Texas A&M Faces ULM in NCAA Championship First Round

Saturday, May 13

Waco, Texas

10:00 AM

Texas A&M

Louisiana-Monroe

May 12, 2017 | Women's Tennis

Complete Match Notes

By: Texas A&M Media Relations

No. 20 Texas A&M Aggies (16-12) vs. ULM Warhawks (16-1)
Saturday, May 13, 10 a.m.
Hurd Tennis Center
Waco, Texas

Complete match notes (PDF): http://bit.ly/2pG3EjB
Live Video/Scoring: http://www.baylorbears.com/sports/m-tennis/live-stats-video.html
NCAA Division I women's championship program: ncaa.com/diwomenstennis

TOURNAMENT PREVIEW

No. 20 Texas A&M (16-12) received an at-large bid to the 64-team NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship and will face the ULM Warhawks (16-1) in the first round on Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas.
The winner faces the winner between 16th-ranked and No. 16 seed Baylor (21-6) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (20-2) in second-round action on Sunday at 1 p.m., also at the Hurd Tennis Center.
The second-round winner advances to the round of 16 and the final championship site, the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Georgia, with the University of Georgia serving as host. The round of 16 begins May 19 and the championship match is May 23.
Single-day tickets for first and second-round matches are $10 for adults and $5 for youth (ages 2-18).

TEXAS A&M NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES

Texas A&M is making its 18th consecutive and 23rd overall appearance in the NCAA Championship.
The Aggies are 22-22 all-time in NCAA matches.
Texas A&M's best NCAA tournament finish in program history was runner-up in 2013, when the Aggies fell to Stanford, 4-3, in the championship match at Urbana, Illinois.
Last year, 19th-ranked Texas A&M defeated No. 48 Denver, 4-0, in the first round before being eliminated in the second round by 15th-ranked and eventual national champion Stanford, 4-3, at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium in Stanford, California.
Texas A&M is 8-11 against the 2017 tournament field.
Texas A&M, which went 6-7 in the Southeastern Conference regular season and tied LSU for eighth place, is one of 12 teams representing the SEC in the tournament field. Florida is the No. 1 seed, and SEC regular season and tournament champion Vanderbilt and Georgia are the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds, respectively. Auburn (11) and South Carolina (14) also were among the 16 seeded teams in the tournament, while Arkansas, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Tennessee join A&M as No. 17-32 seeds.

SERIES RECORDS

ULM is 6-1 all-time against Texas A&M since the teams first met in the 1976-77 season.
The Warhawks won the first six matches in the series before Texas A&M recorded an 8-0 victory in the most recent meeting, Feb. 15, 1991, in College Station.

Texas A&M is 29-21 all-time against Baylor, but the Bears are 2-0 against the Aggies in NCAA matches played in Waco.
A&M entered the 2017 season having won the last nine meetings against the Bears, but then-No. 15 Baylor ended that streak with a 4-0 victory on March 22 in Waco. The 20th-ranked Aggies were playing without No. 1 doubles and singles player Rachel Pierson, who missed the match with an injury.

Texas A&M and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi have never met.

PROJECTED TEXAS A&M LINEUP
                                                                                         Overall           Dual          SEC
1 Singles: #16 Rachel Pierson (Sr., Princeton, N.J.)          26-12            16-9            7-5
2 Singles: #53 Rutuja Bhosale (Sr., Pune, India)               19-12            13-9            6-4
3 Singles: Domenica Gonzalez (So., Guayaquil, Ecuador) 13-6              10-5            6-4
4 Singles: Saska Gavrilovska (Sr., Vrsac, Serbia)               4-12              3-8              0-6
5 Singles: Eva Paalma (Jr., Tallinn, Estonia)                     11-7              8-5              2-4
6 Singles: Macarena Olivares (Jr., Santiago, Chile)          21-13            12-10          2-6
Others available: Tina Bokhua (Jr., Moscow, Russia); Stefania Hristov (Sr. Iasi, Romania)

                                                                                          Overall          Dual         SEC
1 Doubles: #7 Bhosale/Pierson                                         24-10           13-8            6-4
2 Doubles: Gonzalez/Paalma                                            17-14          11-11           7-6
3 Doubles: Gavrilovska/Hristov                                           8-4              6-2             4-1

OPPONENT NOTES

ULM (16-1) received an automatic bid and is riding a 15-match win streak into the NCAA tournament after capturing its first-ever Sun Belt Conference tournament championship.
The Warhawks are making their second overall NCAA tournament appearance, having made their inaugural appearance in 2003, when they fell to finalist Stanford in the first round.
ULM's only loss this season was a 4-1 setback at then-No. 15 Auburn in the second match of the season. Auburn is the only NCAA tournament-bound team the Warhawks have faced this year.
In its most recent outing (April 23), ULM dropped the doubles point against South Alabama in the championship match of the Sun Belt Conference tournament and trailed 3-1 after dropping three-set matches at Nos. 1 and 2 singles before rallying for three-set victories at lines 4-6 to get the 4-3 win.
ULM, ranked 50th in the nation for one week (March 21-27) during the regular season, is 1-1 against ranked opponents, falling to No. 15 Auburn, 4-1, on Jan. 22 and defeating then-No. 40 Tulane, 4-3, on March 18.
In dual matches only, the Warhawks are a combined 71-14 (.845) in singles matches and 27-18 (.600) in doubles matches.
Petra Horakova is 16-0 in singles in dual matches only, including 14-0 at the No. 4 line.
Madalina Grigoriu is riding a 12-match winning streak in singles and is 11-0 at No. 6.
Tiffany Mylonas and Luana Stanciu lead the Warhawks in doubles with a 10-4 dual mark, including a 9-4 worksheet at the No. 3 line.
Terrence De Jongh is in his 11th season as head coach of the Warhawks.

No. 16 Baylor (21-6) received an NCAA at-large berth and is making its 13th consecutive and 20th overall appearance in the postseason tournament.
Last year, the then-No. 40 Bears were eliminated by No. 5 seed Georgia, 4-0, in the second round.
Baylor, 11-6 against teams in the NCAA tournament field, is 15-0 in home matches, including a 4-0 victory over then-No. 20 Texas A&M on March 22.
Most recently, the then-No. 15 Bears fell to then-No. 9 Oklahoma State, 4-2, in the semifinals of the Big 12 Championship on April 29 in Norman, Oklahoma. The match was played indoors at the Headington Family Tennis Center, and doubles was not contested.
In dual matches only, the Bears are a combined 78-38 in singles matches and 37-22 in doubles matches.
Senior Blair Shankle is ranked an all-time Baylor high third in the nation in singles and is the No. 5 seed at the NCAA Singles Championship as the Big 12 Conference's automatic qualifier. She is riding an eight-match win streak and is 27-4 overall, including 17-2 in dual matches—all at the No. 1 line—and 10-4 against ranked opponents.
The Bears are 20-2 in dual matches when Shankle wins at No. 1.
Shankle is ranked twice in doubles: No. 35 with sophomore Karina Traxler and No. 50 with sophomore Elizabeth Profit. Shankle and Traxler are 7-1 at No. 1 doubles.
The freshman duo of Jessica Hinojosa and Angie Shakhraichuk leads the Bears in doubles victories in dual matches with an 11-7 record.
Joey Scrivano is in his 15th year as head coach of the Bears.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (20-2) received an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship and is making its third appearance in four years after winning the Southland Conference Tournament.
Last year, the Islanders were eliminated by eventual NCAA champion Stanford in the first round.
After securing the 2017 Southland Conference regular season championship with a 10-1 record, the Islanders won their second consecutive SLC tournament championship by defeating Central Arkansas, 4-2, in the finals to earn an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.
The Islanders are a combined 95-28 in singles and 29-26 in doubles in dual matches only.
Marina Vicens Miguel has won 16 consecutive singles matches and leads the Islanders in singles victories with a 19-1 record in dual matches only after going 11-0 in conference action.
Jelena Dzinic and Judit Vives are riding a team-best three-match win streak in doubles. They are 8-7 in dual matches, all at the No. 1 line.
Director of Tennis Steve Moore, who also coaches the Islanders' men's team, was named the SLC women's tennis coach of the year for the second consecutive season.
Previously, Moore was a men's tennis assistant coach at Texas A&M under Hall-of-Fame coach Tim Cass from 2004-2006 and witnessed the Aggies' rise to a No. 9 national ranking and a Sweet 16 berth in the NCAA Tournament.

TEXAS A&M RECENT RESULTS

Texas A&M, which tied LSU for eighth place in the SEC regular season with a 6-7 record, was the No. 9 seed at the 2017 SEC Championship, contested in Nashville, April 19-23. After a first-round bye, the Aggies fell to No. 8 seed and 21st-ranked LSU, 4-3, in the quarterfinals on April 20, snapping A&M's five-match winning streak.
The match would start outdoors, where LSU won the first two doubles matches to be completed to take a 1-0 lead. Saska Gavrilovska and Stefania Hristov had their five-match winning streak snapped with a 6-4 setback to Jessica Golovin and Skylar Holloway at the No. 3 line. LSU then clinched the point as 23rd-ranked Ryann Foster and Joana Valle Costa won four consecutive games, all on no-ad points, to defeat seventh-ranked Rutuja Bhosale and Rachel Pierson, 7-5, at No. 1. Court 2 between A&M's Domenica Gonzalez and Eva Paalma and Jade Lewis and Becca Weissmann of LSU was on serve, 6-6, when the doubles point was clinched and the match was stopped.
Only four courts were available at the start of singles due to a marathon match still in progress between Auburn and Arkansas, which the Tigers eventually won, 4-3. Once all six matches were finally underway, A&M would go on to win the first set on Courts 4-6, while LSU won the first sets at Nos. 1-3. All matches were in at least the second set, and Pierson had forced a third set against 22nd-ranked Lewis at the No. 1 line when it began to rain, and the matches were moved indoors.
Once play resumed, Paalma needed only one game to finish off Holloway, 6-1, 7-5, at No. 6 to tie the score at 1-1 and extend her season-best win streak to five.
Gavrilovska then gave the Aggies the lead. The Serbian had pulled away for an 8-6 tiebreaker win in the first set against Golovin and held a 4-1 second-set lead when play resumed indoors. Gavrilovska would go on to win the second set, 6-2, to put A&M up, 2-1.
LSU knotted the score at 2-2 as Lewis rebounded from a 7-5 second-set loss to Pierson to take the third set, 6-2, snapping Pierson's seven-match win streak.
Macarena Olivares returned the lead to A&M, 3-2, as she never trailed in a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Weissmann at No. 5, but Foster would tie the score once again as she pulled away for a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Gonzalez at Court 3.
The match came down to the No. 2 line, where 66th-ranked Valle Costa had won a 9-7 tiebreaker against 51st-ranked Bhosale in the first set, but Bhosale won four consecutive games after moving indoors to close out a 6-1 second-set win to earn a split. The final set was tied, 3-3, before Valle Costa reeled off three consecutive games to close out a 6-3 victory to clinch the victory and advance the Tigers to the next round.

TEXAS A&M IN THE ITA RANKINGS

Texas A&M has been in the Oracle/ITA Tennis rankings Top 25 every week this spring and enters the NCAA tournament ranked 20th.
The Aggies were No. 21 in the preseason ranking released Jan. 4, and reached a season-high No. 14 ranking on Feb. 15 following the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, where A&M upset No. 10 Duke, marking the Aggies' first-ever victory over the Blue Devils.
Senior Rachel Pierson enters the NCAAs ranked a team-high and career-high No. 16 in singles.
Pierson and partner Rutuja Bhosale are No. 7 in doubles entering the NCAA tournament. The duo set a school record with an all-time high No. 4 ranking on April 11.
Bhosale is ranked 53rd in singles. She was a career-high No. 45 in the 2016 fall ranking and she has been as high as No. 51 (April 18) in the spring season.

PIERSON, BHOSALE INVITED TO NCAA INDIVIDUALS

Seniors Rachel Pierson and Rutuja Bhosale received a No. 5-8 seed in the 32-team NCAA Doubles Championship to earn All-America accolades, becoming A&M's first-ever All-Americans in doubles.
Pierson also earned All-American accolades in singles after being awarded a No. 9-16 seed in the 64-player NCAA Singles Championship.
Bhosale also received an at-large berth in the singles tournament.
The 64-player singles and 32-team doubles competitions will be conducted May 24-29 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Georgia, following the conclusion of the team championship, which runs May 19-23. The University of Georgia will serve as host.
Bhosale is making her first appearance in the NCAA individual championships.
Pierson, who transferred to A&M following her freshman season at Virginia, is making her third collegiate appearance in the NCAA doubles tournament and her second appearance in the singles tournament.
Pierson made her doubles debut as a freshman at Virginia, where she was a No. 5-8 seed with Cavaliers partner Julia Elbaba. The UVA duo suffered a first-round 6-3, 7-6 (8) loss to Brynn Boren and Zoe Katz of USC in Athens, Ga.
As a sophomore, Pierson competed in the 2015 NCAA Doubles Championship with then-Aggie freshman Eva Paalma, and they fell in the first round to Desirae Krawczyk and Stephanie Vlad of Arizona State, 6-2, 6-3, in Waco, Texas.
Pierson and Paalma were an alternate in 2016 but did not make the field.
Pierson competed in the 2015 NCAA Singles Championship and fell to Viktoriya Lushkova of Oklahoma State, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, in the first round in Waco.
This is the eighth consecutive year and 16th time overall A&M has been represented in the singles championships. A&M players are a combined 16-20 in singles matches since Kim Labuschagne became the first Aggie to compete in the postseason event in 1987. Labuschagne and Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar are tied for the best finish in school history, reaching the quarterfinals in 1987 and 2012, respectively.
This is the 16th year, including the fifth time in the last six years that A&M will have a team competing in the NCAA Doubles Championship. The Aggies are a combined 2-16 all-time, with Jessica Roland and Helga Vieira reaching a program-best round of 16 appearance in 2004 and Tiffany Clifford and Sarah Foster matching the feat in 2006.
All matches shall be the best-of-three sets. No-ad scoring and a seven-point tiebreaker (first to seven points, must win by two points) at six-games-all will be used for all matches. In doubles, a 10-point match tiebreaker will be played in lieu of a third set. The draws for both the singles and doubles tournaments will be announced May 23.

TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH MARK WEAVER

Mark Weaver, who in July 2015 became the sixth head coach in the history of the Aggie women's tennis program, is 33-23 in the second year of his head coaching career.
Weaver's career at Texas A&M has come full circle, having begun his stint in Aggieland as a student-athlete and four-year standout on the Aggie men's tennis team from 1990-94. The Shreveport, La., native then served six years as a volunteer coach for the A&M women's team before being hired as the women's tennis assistant coach in 2007.
Weaver was honored as the 2014 ITA Texas Region Assistant Coach of the Year as the Aggies finished 21-7 and No. 9 in the final ITA rankings, the second highest final ranking in school history.
Texas A&M has advanced to the NCAA tournament every year Weaver has served in a coaching capacity for the women's team, including a historic national runner-up finish and SEC championship title in 2013 while he was an assistant coach, and the 2003 Big 12 Conference regular season title and the 2004 Big 12 tournament title when he was a volunteer assistant.

PARTING SHOTS

In dual matches only, Texas A&M is a combined 77-58 in singles and 39-29 in doubles.
A&M is 14-1 when No. 2 singles wins, 7-1 when No. 3 wins and 13-3 when No. 1 wins.
Texas A&M has won the doubles point in 16 of 27 matches and is 12-4 when winning the doubles point and 3-8 when losing the doubles point.
Texas A&M is 9-10 against nationally ranked opponents, including a program all-time high 4-2 victory at then-No. 2 Georgia on April 16.
In NCAA matches, Texas A&M is 10-11 all-time at neutral sites, 11-4 at home and 1-7 at away sites.
Florida is the No. 1 seed in the 2017 NCAA Championship and Stanford is the defending national champion.
Texas A&M has advanced to the Sweet 16 four times in school history, including in three years of the last four years.

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                       rue-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