Texas A&M’s Nazari Urbina Named SEC Tennis Player of the Week
The senior from Veracruz, Mexico, went 2-0 at the No. 3 line in singles last week and capped Texas A&M's highest ranked win in school history with a come-from-behind 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-1 victory over No. 4 Florida's 53rd-ranked Alexandra Cercone in the last match standing to secure A&M's 4-3 victory. With Urbina's clinching win, the Aggies snapped the Gators' 45-match winning streak against SEC teams in conference regular-season, SEC Tournament and NCAA Championship matches combined.
The win against Cercone marked Urbina's highest ranked win in a dual match this season, and it also was her 89th career singles victory, moving her into eighth place in the all-time A&M career records.
Urbina began the week playing the No. 2 singles line for the first time this year in A&M's final non-conference tune-up against Baylor on Wednesday. Urbina split sets against Victoria Kisialeva, 6-1, 1-6, but the match went unfinished as A&M defeated the Bears, 4-0.
In the Aggies' SEC debut, Urbina defeated South Carolina's Elixane Lechemia at the No. 3 line to close out A&M's 5-2 victory over the Gamecocks.
Urbina, ranked No. 67 in the nation in singles, enters this week 3-1 in dual matches at the No. 3 line and 9-4 overall.
Urbina and the Aggies (8-1, 2-0 SEC), who are ranked a record-high No. 4 in this week's ITA national team rankings and are riding a six-match winning streak, make their first SEC road trip this weekend, taking on No. 11 Vanderbilt, Friday at 3 p.m. at the Curry Tennis Center in Nashville. Vanderbilt is 7-0 in the all-time series against the Aggies, while A&M is 4-1 against Top 15 teams this season.
A&M faces No. 44 Kentucky, Sunday at 11 a.m. (CT) in Lexington.
