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Feb. 24, 2013

WHAT: No. 14 Texas (3-4) resumes its 2013 dual-match season at home this weekend when it hosts No. 35 Rice (6-4).

WHEN: Saturday, March 2 - Noon Central

WHERE: Penick-Allison Tennis Center - Austin, Texas

LIVE SCORING: TexasSports.com

TELEVISION: The match will be televised live on Longhorn Network. Mark Brown (play-by-play) and former Longhorn Jon Wiegand (color analyst) will have the call.

I.T.A. SINGLES RANKINGS (TEXAS PLAYERS, AS OF FEB. 12)
29. Aeriel Ellis
39. Breaunna Addison

I.T.A. DOUBLES RANKINGS (TEXAS PLAYERS, AS OF FEB. 12)
24. Breaunna Addison/Noel Scott

LAST MEETING AGAINST RICE:
Texas defeated Rice by a 7-0 count on Jan. 22, 2011 in Austin.

LAST TIME OUT:
Texas completed a road swing against Big 12 Conference foes Northwestern and Michigan. The Longhorns posted a 5-2 win over No. 9 Northwestern (Feb. 22) before falling to No. 14 Michigan by a 5-2 count (Feb. 24).

ELLIS RETURNS TO I.T.A. SINGLES RANKINGS
Two recent victories over ITA top-20 opponents have lifted Texas senior Aeriel Ellis into a familiar position in the ITA singles rankings.

Ellis holds the nation's No. 29 singles ranking after posting victories over Georgia's eighth-ranked Lauren Herring and Alabama's 20th-ranked Mary Anne Macfarlane earlier this month at the ITA National Team Indoors. The two-time All-American added a win last Friday over Northwestern's 41st-ranked Kate Turvy.

NEWCOMERS ADDISON, GROENVYNCK OFF TO SOLID START
Eighth-year head coach and former Australian Open doubles champion Patty Fendick-McCain welcomes a pair of first-semester newcomers in Lana Groenvynck (Schilde, Belgium) and Breaunna Addison (Boca Raton, Fla.). Groenvynck reached the semifinals at the 2011 Borreman Cup in Belgium, while Addison is a former singles champion at the prestigious Dunlop Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships.

Addison and Groenvynck made their collegiate debuts last month at the Miami Spring Invite and left the tournament with some impressive results. Addison posted a 3-0 singles record and defeated one opponent featured in the top-60 of the ITA singles rankings. Groenvynck posted a 2-1 mark at the Miami Invite and added a win in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend event.

Addison sits at 7-3 overall in her first semester of college tennis and now holds a No. 39 national ranking. She defeated Northwestern's 83rd-ranked Belinda Niu to help Texas to its 5-2 win on the ninth-ranked Wildcats' home courts (Feb. 22).

THE 2012-13 LONGHORNS
Texas returns six student-athletes from the 2011-12 squad that landed at No. 10 in the final ITA team poll, advanced to the NCAA Championship's round of 16 and won the Big 12 Championship.

Senior Aeriel Ellis earned her second consecutive ITA singles All-America selection last season and has qualified for 10 of 11 national championship events contested in her time as a Longhorn. The Californian has advanced to the singles round of 16 at the last two NCAA Championships. Ellis posted a perfect 3-0 singles mark at last month's Miami Spring Invite.

Sophomore Lina Padegimaite posted a 22-5 overall singles record and was selected as the Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year last season. The native of Lithuania cruised to a 9-0 mark last season in conference play. Junior Elizabeth Begley posted an impressive 34-7 overall singles record last season, which included a 21-2 dual-match record and a 9-0 mark in conference play. Begley was selected as the Most Outstanding Performer at the 2012 Big 12 Championships.

Sophomore Noel Scott knocked off several highly-ranked opponents in dual-match play last season and notched 16 singles victories as a freshman. Scott brings a No. 79 singles ranking into the spring season, and she notched a pair of impressive wins at last month's Miami Spring Invite. UT also returns sophomore Annat Rabinovich and junior Juliana Gajic. Rabinovich posted two singles wins at the Miami Spring Invite.