The No. 10 Aggie men’s and No. 11 women’s tennis teams kick off their respective dual match play seasons by hosting the ITA Kick-Off Invitational this weekend at the Mitchell Tennis Center. The tournament kicks off at noon Saturday.
The women are coming off a dual tournament last weekend in which the Aggies sent a split squad to both the National Collegiate Tennis Classic (NCTC) in California and the Freeman Memorial hosted by UNLV. Sophomore Rutuja Bhosale earned the highest ranked win of her career at the NCTC against No. 12 Taylor Davidson of Stanford.
The men’s previous competition happened two weekends ago in the Morgan Run Tournament in California. Both senior Jeremy Efferding and freshman AJ Catanzariti finished the weekend with an unbeaten 3-0 record.
Women’s head coach Howard Joffe said he’s excited to see his players step out on the court and compete this season.
“I’m confident that our girls will contest the matches well and play well,” Joffe said. “I’m also confident that as we grow, we will be a formidable team.”
Bhosale said she was excited to see the hard work that her teammates put in.
“Everyone’s really excited for the kickoff tournament this weekend,” Bhosale said. “We’ve all worked really hard this fall season and we were very successful this past weekend. We’re ready to start the season.”
while the Aggies follow to face North Texas. The winners of their respective matches will face each other in the final for the right to earn a berth in the 16-team ITA Nation Team Indoor Championship.
The Aggie men open their tournament with a match-up against the Horned Frogs. The winner will advance to the final round to face the winner of LSU vs. San Diego. The losers of the matches will compete in the consolation round.
Joffe talked about how important and unique the 12th man gives to the Mitchell Tennis Center.
“With the 12th man, we have the ability to have good sized crowds where it’s not the case at some other schools,” Joffe said. “The kids absolutely love the students and the community coming out. This isn’t professional sports, so the kids are motivated by having fans encouraging them and pushing them forward.”