Aggies Host No. 14 Arkansas Wednesday at 6 p.m.
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Updated: 3:52 PM Mar 16, 2010
Aggies Host No. 14 Arkansas Wednesday at 6 p.m.
The Texas A&M women’s tennis team continues its four-match home stand Wednesday as the Aggies play host to No. 14 Arkansas.
Posted: 3:52 PM Mar 16, 2010
Reporter: Texas A&M Sports Information
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COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M women’s tennis team continues its four-match home stand Wednesday as the Aggies play host to No. 14 Arkansas. First serve is slated for 6 p.m. at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.

“The match against Arkansas is a great opportunity for us and can do a lot for our season if we come away with the win,” A&M coach Bobby Kleinecke said. “To have a chance at that, we must step up and make it happen.

“Arkansas has been to the NCAA Sweet 16 each of the last two years. They have some new players, yet they have managed to stay in the top 20 with quality wins and they are having a great season.”

The Aggies are 4-5 after dropping their home season opener against No. 33 SMU, 5-2, on March 9. Junior Morgan Frank (Oldsmar, Fla.) and freshman Nazari Urbina (Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico) earned A&M’s points and kept their team-leading winning streaks alive. Frank won her eighth consecutive singles match, equaling her longest win streak of the 2009 season, to improve to 8-1 in dual matches. Frank, who won a career-best 10 straight as a freshman, is 4-1 at the No. 2 line and 4-0 at the No. 3 position and moved into the ITA singles rankings at No. 111 this week.

Urbina, who has split time with Frank at the No. 2 and 3 courts, has won her last seven matches and also is 8-1 in dual matches, including 4-0 at the No. 2 line and 4-1 at No. 3. Urbina, ranked No. 67 in the national singles rankings, kept her streak alive after coming back from a set down to defeat SMU’s Aleksandra Malyarchikova 6-7 (5), 6-4, 1-0 (8). Urbina trailed 4-3 in the second set before winning three consecutive games to close out the set. In the super tiebreaker, Urbina rallied after being down 6-3 and 7-5 to win, 10-8, and clinch the victory.

Arkansas improved to 12-4 overall and 2-2 in the Southeastern Conference after crushing No. 50 Mississippi State, 7-0, Sunday at the Dills Indoor Tennis Center in Fayetteville, Ark. The Razorbacks, who moved up three spots in this week’s team rankings, are led by junior Anouk Tigu, who is No. 55 in singles and No. 54 in doubles with partner Claudine Paulson.

A&M owns a 7-5 lead in the all-time series against the Razorbacks, who played the Aggies at least once a year from 1982-1991 when the teams were both members of the Southwest Conference. Arkansas won the final conference meeting, 5-3, but the teams met again in 1996 with A&M winning, 5-3.

The match against the Razorbacks is A&M’s final tune-up for Big 12 Conference play, which the Aggies begin on Friday by hosting Kansas at 4 p.m.

“Even though the Kansas match marks the start of a new part of the season as far as conference play, we are not even thinking about Friday because this match against a very good Arkansas team requires every bit of our focus,” Kleinecke added.

“Aggie Staycation 2010” is underway and fans may purchase general admission tickets for a discounted price of $3 with a minimum purchase of three events. Fans who already possess a ticket for one event, can take that ticket stub to any other event to receive a discounted $3 general admission ticket.

For more ticket information, go to 12thManFoundation.com and follow the “Staycation” link, stop by the ticket office in the Zone located at the north end of Kyle Field, or by phone at 1-888-99-AGGIE (888-992-4443) or locally at 979-845-2311.

Free live video streaming and live scoring of all A&M home women’s tennis matches is available at AggieAthletics.com.

In addition, the popular “Where’s Wilson” promotion continues this season for all home matches. Wilson, a smiling tennis ball, will be hiding at every home match this season at the Mitchell Tennis Center. The one lucky fan who finds him each match will receive a prize compliments of Texas A&M University and will be entered into a grand prize contest which will be held during the women's tennis team's State Farm Lone Star Showdown match against rival Texas on April 20. Fans are encouraged to come out to the matches early to increase their chances of being the first person to find Wilson.

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