Saturday, January 28
Coral Gables, Fla.
1:00 PM
Texas A&M
vs
South Alabama
No. 22 Texas A&M to Compete in ITA Kick-Off Weekend
Jan 27, 2017 | Women's Tennis
ITA Kick-Off Weekend
Saturday-Sunday, Jan. 28-29
Neil Schiff Tennis Center (University of Miami)
Coral Gables, Florida
Saturday, January 28
No. 12 Miami (0-0) vs. Brown (1-0), 9 a.m. CT
No. 22 Texas A&M (2-0) vs. South Alabama (0-0), 1 p.m. CT
Sunday, January 29
Consolation match, 10 a.m. CT
Championship match, 1 p.m. CT
Live stats: gocan.es/LiveWTN
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The 22nd-ranked Texas A&M women's tennis team will compete in the ninth annual ITA Kick-Off Weekend, Saturday and Sunday at the University of Miami's Neil Schiff Tennis Center in Coral Gables, Florida.
The Aggies (2-0) take on South Alabama in the first round, Saturday at 1 p.m. (CT). No. 12 Miami faces Brown University in the other first round match, beginning at 9 a.m. (CT).
The two first-round winners will meet in the championship match on Sunday at 1 p.m. (CT), with the victor earning a berth to the ITA Division I National Team Indoor Championship next month at Yale. The consolation match is slated for 9 a.m. (CT) on Sunday.
"We are looking forward to the challenges and opportunities in competing at the ITA Kick-Off this weekend," A&M second-year head coach Mark Weaver said. "We have progressed quite well thus far in the early part of the season, and I am quite pleased with where are at the moment as a group."
Texas A&M is 2-0 on the season after defeating Stephen F. Austin, 5-2, in the season opener on Jan. 21 and Louisiana Tech, 7-0, on Wednesday. Both matches were contested on the Aggies' home courts at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
South Alabama, which was No. 53 in the final ITA rankings last season after advancing to the finals at the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Championship, is making its 2017 season debut against the Aggies.
Last year, Texas A&M opened the season by defeating the 73rd-ranked Jaguars, 4-0, in the opening round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in College Station. Not only did the victory even the all-time series between the two teams at 3-3, but it also gave A&M's Mark Weaver a victory in his head coaching career debut.
Until last year's contest, South Alabama had won the previous two meeting. The Jaguars' most recent victory was April 6, 2003, when the 14th-ranked Jaguars held off No. 30 Texas A&M, 4-3, in College Station.
"South Alabama is a tough team that we played in this event at our home courts last year, so we are somewhat familiar with them and know that we will need to come ready to play," Weaver said. "Even though we did win, 4-0, against them last year, we had several difficult individual matches with them. They beat a very good team in LSU last year at LSU, so they are definitely more than capable of playing at a high level. Having said that, I am confident in our group that we will be ready to perform at a high level as well over the course of the next few days."
Texas A&M has two players listed in the ITA national singles rankings: No. 57 Tina Bokhua and No. 85 Rachel Pierson, who leads the Aggies with a 12-3 overall mark and is riding a team-best five-match win streak after opening dual match play with a 2-0 record at the No. 1 line.
Pierson is No. 17 in the ITA national doubles rankings with partner Rutuja Bhosale. The pair is 12-2 overall, including 4-0 against nationally ranked opponents.
Although Miami is making its spring dual match season debut against Brown, the Hurricanes did compete in doubles and singles matches against then-No. 9 Vanderbilt, No. 13 Texas Tech and No. 20 Kentucky during the Miami Spring Invite just last week. Miami, which reached the NCAA round of 16 last season, boasts three ranked singles players, including No. 6 Sinead Lohan, who reached the semifinals at the 2016 NCAA Singles Championship. Also ranked are No. 69 Maci Epstein and No. 70 Estela Perez-Somarriba. In doubles, Lohan and Dominika Paterova are No. 47.
Texas A&M has won the last four meetings against the Hurricanes and owns a 5-2 lead in the all-time series, including a 2-0 mark in matches played in Coral Gables. The teams most recently met in the quarterfinals of the 2013 NCAA Championship in Urbana, Illinois, where the Aggies knocked off sixth-ranked Miami, 4-0, and went on to make their first-ever appearance in the national championship match.
Brown, led by the 45th-ranked doubles team of Alyza Benotto and Dayna Lord, is 1-0 on the young season, having defeated Rhode Island, 7-0, on Jan. 21.
A&M and Brown have never met.
About the ITA Kick-Off Weekend
There are 15 "regionals" with four teams competing in each regional. The winners of the single-elimination event advance to next month's ITA Division I National Team Indoor Championships. Yale, the host of the women's National Team Indoors, received an automatic invitation to the event and is exempt from competing in the Kick-Off Weekend.
Host sites for Kick-Off Weekend were determined using the final 2015-16 Oracle/ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings. A draft was held to fill the No.'s 2-4 seeds at all locations, again using the final national team rankings as a guide to determine draft order.
Opening round contests at each location pits the No. 1 seed versus the No. 4 seed, and the No. 2 seed against the No. 3 seed. The two winners advance to the following day's championship match, while the two losing teams will square off in a consolation match.
To view all the matchup for the Kick-Off Weekend and keep up with results from all the sites, visit the official event page at http://www.itatennis.com/Events/Kick-OffWeekend.htm
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.
Saturday-Sunday, Jan. 28-29
Neil Schiff Tennis Center (University of Miami)
Coral Gables, Florida
Saturday, January 28
No. 12 Miami (0-0) vs. Brown (1-0), 9 a.m. CT
No. 22 Texas A&M (2-0) vs. South Alabama (0-0), 1 p.m. CT
Sunday, January 29
Consolation match, 10 a.m. CT
Championship match, 1 p.m. CT
Live stats: gocan.es/LiveWTN
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The 22nd-ranked Texas A&M women's tennis team will compete in the ninth annual ITA Kick-Off Weekend, Saturday and Sunday at the University of Miami's Neil Schiff Tennis Center in Coral Gables, Florida.
The Aggies (2-0) take on South Alabama in the first round, Saturday at 1 p.m. (CT). No. 12 Miami faces Brown University in the other first round match, beginning at 9 a.m. (CT).
The two first-round winners will meet in the championship match on Sunday at 1 p.m. (CT), with the victor earning a berth to the ITA Division I National Team Indoor Championship next month at Yale. The consolation match is slated for 9 a.m. (CT) on Sunday.
"We are looking forward to the challenges and opportunities in competing at the ITA Kick-Off this weekend," A&M second-year head coach Mark Weaver said. "We have progressed quite well thus far in the early part of the season, and I am quite pleased with where are at the moment as a group."
Texas A&M is 2-0 on the season after defeating Stephen F. Austin, 5-2, in the season opener on Jan. 21 and Louisiana Tech, 7-0, on Wednesday. Both matches were contested on the Aggies' home courts at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
South Alabama, which was No. 53 in the final ITA rankings last season after advancing to the finals at the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Championship, is making its 2017 season debut against the Aggies.
Last year, Texas A&M opened the season by defeating the 73rd-ranked Jaguars, 4-0, in the opening round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in College Station. Not only did the victory even the all-time series between the two teams at 3-3, but it also gave A&M's Mark Weaver a victory in his head coaching career debut.
Until last year's contest, South Alabama had won the previous two meeting. The Jaguars' most recent victory was April 6, 2003, when the 14th-ranked Jaguars held off No. 30 Texas A&M, 4-3, in College Station.
"South Alabama is a tough team that we played in this event at our home courts last year, so we are somewhat familiar with them and know that we will need to come ready to play," Weaver said. "Even though we did win, 4-0, against them last year, we had several difficult individual matches with them. They beat a very good team in LSU last year at LSU, so they are definitely more than capable of playing at a high level. Having said that, I am confident in our group that we will be ready to perform at a high level as well over the course of the next few days."
Texas A&M has two players listed in the ITA national singles rankings: No. 57 Tina Bokhua and No. 85 Rachel Pierson, who leads the Aggies with a 12-3 overall mark and is riding a team-best five-match win streak after opening dual match play with a 2-0 record at the No. 1 line.
Pierson is No. 17 in the ITA national doubles rankings with partner Rutuja Bhosale. The pair is 12-2 overall, including 4-0 against nationally ranked opponents.
Although Miami is making its spring dual match season debut against Brown, the Hurricanes did compete in doubles and singles matches against then-No. 9 Vanderbilt, No. 13 Texas Tech and No. 20 Kentucky during the Miami Spring Invite just last week. Miami, which reached the NCAA round of 16 last season, boasts three ranked singles players, including No. 6 Sinead Lohan, who reached the semifinals at the 2016 NCAA Singles Championship. Also ranked are No. 69 Maci Epstein and No. 70 Estela Perez-Somarriba. In doubles, Lohan and Dominika Paterova are No. 47.
Texas A&M has won the last four meetings against the Hurricanes and owns a 5-2 lead in the all-time series, including a 2-0 mark in matches played in Coral Gables. The teams most recently met in the quarterfinals of the 2013 NCAA Championship in Urbana, Illinois, where the Aggies knocked off sixth-ranked Miami, 4-0, and went on to make their first-ever appearance in the national championship match.
Brown, led by the 45th-ranked doubles team of Alyza Benotto and Dayna Lord, is 1-0 on the young season, having defeated Rhode Island, 7-0, on Jan. 21.
A&M and Brown have never met.
About the ITA Kick-Off Weekend
There are 15 "regionals" with four teams competing in each regional. The winners of the single-elimination event advance to next month's ITA Division I National Team Indoor Championships. Yale, the host of the women's National Team Indoors, received an automatic invitation to the event and is exempt from competing in the Kick-Off Weekend.
Host sites for Kick-Off Weekend were determined using the final 2015-16 Oracle/ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings. A draft was held to fill the No.'s 2-4 seeds at all locations, again using the final national team rankings as a guide to determine draft order.
Opening round contests at each location pits the No. 1 seed versus the No. 4 seed, and the No. 2 seed against the No. 3 seed. The two winners advance to the following day's championship match, while the two losing teams will square off in a consolation match.
To view all the matchup for the Kick-Off Weekend and keep up with results from all the sites, visit the official event page at http://www.itatennis.com/Events/Kick-OffWeekend.htm
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.
Players Mentioned
Georgia Postgame: Mark Weaver, Mary Stoiana, Mia Kupres
Sunday, May 18
Michigan Postgame: Mark Weaver, Nicole Khirin, Lexington Reed
Saturday, May 17
NCAA Team Championship Preview: Daria Smetannikov
Monday, May 12
NCAA Team Championship Preview: Mia Kupres
Monday, May 12
