March 16, 2016
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The seventh-ranked Vanderbilt women’s tennis team welcomes the Texas A&M Aggies to Nashville Thursday, March 17th at 4:00 pm CT. The mid-week matchup will be the fourth contest between the two programs since the Aggie’s entrance into the SEC.
Fans attending Thursday’s match will be a part of history, as the competition will be the first ever-broadcasted women’s tennis match on the SEC Network+ as a part of USTA’s College Match Day series. College Match Day giveaways will be given to the first 200 fans in attendance.
Vanderbilt comes off a hard weekend on the road, falling to the South Carolina Gamecocks 4-3, and the Florida Gators 5-2. Senior Frances Altick boasts an undefeated 8-0 record on the season, with wins on courts two and three. Astra Sharma heads into Thursday’s competition with a 7-1 record, her only loss coming against UK.
Three Commodores are listed in the Oracle/ITA rankings, with Altick leading the trio at No. 16. Sydney Campbell follows at No. 24, with Sharma rounding it off at No. 33. In doubles, Campbell and Courtney Colton team up as the No. 9 team in the country, with Sharma and Ellie Yates following at No. 61.
Texas A&M currently owns the No. 14 ranking in the country, and an 11-4 record. In conference play, the Aggies are 3-1 with three straight wins over Alabama, Mississippi State and Ole Miss. The squad’s sole loss of SEC play came in their opener against Auburn, 4-2.
A&M leads the Commodores in their series record, 3-0. Vanderbilt has never defeated the Aggies, with the squad most recently falling 4-3 in College Station.
In doubles, Eva Paalma and Rachel Pierson lead TAMU as the No. 41 ranked pairing in the country. Rutuja Bhosale and Anna Mamalat follow in tandems at No. 56. Individually, one ranked Aggie appears in the latest poll, as Saska Gavrilovska comes in at No. 40.
