Texas A&M’ 2018 women’s tennis recruiting class is No. 2 in the nation in Tennis Recruiting Network’s Top 25 Spring Rankings, announced on Monday. It marks the highest spring ranking for the Aggies, who were an all-time high No. 1 in the website’s winter rankings released in February.
A&M’s 2018 recruiting class consists of two-time defending Texas high school Class 5A state singles champion Jayci Goldsmith of Dripping Springs, Katya Townsend of Coconut Creek Florida, and Brindtha Ramasamy of Toronto, Canada, who all signed letters of intent during the fall early signing period. In addition, Renee McBryde of Wollongong, Australia, signed during the spring signing period to complete the four-member recruited class.
“Coach (Jordan) Szabo and I are very proud and excited that we were able to bring in such a strong class,” Texas A&M women’s tennis head coach Mark Weaver said. “We are looking forward to the challenge of developing each of these student-athletes both on the court and off the court throughout the course of their careers here at Texas A&M.”
Goldsmith and Townsend are both graded as blue chip recruits, the highest rating bestowed by TRN. Goldsmith is currently listed No. 13 in the nation by TRN and has been as high as No. 4 over the last six months. Townsend has been as high as No. 18 by TRN in 2018.
Ramasamy also is an accomplished junior player, having won singles titles at the All-Canadian Junior Championships, the ACE Tennis U18 Canadian World Ranking Event 2, the Copa El Salvador and the Jalisco Junior Cup.
McBryde is currently No. 961 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) world singles rankings and has been as high as 945. She is currently No. 907 in doubles and has been as high as No. 874. In her home country of Australia, McBryde is currently ranked 39th overall.
Weaver loses three seniors—Domenica Gonzalez, Macarena Olivares and Eva Paalma—from the 2018 season in which the Aggies made a 19th consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament and finished 17-11 after advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Dorthea Faa-Hviding, Iulia Ivascu, Tatiana Makarova and Riley McQuaid will return for their 2018-19 sophomore campaigns.
Below are the TRN’s recruiting class spring rankings with point totals. First-place votes are in parentheses.
1. UCLA (10) 449
2. Texas A&M (6) 433
3. Texas Tech (1) 365
4. USC 362
5. LSU (2) 340
6. Georgia Tech 324
7. Georgia 322
8. Oklahoma 313
9. Stanford 299
10. Florida International 277
