Thursday, March 31
Columbia, S.C.
4:00 PM
Texas A&M
at
South Carolina
Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics
No. 25 Texas A&M Travels to Take on No. 8 South Carolina, No. 6 Florida
Mar 30, 2016 | Women's Tennis
No. 25 Texas A&M (12-7, 4-4 SEC) vs. No. 8 South Carolina (14-3, 6-1 SEC)
Thursday, March 31, 4 p.m. (CT)
Carolina Tennis Center, Columbia, South Carolina
No. 25 Texas A&M vs. No. 6 Florida (12-2, 7-0 SEC entering LSU match)
Saturday, April 2, 12 p.m. (CT)
Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex, Gainesville, Florida
Live Stats | Live Video
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The 25th-ranked Texas A&M women's tennis team closes out the road portion of its Southeastern Conference regular-season schedule this week with back-to-back matches against top-10 opponents.
The Aggies take on No. 8 South Carolina, Thursday at 4 p.m. (CT) at the Carolina Tennis Center in Columbia, South Carolina, and then travel to Gainesville, Florida, to face sixth-ranked and defending SEC-champion Florida on Saturday at 12 p.m. (CT) at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.
"We definitely have a challenging weekend ahead of us," A&M first-year head coach Mark Weaver said. "South Carolina is perhaps having its best season in school history. They have battled through and won a bunch of 4-3 matches that seem to help them build confidence throughout the season. Florida, in my opinion, is definitely one of a few teams that will likely be contending for a national title when it comes down to the end of the season. They are perhaps stronger this year than they have been in recent years, and that is saying a lot.
"According to the forecast, it appears that both matches will be played indoors. The good news to that is, we have already played a ton of matches indoors this season and hopefully we are getting more and more adept to how that changes the pace and the feel of the match. We will definitely need to be clicking on all cylinders, and that is something that we have discussed in the locker room. I feel that we all have played well at individual times throughout the season, so the trick is to try and get everyone playing at a high level at all three doubles positions and all six singles positions."
Texas A&M is 12-7 overall and 4-4 in SEC matches and is in eighth place in the conference standings with only five matches remaining in the regular season. Of the five remaining matches, four are against top-15 teams – A&M hosts No. 4 Georgia on April 4 and No. 15 LSU in the regular-season finale on April 16.
Most recently, the Aggies suffered a narrow 4-3 setback against then-No. 26 Arkansas on Sunday at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station. The loss snapped the Aggies' 14-match home winning streak dating to last year and was A&M's first home loss in 2016 after winning its first nine.
A&M junior Saska Gavrilovska, who suffered a three-set loss in the last match standing against the Razorbacks, is a team-high No. 32 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association national singles rankings, released last week. The Aggies also have a pair of ranked doubles teams: No. 42 Eva Paalma and Rachel Pierson and No. 44 Rutuja Bhosale and Anna Mamalat.
Senior Ines Deheza leads A&M in singles victories in SEC play with a 6-2 record, and she is tied with freshman Domenica Gonzalez for most wins overall with 16.
Bhosale and Mamalat are a team-best 18-5 overall in doubles, including 10-3 in dual matches only and 4-1 in SEC matches.
South Carolina (14-3, 6-1 SEC) is looking to get back into the win column after suffering its only SEC loss of the season, a 4-1 setback to Florida, Saturday in Columbia. The Gamecocks won the doubles point but then lost four singles matches, snapping South Carolina's nine-match winning streak, its longest since 1999.
The Gamecocks boast four nationally ranked singles players: No. 67 Caroline Dailey, No. 75 Ingrid Gamarra Martin, No. 89 Hadley Berg, who is a team-best 14-1 in dual matches, including 6-1 in SEC contests, and No. 102 Paige Cline.
Berg and Cline are No. 34 in the nation in doubles with a 9-1 dual match record, all at the No. 1 line. They are 5-1 in SEC play.
The Gamecocks are 7-4 against the Aggies since the teams first met in 1988 and 3-2 in matches played in Columbia. A&M, however, is 3-0 against South Carolina since joining the SEC in 2012-13. Last year, A&M defeated the 26th-ranked Gamecocks, 5-2, in College Station.
Florida is 12-2 overall, including 7-0 in SEC matches entering a match against No. 15 LSU on Thursday. The Gators' only two losses on the season were back-to-back 4-3 decisions at No. 1 Cal and at then-No. 16 Stanford on Feb. 26 and 28, respectively.
Six Gators are listed in the ITA singles rankings, including No. 9 Belinda Woolcock, who is 5-1 in SEC matches, and No. 10 Brooke Austin, who is 4-1 in SEC play. Kourtney Keegan is No. 43, followed by No. 82 Josie Kuhlman, who is 4-0 in conference matches. No. 87 Anna Danilina also is undefeated in league play with a 5-0 record, and she leads the Gators with an 11-1 record in dual match play. Lone senior Brianna Morgan is No. 101 with a 3-0 record in SEC matches only.
The Gators also have four ranked doubles teams, with Austin and Keegan ranked a team-high No. 5. Kuhlman and Woolcock are No. 30, followed by Liang and Porter at No. 50 and Kuhlman and Morgan at No. 62.
Florida owns a slight 3-2 edge against the Aggies in the all-time series, which began in 2013, A&M's first season as a member of the SEC. Three of the matches have come down to the last match standing, including last year when the Gators' Peggy Porter won a third-set tiebreaker against Stefania Hristov in College Station. A&M is 0-1 in matches played at Florida.
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
Thursday, March 31, 4 p.m. (CT)
Carolina Tennis Center, Columbia, South Carolina
No. 25 Texas A&M vs. No. 6 Florida (12-2, 7-0 SEC entering LSU match)
Saturday, April 2, 12 p.m. (CT)
Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex, Gainesville, Florida
Live Stats | Live Video
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The 25th-ranked Texas A&M women's tennis team closes out the road portion of its Southeastern Conference regular-season schedule this week with back-to-back matches against top-10 opponents.
The Aggies take on No. 8 South Carolina, Thursday at 4 p.m. (CT) at the Carolina Tennis Center in Columbia, South Carolina, and then travel to Gainesville, Florida, to face sixth-ranked and defending SEC-champion Florida on Saturday at 12 p.m. (CT) at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.
"We definitely have a challenging weekend ahead of us," A&M first-year head coach Mark Weaver said. "South Carolina is perhaps having its best season in school history. They have battled through and won a bunch of 4-3 matches that seem to help them build confidence throughout the season. Florida, in my opinion, is definitely one of a few teams that will likely be contending for a national title when it comes down to the end of the season. They are perhaps stronger this year than they have been in recent years, and that is saying a lot.
"According to the forecast, it appears that both matches will be played indoors. The good news to that is, we have already played a ton of matches indoors this season and hopefully we are getting more and more adept to how that changes the pace and the feel of the match. We will definitely need to be clicking on all cylinders, and that is something that we have discussed in the locker room. I feel that we all have played well at individual times throughout the season, so the trick is to try and get everyone playing at a high level at all three doubles positions and all six singles positions."
Texas A&M is 12-7 overall and 4-4 in SEC matches and is in eighth place in the conference standings with only five matches remaining in the regular season. Of the five remaining matches, four are against top-15 teams – A&M hosts No. 4 Georgia on April 4 and No. 15 LSU in the regular-season finale on April 16.
Most recently, the Aggies suffered a narrow 4-3 setback against then-No. 26 Arkansas on Sunday at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station. The loss snapped the Aggies' 14-match home winning streak dating to last year and was A&M's first home loss in 2016 after winning its first nine.
A&M junior Saska Gavrilovska, who suffered a three-set loss in the last match standing against the Razorbacks, is a team-high No. 32 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association national singles rankings, released last week. The Aggies also have a pair of ranked doubles teams: No. 42 Eva Paalma and Rachel Pierson and No. 44 Rutuja Bhosale and Anna Mamalat.
Senior Ines Deheza leads A&M in singles victories in SEC play with a 6-2 record, and she is tied with freshman Domenica Gonzalez for most wins overall with 16.
Bhosale and Mamalat are a team-best 18-5 overall in doubles, including 10-3 in dual matches only and 4-1 in SEC matches.
South Carolina (14-3, 6-1 SEC) is looking to get back into the win column after suffering its only SEC loss of the season, a 4-1 setback to Florida, Saturday in Columbia. The Gamecocks won the doubles point but then lost four singles matches, snapping South Carolina's nine-match winning streak, its longest since 1999.
The Gamecocks boast four nationally ranked singles players: No. 67 Caroline Dailey, No. 75 Ingrid Gamarra Martin, No. 89 Hadley Berg, who is a team-best 14-1 in dual matches, including 6-1 in SEC contests, and No. 102 Paige Cline.
Berg and Cline are No. 34 in the nation in doubles with a 9-1 dual match record, all at the No. 1 line. They are 5-1 in SEC play.
The Gamecocks are 7-4 against the Aggies since the teams first met in 1988 and 3-2 in matches played in Columbia. A&M, however, is 3-0 against South Carolina since joining the SEC in 2012-13. Last year, A&M defeated the 26th-ranked Gamecocks, 5-2, in College Station.
Florida is 12-2 overall, including 7-0 in SEC matches entering a match against No. 15 LSU on Thursday. The Gators' only two losses on the season were back-to-back 4-3 decisions at No. 1 Cal and at then-No. 16 Stanford on Feb. 26 and 28, respectively.
Six Gators are listed in the ITA singles rankings, including No. 9 Belinda Woolcock, who is 5-1 in SEC matches, and No. 10 Brooke Austin, who is 4-1 in SEC play. Kourtney Keegan is No. 43, followed by No. 82 Josie Kuhlman, who is 4-0 in conference matches. No. 87 Anna Danilina also is undefeated in league play with a 5-0 record, and she leads the Gators with an 11-1 record in dual match play. Lone senior Brianna Morgan is No. 101 with a 3-0 record in SEC matches only.
The Gators also have four ranked doubles teams, with Austin and Keegan ranked a team-high No. 5. Kuhlman and Woolcock are No. 30, followed by Liang and Porter at No. 50 and Kuhlman and Morgan at No. 62.
Florida owns a slight 3-2 edge against the Aggies in the all-time series, which began in 2013, A&M's first season as a member of the SEC. Three of the matches have come down to the last match standing, including last year when the Gators' Peggy Porter won a third-set tiebreaker against Stefania Hristov in College Station. A&M is 0-1 in matches played at Florida.
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
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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