion and the two-time defending conference tournament champion, is led by the 15th-ranked doubles team of Blair Shankle and Kiah Generette. The tandem is 6-2 overall, including 2-1 in dual matches only. The pair improved to 3-2 against ranked opponents with a 6-2 victory over Vandy's sixth-ranked Courtney Colton and Sydney Campbell, helping the Bears end a three-match losing skid in the doubles point.
In dual matches only, the Bears are a combined 12-11 in doubles matches and 16-27 in singles matches.
Since the teams first met in 1980, A&M owns a 28-20 lead in the all-time series against its former Southwest Conference and Big 12 Conference foe and has won each of the last eight meetings. The Aggies are 14-8 against the Bears in matches played in College Station.
The teams last met Jan. 27 in Waco with A&M going home with a 4-0 victory. The Aggies easily won the first two doubles matches to be completed, and Paalma gave A&M a 2-0 lead with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Rhiann Newborn at the No. 4 singles line. Junior Rachel Pierson followed with a 6-3, 6-4 win against Kelley Anderson at No. 2 to put A&M ahead, 3-0. Baylor, however, made things interesting as the remaining four matches would go to a third set.
Mamalat eventually fought back to defeat Gabriela Ferriera, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 at the No. 6 line to clinch the decisive fourth point and preserve the shutout for the Aggies.
Baylor's most recent victory against A&M was April 5, 2012, in Waco, where the 12th-ranked Bears extended their win streak to 13 against the Aggies and ended A&M's then record-setting overall 13-match win streak with a 4-2 victory in what would be the final regular-season match-up as Big 12 opponents. A&M avenged the loss and began its current win streak against the Bears with a 5-2 win in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament, marking the final time the teams would meet as conference foes.
Following Wednesday's contest against the Bears, Texas A&M will focus on its challenging SEC schedule, which begins at Auburn on Thursday, March 3.
"The Baylor match marks the end of our non-conference schedule, and then we head straight into the very difficult SEC schedule," Weaver said. "I feel that our team is in a good place with how well we are playing as we move forward to the next stage of our season."
The SEC leads the nation with three teams in this week's Oracle/ITA Tennis Rankings top 10 and nine teams in the top 25: Vanderbilt (4), Georgia (5), Florida (7), LSU (12), Kentucky (15), South Carolina (17), Texas A&M (20), Mississippi (22), and Mississippi State (25). No other conference has more than four teams in the top 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 an-na MAM-ah-LOT
Eva Paalma A-va paul-ma
No. 20 Texas A&M (7-3) vs. No. 45 Baylor (4-5)
Wednesday, Feb. 24, 4 p.m.
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center, College Station, Texas
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The 20th-ranked Texas A&M women's tennis team concludes a four-match homestand and closes out non-conference play Wednesday as the Aggies face a rematch against No. 45 Baylor. First serve is at 4 p.m. at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center, where the Aggies are a perfect 5-0 this season.
Texas A&M (7-3), which defeated then-No. 15 Baylor, 4-0, last month at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center in Waco, has won its last three matches. In their most recent outing, the Aggies drubbed Stephen F. Austin, 7-0, on Saturday.
Baylor, which opened its season 3-0 before suffering the loss against the Aggies, has fallen to 4-5 overall and dropped to No. 45 in the Oracle/ITA team rankings after losing its last three matches to be completed and five of its last six. Three of the Bears' five losses this season have come against top-10 SEC teams, including a 5-2 loss to sixth-ranked and defending national champion Vanderbilt on Saturday in Waco.
"As always, it will be another battle with Baylor," A&M first-year head coach Mark Weaver said. "They have had a slow start to the season for their standards, and they will be coming in to town hungry for a win. Our girls have made some excellent progress over the last couple of weeks, and I am excited to see how they perform against a strong team in Baylor."
A&M junior Saska Gavrilovska is a team-high No. 53 in the ITA national singles rankings with a 10-3 overall record and a 2-0 mark in dual matches only. Senior Anna Mamalat and junior Rutuja Bhosale are No. 48 in the doubles rankings with a team-best 5-2 record in dual matches and a 13-4 overall ledger.
Bhosale and freshman Domenica Gonzalez lead the Aggies in overall singles victories with identical 11-6 records. In dual matches only, Bhosale, Gonzalez and sophomore Eva Paalma are tied for the team lead with 5-2 records, and Gonzalez is riding a team-best four-match win streak in dual matches.
Baylor, the three-time defending Big 12 Conference regular-season champion and the two-time defending conference tournament champion, is led by the 15th-ranked doubles team of Blair Shankle and Kiah Generette. The tandem is 6-2 overall, including 2-1 in dual matches only. The pair improved to 3-2 against ranked opponents with a 6-2 victory over Vandy's sixth-ranked Courtney Colton and Sydney Campbell, helping the Bears end a three-match losing skid in the doubles point.
In dual matches only, the Bears are a combined 12-11 in doubles matches and 16-27 in singles matches.
Since the teams first met in 1980, A&M owns a 28-20 lead in the all-time series against its former Southwest Conference and Big 12 Conference foe and has won each of the last eight meetings. The Aggies are 14-8 against the Bears in matches played in College Station.
The teams last met Jan. 27 in Waco with A&M going home with a 4-0 victory. The Aggies easily won the first two doubles matches to be completed, and Paalma gave A&M a 2-0 lead with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Rhiann Newborn at the No. 4 singles line. Junior Rachel Pierson followed with a 6-3, 6-4 win against Kelley Anderson at No. 2 to put A&M ahead, 3-0. Baylor, however, made things interesting as the remaining four matches would go to a third set.
Mamalat eventually fought back to defeat Gabriela Ferriera, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 at the No. 6 line to clinch the decisive fourth point and preserve the shutout for the Aggies.
Baylor's most recent victory against A&M was April 5, 2012, in Waco, where the 12th-ranked Bears extended their win streak to 13 against the Aggies and ended A&M's then record-setting overall 13-match win streak with a 4-2 victory in what would be the final regular-season match-up as Big 12 opponents. A&M avenged the loss and began its current win streak against the Bears with a 5-2 win in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament, marking the final time the teams would meet as conference foes.
Following Wednesday's contest against the Bears, Texas A&M will focus on its challenging SEC schedule, which begins at Auburn on Thursday, March 3.
"The Baylor match marks the end of our non-conference schedule, and then we head straight into the very difficult SEC schedule," Weaver said. "I feel that our team is in a good place with how well we are playing as we move forward to the next stage of our season."
The SEC leads the nation with three teams in this week's Oracle/ITA Tennis Rankings top 10 and nine teams in the top 25: Vanderbilt (4), Georgia (5), Florida (7), LSU (12), Kentucky (15), South Carolina (17), Texas A&M (20), Mississippi (22), and Mississippi State (25). No other conference has more than four teams in the top 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 an-na MAM-ah-LOT
Eva Paalma A-va paul-ma
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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