URBANA, Ill. – The No. 3 Texas A&M women’s tennis team faces No. 6 seed Miami on Sunday in the Aggies’ first-ever appearance in the NCAA Championship quarterfinals. First serve against the Hurricanes, who are making their nation-leading fifth consecutive trip to the Elite Eight, is slated for 4 p.m. at the University of Illinois’ Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex at Atkins Tennis Center.
2013 NCAA WOMEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP INFORMATION
Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex at Atkins Tennis Center in Urbana, Ill. (Univ. of Illinois host)
Quarterfinal, Sunday, May 19
No. 3
Texas A&M (24-3) vs. No. 6 Miami (23-5)
Semifinals, Monday, May 20, 5 p.m.
Texas A&M/Miami winner vs. North Carolina/UCLA winner
Championship, Tuesday, May 21, 5 p.m.
Tournament Central (live video/scoring): http://www.fightingillini.com/ncaatennis2013/Twitter: @NCAATennis13; @AggieWTEN
HOW TEXAS A&M REACHED THE QUARTERFINALS
First Round: def. Southern, 4-0 (May 11, College Station, Texas)
Second Round: def. No. 29 TCU, 4-1 (May 12, College Station, Texas)
Round of 16: def. No. 14 Virginia, 5-0 (May 17, Urbana, Ill.)
HOW MIAMI REACHED THE QUARTERFINALS
First Round: def. Northern Florida, 4-0 (May 11, Coral Gables, Fla.)
Second Round: def. No. 30 Purdue, 4-0 (May 12, Coral Gables, Fla.)
Round of 16: def. No. 11 Northwestern, 4-3 (May 17, Urbana, Ill.)
SERIES NOTES VS. MIAMI
· Texas A&M is 4-2 in the all-time series against Miami and has won the last three meetings.
· The teams last met in 2002 with the Aggies defeating 26th-ranked Miami, 4-1, in College Station.
· This will be the first meeting between the two teams at a neutral site and the first meeting in the NCAA tournament.
TEXAS A&M IN THE ITA RANKINGS
Team: #3 (equals the highest ranking in school history set earlier this season)
Singles: #4 Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar (37-7)
#52 Nazari Urbina (19-7)
#68 Cristina Stancu (25-12)
Doubles: #18 Cristina Stancu/Stefania Hristov (20-9)
MIAMI IN THE ITA RANKINGS
Team: #6
Singles: #60 Stephanie Wagner (21-7)
#81 Kelsey Laurente (14-10)
#102 Clementina Riobueno (24-5)
#105 Lina Lileikite (13-11)
Doubles: #44 Lina Lileikite/Stephanie Wagner (13-7)
#87 Melissa Bolivar/Clementina Riobueno (4-3)
TEXAS A&M PROBABLE STARTING LINEUP (most recent lineup)
Singles
1. Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar, Sr., Campo de Criptana, Spain
(No. 4 in ITA singles rankings…No. 4 seed in NCAA Singles Championship…A&M’s first two-time All-American…ITA Texas Region Senior of the Year…All-SEC First Team)
2. Cristina Stancu, Jr., Constanta, Romania
(No. 68 in singles...All-SEC second team…SEC Player of the Week)
3. Nazari Urbina, Sr., Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico
(No. 52 in ITA singles rankings…Will be making school-record fourth consecutive appearance in NCAA Singles Championship…All-SEC first team)
4. Ines Deheza, Fr., Santa Cruz, Bolivia
(SEC Rookie of the Week)
5. Anna Mamalat, Fr., Philadelphia, Pa.
6. Stefania Hristov, Fr., Iasi, Romania
(Two-time SEC Rookie of the Week)
Doubles
1. Stefania Hristov/Cristina Stancu
(No. 18 in ITA doubles rankings…NCAA Doubles Championship at-large berth…ITA Texas Region doubles champion)
2. Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar/Sun Wen
(No. 49 in ITA doubles ranking)
3. Ines Deheza/Paula Deheza
(Riding an eight-match win streak)
TEXAS A&M NOTES
· Texas A&M (24-3) is making its 14th consecutive and 19th overall appearance in the NCAA Championship.
· Prior to 2013, the Aggies’ best NCAA finish was a Round of 16 appearance in 2004.
· A&M is a school-record No. 3 seed in the 64-team field. A&M was the No. 12 seed in the 2004 tournament, marking the only other time the Aggies have been seeded.
· A&M is 15-18 all-time in NCAA tournament matches.
· A&M entered the 2013 NCAA Championship 15-3 record against the tournament field this season, including a 4-3 victory over two-time defending national champion Florida, which helped propel the Aggies to a share of the SEC regular season title.
· A&M is 1-3 against teams in the quarterfinals, going 1-1 against No. 1 seed Florida and suffering a loss to both No. 2 seed North Carolina and No. 4 seed Georgia.
· A&M improved to 24-3 with the win against Virginia, equaling the 2004 squad for the most wins in program history.
· In its first season as a member of the Southeastern Conference, Texas A&M won the SEC regular-season title, tying both Florida and Georgia, and was the outright SEC Western Division Champion, finishing ahead of Alabama.
TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH HOWARD JOFFE
Texas A&M head coach Howard Joffe (pronounced JOFF-ee) continues to lead the program to new heights in his second season at the helm of the Aggies, including an all-time high No. 3 national ranking. In A&M’s inaugural season in the Southeastern Conference, he also led the women’s tennis team to the school’s first SEC regular season championship title in any sport. This season, Joffe has directed A&M to a 24-3 record, including 22-3 against ranked opponents and 12-1 in SEC matches. Seven wins were against teams ranked in the top 15 in the nation, including a win against two-time defending champion and fourth-ranked Florida to mark the biggest win in program history. It was the Gators’ first regular-season SEC loss since 2009, and the loss snapped their 45-match overall win streak against SEC opponents. Joffe’s Aggies also tied the school record for consecutive wins with 13, tying the record set in Joffe’s first season at A&M. Joffe is 91-47 (.659) record in his sixth season as a head coach, including a 43-9 (.827) mark in two seasons at the helm of the Aggies.
Joffe played college tennis at Pepperdine from 1990-92 and led the Wave to three consecutive West Coast Conference titles. He was an ITA All-American in 1992, the same year he was the 1992 WCC singles champion and reached the semifinals of the NCAA Singles Championship. After three years (1992-94) on the professional tour, Joffe began his coaching career in South Africa. In 2002, he was hired as the women’s assistant coach at perennial power USC, where he finished his bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2006. The two-time ITA West Region Assistant Coach of the Year and a runner-up for the 2006 national award, Joffe left USC in 2007 to be the head coach at Miami (Ohio). In his second season, Joffe was named the Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year after leading the RedHawks to a 16-7 record and an appearance in the NCAA tournament. He then left to become the head coach at Maryland, where he led the Terrapins to an NCAA tournament berth in 2011.
SANCHEZ-QUINTANAR IS A&M’S FIRST TWO-TIME ALL-AMERICAN
Texas A&M senior Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar became the school’s first two-time All-American in women’s tennis after receiving a school record-high No. 4 seed in the 2013 NCAA Singles Championship 64-player field. Sanchez-Quintanar first guaranteed herself All-America honors from the ITA last year after being named the No. 7 seed in the 2012 NCAA Singles Championship. She was A&M’s first All-American since 2005 and fifth overall, but she became the first in school history to garner the distinction by virtue of being a top 16 seed. Sanchez-Quintanar advanced to the quarterfinals in 2012, tying former Aggie All-American Kim Labuschagne (1987) for the best finish in program history. Sanchez-Quintanar is the first All-American coached by Howard Joffe, who is in his second year at A&M and in the sixth season of his head coaching career.
CHART CHASERS
· Senior Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar sports a .855 (77-13) career winning percentage in singles. She will obliterate the school all-time career record of .765 (91-28) held by Morgan Frank (2008-11).
· Sanchez-Quintanar ranks third in the A&M records for most singles wins in a season with a 37-7 record. Last year, she went 40-6 (.870), ranking second in the A&M records for most wins and shattering the school record for highest winning percentage in a single season.
· Senior Nazari Urbina has 99 career singles victories. She needs one more win to become the fourth player in A&M history to reach the 100-victory milestone and move into a tie for third place with Anna Blagodarova (2005-08) for most career victories.
PASSING SHOTS
· A&M is 18-0 when No. 1 singles wins, 15-0 when No. 2 singles wins, 15-0 when No. 3 singles wins, and 11-0 when No. 5 singles wins.
· The Aggies are 18-1 when winning the doubles point.
· The Aggies are a combined 48-14 (.774) at the No. 1, 2 and 3 singles lines.
· A&M is a combined 45-24 (.652) at the three doubles lines.
· The doubles team of twin sisters Ines and Paula Deheza is riding a team-best eight-match winning streak. They also lead the team in doubles victories with an 18-5 record in dual matches.
· Texas A&M has won nine of its last nine 10 matches with the only loss during that span coming against current No. 1-ranked Florida in the semifinals of the SEC Championship tournament.
· A&M has three seniors who are concluding their Aggie careers: Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar, Wen Sun and Nazari Urbina.
