The No. 9 Aggie women’s tennis team continues its road trip this Sunday as they take to the east coast to take on No. 5 North Carolina in another big test on the road.
Mark Weaver will get his first crack at beating a top five team this season as a head coach and, more importantly, another win to improve to 4-0 this season. However, despite some minor adjustments, Weaver said his approach to being head coach is not much different than his previous coaching jobs.
“It is basically the same mindset for me. It is a little different of a feel, because I am the one making all the decisions. ‘Did I make the right line up? Did I put the right doubles teams together?’ [Associate head coach Patrick Sullivan] and I talked those things through, and I feel we [make] the right decisions.”
The Tar Heels though are an opponent unlike anybody the Aggies have faced this Spring. They have boasted an undefeated record of their own at 6-0, have only given up one point, and have won the rest of their matches by shutout. In A&M’s defense, the Aggies have most recently shut out Baylor to go to an undefeated 3-0.
“The team really came together,” Weaver said to 12thman.com. “That has kind of been one of the big things [Associate Head Coach Patrick Sullivan] and I have been working on is really helping the girls get the team feel, and I really feel like the girls have come together as a team and that is the reason we have won the last two matches.”
North Carolina’s most devastating attack, much like the Aggies, comes from their singles matches. UNC carries three top-100 singles players in the nation on their roster including No. 6 ranked Hayley Carter, No. 68 ranked Jessie Aney, No. 94 ranked Cassandra Vazquez.
A&M will once again need to rely on the depth in their roster to win favorable matchups while No. 53 ranked Saska Gavrilovska will have her hands full with Carter at the one vs one matchup. The Aggies carry two top-100 ranked players of their own but have also relied on their four through six players and their doubles play to secure key points in their previous matches, and Sunday will be no exception.
The match is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. and is the last match the Aggies will play before traveling to Wisconsin for the ITA Indoor Championships.
