Aggie Tennis to start 2008 on fire

SKILLMAN, New Jersey (November 28) – Although the Spring 2008 tennis season hasn’t officially started, the Aggie men’s and women’s tennis teams are already red hot. In the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Fall national rankings recently released, the Aggie men’s team is ranked No. 12 in the nation while the women are ranked No. 27.

The ITA rankings are submitted and compiled by select committees of collegiate coaches. The rankings feature the top 200 NCAA Division-II tennis programs in the nation. Cameron’s men’s team is also ranked No. 1 in the region, while the women’s team is ranked No. 6.

“I am very excited,” Head Coach James Helvey said. “It’s fun to be recognized by other coaches around the country; they feel we deserve this. I feel like we have certainly earned the rankings, but it’s definitely no place to get comfortable.”

The men’s No. 12 ranking is the highest men’s ranking in Cameron Tennis history. The previous high ranking was No. 13 from the Fall 1994 season. Last season the men made it up to No. 15 during the season but ended the season ranked No. 22. The women’s team finished last year ranked No. 37, but the team was as high as No. 14 during the season.

“It’s extremely tough to get this high because all the teams are very strong,” Coach Helvey said. “The top 25 is brutal, and I think now more than ever it is the toughest I have seen in my 18 years of coaching. These top 25 teams on any given day could go any direction.”

The Cameron Aggie tennis teams also have a number of players ranked individually. Junior Daniel Pazos is the highest ranked Aggie coming in at No. 46 overall in the national singles rankings. Senior Jordi Mullor is CU’s other ranked singles player at No. 50 overall. CU’s doubles team of Pazos and junior Cristian Easton is the No. 19 duo in the nation.

Pazos, Mullor, and Easton are all ranked in singles regionally at No. 4, No. 5, and No. 9, respectively. Joining them in the regional rankings are seniors Ignacio Murgier, No. 6, and Nicolas Mascheroni, No. 11. The doubles team of Pazos and Easton is ranked No. 3 in the region, while the duo of Mascheroni and Murgier is ranked No. 6 in the region. The doubles team of Mullor and junior Saman Samii is ranked No. 10 in the region.

On the women’s side, the lone Aggie ranked nationally is junior Irene George who is the No. 33 ranked singles player. She is also ranked No. 4 in the region.

In doubles, George and her partner, senior Megan deBlonk, are the No. 8 ranked doubles team in the region followed by the duo of juniors Sophia Rich and Viviana Seca at No. 10.

“We are just getting better and stronger and deeper,” Coach Helvey said. “I really believe it is a state of mind to get your kids to believe that they belong there (in the rankings). That is something that has been new for them. Our kids have been that good, it’s just been getting them to believe that they deserve to be there and that they are as good as the other teams.”

The Aggie tennis teams are currently in the offseason portion of their 2007-2008 schedule, but resume competitive play on February 14. The teams begin the season by traveling south to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex to take on the University of Texas-Arlington, Collin County College, Dallas Baptist University, and Tyler Junior College in the span of three days.

“We are in a little down time with the holiday break coming up, but when school gets started we will get after it again,” Coach Helvey said. “From a coaches point of view this (ranking) is just some ink on a piece of paper. The only one that really counts is the final ranking in May. Now it’s time to start defending it.”