Texas A&M Faces No. 1 Florida in NCAA Round of 16

Friday, May 19

Athens, Ga.

6:00 PM

Texas A&M

Florida

May 18, 2017 | Women's Tennis

Complete Match Notes (PDF)

By: Texas A&M Media Relations

No. 20 Texas A&M Aggies (18-12) vs. No. 1 Florida Gators (25-3)
Friday, May 19, 6 p.m. (7 p.m. ET)
Dan Magill Tennis Complex
Athens, Georgia

Complete match notes (PDF): http://bit.ly/2q01NpW
NCAA Championship bracket: http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/tennis-women/d1
Live Video/Scoring: http://www.georgiadogs.com/sports/m-tennis/spec-rel/ncaa-2017.html
NCAA Division I women's championship program: ncaa.com/diwomenstennis

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP — ROUND OF 16 PREVIEW

No. 20 Texas A&M (18-12) will take on top-ranked and No. 1 seed Florida (25-3) in the NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship round of 16 on Friday at 6 p.m. (7 p.m. ET) at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Georgia.
The Aggies, an at-large entry in the 64-team NCAA Championship after going 6-7 in the Southeastern Conference regular season and tying LSU for eighth place, advanced to the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in five years and the fifth time overall by defeating Louisiana-Monroe, 4-2, and No. 16 Baylor, 4-3, in the first two rounds, Saturday and Sunday at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas.
Six-time NCAA champion Florida is an at-large entry after finishing runner-up to Vanderbilt in both the Southeastern Conference regular season and the SEC Tournament. The storied program, participating in its 36th of 37 NCAA tournaments and aiming for its seventh national title, advanced to the round of 16 by defeating Massachusetts, 4-0, and 28th-ranked Miami, 4-1, in the first two rounds in Gainesville, Florida.
The winner between Texas A&M and Florida faces the winner between No. 8 seed Georgia Tech (27-4) and No. 9 seed Oklahoma State (24-5) in the quarterfinals, Sunday at 3 p.m. (4 p.m. ET).
The NCAA Championship tournament central page, which includes links to tickets and live video and scoring is available at http://www.georgiadogs.com/sports/m-tennis/spec-rel/ncaa-2017.html
The NCAA Division I women's championship program is available at ncaa.com/diwomenstennis.

TEXAS A&M NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES

Texas A&M is making its 18th consecutive and 23rd overall appearance in the NCAA Championship, as well as its fifth appearance in the round of 16.
The Aggies are 23-22 all-time in NCAA matches, including 1-4 in the round of 16.
Texas A&M is the only unseeded team to reach the round of 16 in the 2017 NCAA Championship, having eliminated No. 16 seed Baylor, 4-3, in Waco, Texas, in the second round.
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 one of seven schools to have both its men's and women's tennis teams competing in the round of 16 in Athens. The other six are Florida and Georgia of the SEC, California and Stanford of the Pac-12, Duke and North Carolina of the ACC and Ohio State of the Big Ten.
The Aggies join five other SEC women's teams to reach the round of 16: No. 1 Florida, No. 4 Georgia, No. 5 Vanderbilt, No. 11 Auburn and No. 14 South Carolina.
Twelve SEC women's teams were in the field of 64, with Arkansas, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss and Tennessee falling in the second round, and Mississippi State being eliminated in the first round.
Texas A&M entered the 2017 NCAA Championship 8-11 against the tournament field, including 3-5 against teams that have reached the Sweet 16.

PROJECTED TEXAS A&M LINEUP
                                                                                 Overall     Dual           Stk
1 Singles: #16 Rachel Pierson (Sr., Princeton, N.J.)            26-14      16-11            L3
2 Singles: #53 Rutuja Bhosale (Sr., Pune, India)               20-13       14-10           W1
3 Singles: Domenica Gonzalez (So., Guayaquil, Ecuador) 14-7         11-6             L1
4 Singles: Saska Gavrilovska (Sr., Vrsac, Serbia)                5-12          4-8             W2
5 Singles: Eva Paalma (Jr., Tallinn, Estonia)                       12-8          9-6              L1
6 Singles: Macarena Olivares (Jr., Santiago, Chile)           23-13       14-10           W3
Others available: Tina Bokhua (Jr., Moscow, Russia); Stefania Hristov (Sr. Iasi, Romania)
                                                                                            Overall       Dual           Stk
1 Doubles: #7 Bhosale/Pierson                                         25-10        14-8            W1
2 Doubles: Gonzalez/Paalma                                            19-14       13-11           W4
3 Doubles: Gavrilovska/Hristov                                           9-5           7-3             W1

SERIES HISTORY NOTES

Florida holds a 5-2 lead in the all-times series against Texas A&M and has won the last three meetings.
This will be the first time the two teams have met in an NCAA tournament match.
The series is tied, 1-1, when the match is played at a neutral site.
Three of the seven all-time meetings have come down to the last match standing, with A&M winning two of the three 4-3 decisions.
The teams met once this season, with No. 1 Florida defeating No. 20 Texas A&M, 4-0, on Monday, March 6, at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station. The match had originally been scheduled for Sunday, March 5 but was postponed a day due to inclement weather and an indoor facility being unavailable.
Texas A&M won the first meeting in the series, defeating the then-No. 4 Gators, 4-3, in College Station on March 3, 2013, in the Aggies' first year as a member of the SEC.
The Aggies' second and most recent victory over the Gators was April 18, 2014, in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament in Columbia, Missouri. It marked the first time in the then-27-year history of the SEC Tournament that the Gators failed to reach the semifinals.

2017 TEXAS A&M TEAM SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

Is the only unseeded team to reach the NCAA round of 16
Upset No. 16 Baylor, 4-3, in the NCAA second round, marking the first time in three occurrences that Texas A&M defeated the Bears in an NCAA match played in Waco
Posted the highest ranked win in program history and the first-ever win over Georgia in the Aggies 4-2 victory over the No. 2 Bulldogs in the regular season finale
Recorded first-ever win against No. 10 Duke, defeating the Blue Devils, 4-3, at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship
Won at No. 12 Miami to earn bid to ITA National Team Indoor Championship
Has three wins against top-10 opponents and eight wins against top-25 teams overall
Has the first All-American doubles team in school history as Rutuja Bhosale and Rachel Pierson received a No. 5-8 seed at the NCAA Doubles Championship
Ended regular season on a five-match winning streak
Ranked in the ITA top 25 every week, including a season-high No. 14 ranking on Feb. 15.

OPPONENT NOTES

Florida (25-3) is appearing in its 35th of the 36 NCAA Championships held and has advanced to the round of 16 for the 34th time.
Florida has been the No. 1-ranked team in all 16 of the ITA's national team rankings in 2017.
The Gators, who have played in 29 quarterfinals, 24 semifinals and 13 finals, advanced to the round of 16 by defeating Massachusetts, 4-0, and No. 28 Miami in Gainesville, Florida.
Florida is 13-5 in NCAA Championship matches played in Athens, including 6-0 in round-of-16 matches. The Gators won the national title on the Dan Magill tennis courts in 2012.
The Gators already have one national title this season, having won the 2017 ITA National Team Indoor Championship by defeating North Carolina, 4-2, in the tournament final on Feb. 13 in New Haven Connecticut.
Florida boasts six players ranked in the ITA top 90—Belinda Woolcock (6), Josie Kuhlman (23), Ingrid Neel (31), Anna Danilina (44), Kourtney Keegan (59) and Spencer Liang (88)—and all but Liang were selected to compete in the NCAA Singles Championship.
The Gators also have three ranked doubles teams, Danilina/Neel (11), Austin/Keegan (20) and Kuhlman/Woolcock (45), with the Danilina/Neel and Austin/Keegan duos receiving a berth in the NCAA Doubles Championship. Kuhlman/Woolcock are a sixth alternate.
Florida's three losses this season were at Vanderbilt, both during the regular season and in the championship match of the SEC Tournament, and a 4-1 setback to Georgia in the Gators' only home loss of the season.
Anna Danilina leads the Gators with a 10-match win streak in singles.
Brooke Austin is 11-0 at the No. 5 line.

TEXAS A&M RECENT RESULTS

Texas A&M junior Macarena Olivares won the last match standing to clinch the 20th-ranked Aggies' 4-3 victory over No. 16 seed Baylor in the second round of the NCAA Championship on Sunday at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas.
The Aggies, who had fallen at Baylor, 4-0, during the regular season, entered the contest 0-2 all-time in NCAA matches against the Bears in Waco.
It was the first home loss for Baylor, which entered the match 16-0 in home matches. With the loss, the Bears ended their season 22-7 and became the only seeded team in the NCAA Championship field of 64 to get eliminated before the round of 16.
Doubles began with A&M's Domenica Gonzalez and Eva Paalma winning a lopsided 6-0 match at the No. 2 line. The remaining two matches, however, were much more suspenseful as both contests were still up for grabs, tied 5-5. Texas A&M's Stefania Hristov and Saska Gavrilovska would clinch the crucial point for the Aggies at the No. 3 line, breaking Baylor's Theresa Van Zyl and Rhiann Newborn to go up, 6-5, and then holding serve to win 7-5.
A&M's seventh-ranked Rutuja Bhosale and Rachel Pierson had overcome a 4-1 deficit against 35th-ranked Blair Shankle and Karina Traxler to put the match back on serve at 5-5. The Aggies then held serve to go up, 6-5, with Baylor building a 30-0 lead in the ensuing game when the doubles point was decided and play was stopped.
Both teams would open singles play by winning three first sets. Everyone who won a first set would go on to win their match, and the final match was the only one to be decided in a third set.
Gavrilovska was first to finish her match as she gave the Aggies a 2-0 lead with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Van Zyl at the No. 4 line.
Newborn put the Bears within 2-1 with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Gonzalez at No. 3.
Bhosale, ranked 53rd, quickly found herself down two service breaks to start her match against Elizabeth Profit at No. 2, but the Aggie reeled off four consecutive games to put the set back on serve, 4-3. The set stayed on serve until Bhosale broke to complete a 7-5 win. Bhosale then won the first three games of the second set and went on to win, 6-2, to give the Aggies a 3-1 lead.
Baylor won the next two matches to be completed to tie the score at 3-3. Paalma saw her team-leading six-match winning streak come to an end as she fell to Angelina Shakhraichuk, 6-3, 6-3 at No. 5. Minutes later, third-ranked Blair Shankle held off 16th-ranked Pierson at the No. 1 line. Shankle had won three consecutive games to close out a 6-2 first-set win and would overcome a 5-2 second-set deficit to force a tiebreaker. With the tiebreaker tied at 5-5, Shankle won back-to-back points to close out the 7-5 tiebreaker and complete the 6-2, 7-6 straight-set victory.
All eyes then turned to Court 6. Earlier, Olivares appeared to be in good position to run away with the first set as she had jumped out to a 5-1 lead over Hinojosa, but Hinojosa then reeled off four consecutive games to tie the set. Neither player could hold serve to close out the frame, and the set would be determined by a tiebreaker. Olivares won the first three points and led the entire tiebreaker, although Hinojosa got within a point at 5-4 and 6-5 before Olivares secured the 7-5 win.
The second set was on serve at 5-5 before Hinojosa broke to take a 6-5 lead. Hinojosa then held serve to win the set, 7-5, and force the only three-set match on the day.
With the other five matches already completed, Hinojosa got the first break to go up, 4-3, in the final set, but Olivares countered by breaking back to knot the score at 4-4. Olivares then held to go up 5-4 and then pulled away in the next game to win, 6-4, and set off a celebration by the Aggies.

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. She was a sixth alternate in 2015 but did not make the field.
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.
PIERSON NAMED TEXAS REGION SENIOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Rachel Pierson was named the 2017 ITA Texas Region Senior Player of the Year, becoming the eighth player in Texas A&M history to receive the honor.
The team captain is ranked No. 7 in doubles, the highest ranking in the ITA Texas Region. Pierson also is ranked a career-high and team-high No. 16 in singles, the second-highest ranking by a senior in the Texas region.
A two-time member of the All-SEC first team and the 2015 ITA Texas Region Player to Watch, Pierson recorded singles wins in A&M's victories over No. 2 Georgia, No. 5 Auburn, No. 10 Duke and No. 11 Kentucky this season and also earned a point against No. 3 Pepperdine and No. 7 Vanderbilt. She earned SEC Player of the Week honors following a straight-set victory over SEC Player of the Year and then-No. 4 Astra Sharma of Vanderbilt, marking Pierson's highest ranked win of her career.
Pierson and Bhosale received an all-time Texas A&M-high No. 4 doubles ranking on April 11.

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 35-23 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.

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