Building Champions
 Women's Tennis Takes on LSU Sunday in Baton Rouge

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Feb. 6, 2010

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Texas A&M women's team aims to get into the win column Sunday as the Aggies take on non-conference rival LSU in Baton Rouge, La. Match time has been changed to 11 a.m. at Dub' Robinson Stadium.

"Throw out the records and the rankings, I know we are going to have a battle on our hands," A&M coach Bobby Kleinecke said. "Our matches against LSU are always close matches, and no matter how you look at it, these are battles."

A&M is 0-2 on the young season after dropping both matches at the ITA Kick-Off last weekend in Clemson, S.C. The Aggies came up on the short end of a 4-3 near upset over 14th-ranked Clemson in the season opener and then fell to No. 32 Illinois, 4-2. Despite the two losses, A&M moved up one spot to No. 36 in this week's Campbell's/ITA College Tennis Rankings.

Elzé Potgieter (Bloemfontein, South Africa) highlighted the weekend for the Aggies, going 2-0 at the No. 1 singles line, including back-to-back victories against higher ranked opponents. The senior, ranked No. 88 until updated individual rankings are released Feb. 18, opened the dual season by knocking off ninth-ranked Josipa Bek of Clemson, 7-5, 6-4. It was the highest ranked win of Potgieter's career. Potgieter then defeated No. 33 Rachael White of Illinois, 6-2, 6-3 to improve to 9-3 overall in 2009-10. In addition, she raised her career record to 79-43, three wins shy of moving into A&M's top 10 for career singles victories.

In doubles, A&M took the point against Clemson, but Illinois came out on top in the second match by winning on two of the three courts. The duo of Stephanie Davidson (Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas) and Morgan Frank (Oldsmar, Fla.) picked up A&M's only doubles win against the Fighting Illini to improve to 2-0 at the No. 2 line.

 

 

LSU, which returns three of six starters from last year's team that went 14-11 and advanced to the NCAA second round, also dropped both of its matches during the ITA Kick-Off Weekend to fall to 2-2. The Lady Tigers, who entered last weekend's ITA event ranked 28th, are listed No. 42 this week after falling to then-No. 35 Auburn, 4-0, and then dropping a 4-1 decision to then-No. 60 San Diego. Both matches were played at USC in Los Angeles.

The Lady Tigers have not given up a point in either of their home matches, having opened the spring season with 7-0 shutouts against both UL-Lafayette and Prairie View A&M in a doubleheader at Dub' Robinson Stadium on Jan. 24.

"Baton Rouge is a tough place to play, and I know they are going to come out fighting," Kleinecke said. "I've never seen an LSU team quit. I know they are a young team and they are going to be excited to play us, so we need to start out the match by taking control from the beginning."

A&M holds a 19-10 lead in the all-time series against LSU, The Lady Tigers, however, came from behind to upset A&M, 4-3, last year in College Station, ending a four-match losing skid against the Aggies.

A&M defeated LSU, 6-1 when the teams last met in Baton Rouge in 2008. The match was much closer than the final score as three singles matches were decided in three sets, and two of those matches included tiebreakers that were won by the minimum two points.

Live scoring of the match will be available at AggieAthletics.com.

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