COLLEGE STATION, Texas – No. 15 Texas A&M improved to 5-0 for the first time since 2002 and the eighth time in program history with a 4-0 victory over Princeton today at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
Both teams entered the first-ever meeting between the two programs looking to remain undefeated. Princeton, in the midst of a three-day, three-match road swing through Texas, had come from behind to defeat UT Arlington on Wednesday but was unable to duplicate the feat against the Aggies as the Tigers fall to 3-1 heading into a match at Rice on Friday.
Texas A&M continued its dominance in doubles, winning the point for the fifth consecutive match. A&M sophomore Domenica Gonzalez and her partner, junior Eva Paalma, were first off after racing to a 6-2 victory over Caroline Joyce and Sivan Krems at the No. 2 line. The 17th-ranked tandem of Rutuja Bhosale and Rachel Pierson quickly followed with a 6-2 victory over Gaby Pollner and Katrine Steffensen at the No. 1 line to clinch the point. It was the seventh consecutive victory for the senior pair dating back to the fall tournament season, and it marked the fourth consecutive match in which the two clinch the doubles point for the Aggies.
A&M's Tina Bokhua and Stefania Hristov were up a break, 4-3, over Sara Goodwin and Catalina Vives at the No. 3 line when the doubles point was secured and the match was stopped.
A&M began singles by winning the first set on four of six courts. Junior Macarena Olivares jumped out to a 5-1 lead against Tiffany Chen at the No. 4 line. Chen got within 5-4 before Olivares held serve to win the first set. Olivares then went on to shut out Chen in the second set to close out a 6-4, 6-0 victory that gave the Aggies a 2-0 lead.
Pierson, a Princeton, New Jersey, native, never trailed in a 6-3 first-set victory over Steffensen at the No. 1 line, but the Tigers' junior would pull out to a 4-2 lead in the second set. Pierson, No. 85 in the national singles rankings, then stormed back, winning four consecutive games to win the match, 6-3, 6-3, to give the Aggies a 3-0 lead.
Bhosale, the reigning SEC Player of the Week, would end up clinching the team victory, pulling away in a second-set tiebreaker to end the match. Bhosale had won her first set, 6-2, against Krems at the No. 2 line, but neither player took more than a one-game lead in the second set. Krems broke Bhosale to put the set back on serve at 5-5 and then both players held serve, sending the set to a tiebreaker at 6-6. The tiebreaker was tied at 2-2 before Bhosale won the next five points to win the match, 6-2, 7-6 (2), and improve to 4-0 in dual matches, all at the No. 2 line.
Two of the remaining singles matches were heading into a third set, and Court 6 was on course to go a third set when Bhosale closed out the team's 4-0 victory. Bokhua, ranked 57th in singles and riding a team-leading six-match win streak dating back to the fall season, got off to a slow start and had dropped her first set, 6-3, to Joyce at the No. 3 line. Bokhua then jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second set and went on to win, 6-3, to earn a split. Bokhua also won the opening game of the third set before play was stopped.
Paalma and Clare McKee also had split sets at No. 5, with Paalma taking the opening set, 6-2, and McKee pulling away for a 6-4 win in the second set, but the match was stopped before they entered a third set.
Gonzalez, appearing in her first singles match this spring, had dropped her first set, 6-4, to Alanna Wolff at the No. 6 line, but won the first four games of the second set and held a 4-2 lead when play was halted.
The Aggies will be aiming to become only the third team in program history to begin a season 6-0 when they return to the Mitchell Tennis Center on Sunday to play host to the Rice Owls. Only the 1998 and 2001 squads have started a season 6-0, with the '98 Aggies opening their season with a school-record seven consecutive victories before suffering their first loss.
First serve against the Owls is slated for 12 p.m., and fans with a valid Texas A&M student ID will be admitted free. The match will be the Aggies' final tune-up before competing in the prestigious 16-team ITA Division I National Team Indoor Championship, Feb. 10-13 at Yale.
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
Texas A&M quotes:
Head Coach Mark Weaver
On getting the victory after coming off the big win at Miami…
"It was definitely a tricky match. I wasn't necessarily worried about it, but we came in from warm, humid conditions in Miami and we were gone for five or six days and we played great and we were on kind of an emotional high. With the rain in Miami, we actually came back a day late and had very little recovery time, with the kids having to catch up on their studies. We had practice off on Tuesday. We had somewhat of a light practice yesterday, and you come out here today and it's all of a sudden cold and windy and as we got deeper into the match, it got a little bit windier. But I thought the kids handled it really well. Princeton is a good team. They had a very good year last year. I think they were not too far out of the Top 25—they finished 41—and I think they are going to have another good year this year. Our group handled it well. It was a huge contrast of coming from playing a powerhouse like Miami and coming off a big win. A lot of times, as history shows, it is that next match that always shows to be a difficult one, and I thought we handled it really well."
On the doubles play…
"I couldn't be happier with the doubles. As long as I have been a part of the women's program, I feel like that is about as good of doubles as we have played so far. We are playing an aggressive style, which is definitely more of my style of coaching in the doubles. We are the ones dictating play and taking it to them. It was a pretty dominating performance, and generally the indoor-type schools like Princeton are very good in the doubles. We have been able to put three very good teams together, and I feel like on every court we are in charge of most of the points. So in the new scoring format, it is over and done in 20-30 minutes. I think the aggressive style of play that we are playing definitely, I'd much rather have it the way we are doing it right now."
#15 Texas A&M 4, Princeton 0
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
College Station, Texas
Singles
1. #85 Rachel Pierson (A&M) def. Katrine Steffensen (PRIN), 6-3, 6-4
2. Rutuja Bhosale (A&M) def. Sivan Krems (PRIN), 6-2, 7-6 (2)
3. #57 Tina Bokhua (A&M) vs. Caroline Joyce (PRIN), 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 unfinished
4. Macarena Olivares (A&M) def. Tiffany Chen (PRIN), 6-4, 6-0
5. Eva Paalma (A&M) vs. Clare McKee (PRIN), 6-2, 4-6 unfinished
6. Dominica Gonzalez (A&M) vs. Alanna Wolff (PRIN), 4-6, 4-2 unfinished
Doubles
1. (#17) Bhosale/Pierson (A&M) def. Joyce/Krems (PRIN), 6-2
2. Gonzalez/Paalma (A&M) def. Gaby Pollner/Steffensen (PRIN), 6-2
3. Bokhua/Stefania Hristov (A&M) vs. Sara Goodwin/Catalina Vives (PRIN), 4-3 unfinished
Match Notes:
Princeton 3-1
Texas A&M 5-0; National ranking #15
Order of finish: Doubles (2, 1); Singles (4, 1, 2)
Pronunciations
Rutuja Bhosale roo-too-jah bo-slay
Tina Bokhua bo-kwah
Saska Gavrilovska saush-ka gav-ril-ohv-ska
Stefania Hristov steff-on-ya RIS-tov
Eva Paalma A-va palma
Both teams entered the first-ever meeting between the two programs looking to remain undefeated. Princeton, in the midst of a three-day, three-match road swing through Texas, had come from behind to defeat UT Arlington on Wednesday but was unable to duplicate the feat against the Aggies as the Tigers fall to 3-1 heading into a match at Rice on Friday.
Texas A&M continued its dominance in doubles, winning the point for the fifth consecutive match. A&M sophomore Domenica Gonzalez and her partner, junior Eva Paalma, were first off after racing to a 6-2 victory over Caroline Joyce and Sivan Krems at the No. 2 line. The 17th-ranked tandem of Rutuja Bhosale and Rachel Pierson quickly followed with a 6-2 victory over Gaby Pollner and Katrine Steffensen at the No. 1 line to clinch the point. It was the seventh consecutive victory for the senior pair dating back to the fall tournament season, and it marked the fourth consecutive match in which the two clinch the doubles point for the Aggies.
A&M's Tina Bokhua and Stefania Hristov were up a break, 4-3, over Sara Goodwin and Catalina Vives at the No. 3 line when the doubles point was secured and the match was stopped.
A&M began singles by winning the first set on four of six courts. Junior Macarena Olivares jumped out to a 5-1 lead against Tiffany Chen at the No. 4 line. Chen got within 5-4 before Olivares held serve to win the first set. Olivares then went on to shut out Chen in the second set to close out a 6-4, 6-0 victory that gave the Aggies a 2-0 lead.
Pierson, a Princeton, New Jersey, native, never trailed in a 6-3 first-set victory over Steffensen at the No. 1 line, but the Tigers' junior would pull out to a 4-2 lead in the second set. Pierson, No. 85 in the national singles rankings, then stormed back, winning four consecutive games to win the match, 6-3, 6-3, to give the Aggies a 3-0 lead.
Bhosale, the reigning SEC Player of the Week, would end up clinching the team victory, pulling away in a second-set tiebreaker to end the match. Bhosale had won her first set, 6-2, against Krems at the No. 2 line, but neither player took more than a one-game lead in the second set. Krems broke Bhosale to put the set back on serve at 5-5 and then both players held serve, sending the set to a tiebreaker at 6-6. The tiebreaker was tied at 2-2 before Bhosale won the next five points to win the match, 6-2, 7-6 (2), and improve to 4-0 in dual matches, all at the No. 2 line.
Two of the remaining singles matches were heading into a third set, and Court 6 was on course to go a third set when Bhosale closed out the team's 4-0 victory. Bokhua, ranked 57th in singles and riding a team-leading six-match win streak dating back to the fall season, got off to a slow start and had dropped her first set, 6-3, to Joyce at the No. 3 line. Bokhua then jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second set and went on to win, 6-3, to earn a split. Bokhua also won the opening game of the third set before play was stopped.
Paalma and Clare McKee also had split sets at No. 5, with Paalma taking the opening set, 6-2, and McKee pulling away for a 6-4 win in the second set, but the match was stopped before they entered a third set.
Gonzalez, appearing in her first singles match this spring, had dropped her first set, 6-4, to Alanna Wolff at the No. 6 line, but won the first four games of the second set and held a 4-2 lead when play was halted.
The Aggies will be aiming to become only the third team in program history to begin a season 6-0 when they return to the Mitchell Tennis Center on Sunday to play host to the Rice Owls. Only the 1998 and 2001 squads have started a season 6-0, with the '98 Aggies opening their season with a school-record seven consecutive victories before suffering their first loss.
First serve against the Owls is slated for 12 p.m., and fans with a valid Texas A&M student ID will be admitted free. The match will be the Aggies' final tune-up before competing in the prestigious 16-team ITA Division I National Team Indoor Championship, Feb. 10-13 at Yale.
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
Texas A&M quotes:
Head Coach Mark Weaver
On getting the victory after coming off the big win at Miami…
"It was definitely a tricky match. I wasn't necessarily worried about it, but we came in from warm, humid conditions in Miami and we were gone for five or six days and we played great and we were on kind of an emotional high. With the rain in Miami, we actually came back a day late and had very little recovery time, with the kids having to catch up on their studies. We had practice off on Tuesday. We had somewhat of a light practice yesterday, and you come out here today and it's all of a sudden cold and windy and as we got deeper into the match, it got a little bit windier. But I thought the kids handled it really well. Princeton is a good team. They had a very good year last year. I think they were not too far out of the Top 25—they finished 41—and I think they are going to have another good year this year. Our group handled it well. It was a huge contrast of coming from playing a powerhouse like Miami and coming off a big win. A lot of times, as history shows, it is that next match that always shows to be a difficult one, and I thought we handled it really well."
On the doubles play…
"I couldn't be happier with the doubles. As long as I have been a part of the women's program, I feel like that is about as good of doubles as we have played so far. We are playing an aggressive style, which is definitely more of my style of coaching in the doubles. We are the ones dictating play and taking it to them. It was a pretty dominating performance, and generally the indoor-type schools like Princeton are very good in the doubles. We have been able to put three very good teams together, and I feel like on every court we are in charge of most of the points. So in the new scoring format, it is over and done in 20-30 minutes. I think the aggressive style of play that we are playing definitely, I'd much rather have it the way we are doing it right now."
#15 Texas A&M 4, Princeton 0
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
College Station, Texas
Singles
1. #85 Rachel Pierson (A&M) def. Katrine Steffensen (PRIN), 6-3, 6-4
2. Rutuja Bhosale (A&M) def. Sivan Krems (PRIN), 6-2, 7-6 (2)
3. #57 Tina Bokhua (A&M) vs. Caroline Joyce (PRIN), 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 unfinished
4. Macarena Olivares (A&M) def. Tiffany Chen (PRIN), 6-4, 6-0
5. Eva Paalma (A&M) vs. Clare McKee (PRIN), 6-2, 4-6 unfinished
6. Dominica Gonzalez (A&M) vs. Alanna Wolff (PRIN), 4-6, 4-2 unfinished
Doubles
1. (#17) Bhosale/Pierson (A&M) def. Joyce/Krems (PRIN), 6-2
2. Gonzalez/Paalma (A&M) def. Gaby Pollner/Steffensen (PRIN), 6-2
3. Bokhua/Stefania Hristov (A&M) vs. Sara Goodwin/Catalina Vives (PRIN), 4-3 unfinished
Match Notes:
Princeton 3-1
Texas A&M 5-0; National ranking #15
Order of finish: Doubles (2, 1); Singles (4, 1, 2)
Pronunciations
Rutuja Bhosale roo-too-jah bo-slay
Tina Bokhua bo-kwah
Saska Gavrilovska saush-ka gav-ril-ohv-ska
Stefania Hristov steff-on-ya RIS-tov
Eva Paalma A-va palma