Photo by: Sam Craft/Texas A&M Athletics
Bhosale and Pierson are Texas A&M’s First All-Americans in Doubles
May 03, 2017 | Women's Tennis
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Seniors Rutuja Bhosale and Rachel Pierson are Texas A&M's first-ever doubles All-Americans after receiving a No. 5-8 seed in the NCAA Division I Women's Doubles Championship, announced today. In addition, Pierson earned All-American accolades in singles after being awarded a No. 9-16 seed in the NCAA Singles Championship. Bhosale also received an at-large berth in the singles tournament.
"I am so happy and proud of both Rachel and Rutuja for qualifying for the NCAA individual event in both singles and doubles," Texas A&M women's tennis head coach Mark Weaver said. "To add on to that, Rachel will be awarded All-American honors in singles for being seeded, and Rachel and Rutuja will become our first All-American doubles team ever at Texas A&M. I spoke to them early on in the season about how I believed they could become the first All-Americans in doubles ever here at Texas A&M, and that was no doubt one of our goals for the year, so it is really great that they were able to accomplish this special honor."
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 from May 19-23. The University of Georgia will serve as host.
Pierson and Bhosale are 24-10 overall in doubles and are currently ranked No. 8 in the Oracle/ITA Division I Women's Collegiate Tennis Rankings. They are 13-8 in dual matches only, all at the No. 1 position, and they are 8-8 against ranked opponents. On April 11, the pair received an all-time school record-high No. 4 doubles ranking, breaking the previous No. 5 record, set by Pierson and then-sophomore Eva Paalma in the Sept. 15, 2015, ITA fall preseason rankings.
Pierson also plays the No. 1 line in singles and leads the Aggies with a 26-12 overall record, including a team-best 16-9 in dual matches only. The Princeton, New Jersey, native was named First-Team All-SEC after going 7-5 in Southeastern Conference matches only, having closed out the SEC regular season riding a five-match winning streak. Included in that streak was 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, who transferred from Virginia after her freshman season, competed in the 2015 NCAA Championship in both singles and doubles (with Paalma) but fell in the first round. As a freshman at Virginia, Pierson earned All-America honors in doubles as she and partner Julia Elbaba were a No. 5-8 seed in the NCAA Doubles Championship, but they fell in the first round.
Bhosale, a second-team All-SEC selection from Pune, India, is making her first appearance in an NCAA individual championship. She is currently No. 54 in singles with a 19-12 overall record, including a 14-8 record at the No. 2 line and a 6-4 mark in conference matches only. She recorded the highest ranked win of her career in the SEC regular season finale, defeating 11th-ranked Elena Christofi of Georgia to cap the Aggies' first-ever victory over the Bulldogs.
This is the eighth consecutive year and 16th time overall A&M will be 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.
A&M is represented in the doubles tournament for the 16th time overall, and the Aggies are a combined 2-15 since Labuschagne and partner Karen Marshall along with the A&M duo of Vanne Akagi and Gaye Lynne Gensler first represented the Maroon and White at the 1986 NCAA Doubles Championship. Only Jessica Roland and Helga Vieira (2004) and Tiffany Clifford and Sarah Foster (2006) have reached the round of 16.
Last year, Saska Gavrilovska was A&M's lone representative in singles and reached the round of 32. The Aggies were without a doubles team for the first time since 2011.
All matches in the individual championships will 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 tournaments will be announced May 23.
As a team, Texas A&M (16-12) received an at-large berth in the 64-team 2017 NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship and will open against the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks on Saturday, May 13 at 10 a.m. at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco Texas. The Aggies are making their 18th consecutive and 23rd overall appearance in the team tournament.
The complete list of players selected to compete in the 2017 NCAA Individual Championships is available at NCAA.com.
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
2016 ITA All-American Selection Criteria
Singles: Top 16 seed in NCAA Singles Championship; reach round of 16 in NCAA Singles
Championship; finish in the Top 20 of final Oracle/ITA National Singles Rankings.
Doubles: Top eight seed in NCAA Doubles Championship; reach quarterfinals in NCAA
Doubles Championship; finish in the Top 10 of final Oracle/ITA National Doubles Rankings.
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 palm-ah
"I am so happy and proud of both Rachel and Rutuja for qualifying for the NCAA individual event in both singles and doubles," Texas A&M women's tennis head coach Mark Weaver said. "To add on to that, Rachel will be awarded All-American honors in singles for being seeded, and Rachel and Rutuja will become our first All-American doubles team ever at Texas A&M. I spoke to them early on in the season about how I believed they could become the first All-Americans in doubles ever here at Texas A&M, and that was no doubt one of our goals for the year, so it is really great that they were able to accomplish this special honor."
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 from May 19-23. The University of Georgia will serve as host.
Pierson and Bhosale are 24-10 overall in doubles and are currently ranked No. 8 in the Oracle/ITA Division I Women's Collegiate Tennis Rankings. They are 13-8 in dual matches only, all at the No. 1 position, and they are 8-8 against ranked opponents. On April 11, the pair received an all-time school record-high No. 4 doubles ranking, breaking the previous No. 5 record, set by Pierson and then-sophomore Eva Paalma in the Sept. 15, 2015, ITA fall preseason rankings.
Pierson also plays the No. 1 line in singles and leads the Aggies with a 26-12 overall record, including a team-best 16-9 in dual matches only. The Princeton, New Jersey, native was named First-Team All-SEC after going 7-5 in Southeastern Conference matches only, having closed out the SEC regular season riding a five-match winning streak. Included in that streak was 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, who transferred from Virginia after her freshman season, competed in the 2015 NCAA Championship in both singles and doubles (with Paalma) but fell in the first round. As a freshman at Virginia, Pierson earned All-America honors in doubles as she and partner Julia Elbaba were a No. 5-8 seed in the NCAA Doubles Championship, but they fell in the first round.
Bhosale, a second-team All-SEC selection from Pune, India, is making her first appearance in an NCAA individual championship. She is currently No. 54 in singles with a 19-12 overall record, including a 14-8 record at the No. 2 line and a 6-4 mark in conference matches only. She recorded the highest ranked win of her career in the SEC regular season finale, defeating 11th-ranked Elena Christofi of Georgia to cap the Aggies' first-ever victory over the Bulldogs.
This is the eighth consecutive year and 16th time overall A&M will be 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.
A&M is represented in the doubles tournament for the 16th time overall, and the Aggies are a combined 2-15 since Labuschagne and partner Karen Marshall along with the A&M duo of Vanne Akagi and Gaye Lynne Gensler first represented the Maroon and White at the 1986 NCAA Doubles Championship. Only Jessica Roland and Helga Vieira (2004) and Tiffany Clifford and Sarah Foster (2006) have reached the round of 16.
Last year, Saska Gavrilovska was A&M's lone representative in singles and reached the round of 32. The Aggies were without a doubles team for the first time since 2011.
All matches in the individual championships will 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 tournaments will be announced May 23.
As a team, Texas A&M (16-12) received an at-large berth in the 64-team 2017 NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship and will open against the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks on Saturday, May 13 at 10 a.m. at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco Texas. The Aggies are making their 18th consecutive and 23rd overall appearance in the team tournament.
The complete list of players selected to compete in the 2017 NCAA Individual Championships is available at NCAA.com.
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
2016 ITA All-American Selection Criteria
Singles: Top 16 seed in NCAA Singles Championship; reach round of 16 in NCAA Singles
Championship; finish in the Top 20 of final Oracle/ITA National Singles Rankings.
Doubles: Top eight seed in NCAA Doubles Championship; reach quarterfinals in NCAA
Doubles Championship; finish in the Top 10 of final Oracle/ITA National Doubles Rankings.
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 palm-ah
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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