There’s something about No. 9 Texas A&M women’s tennis playing teams sporting purple.
A week after beating Abilene Christian 7-0 and a day removed from sweeping Northwestern, the Maroon and White continued their dominance against the purple and white with a 4-0 win over TCU on Sunday, Jan. 28.
The Aggies took the doubles point with ease before three match victories secured two wins in the ITA Kickoff Weekend at the Mitchell Tennis Center. By the time A&M finalized its victory in singles, all but one player was leading on their court.
The Aggies continued to reap the benefits of their home-court advantage as they captured their 45th win in a row in College Station. The “Mitchell Maniacs” made their presence felt throughout the match with cheers, or, in the Horned Frogs’ case, jeers.
Junior Mary Stoiana and sophomore Mia Kupres lived up to their No. 3 doubles ranking with a 6-1 defeat of graduate Chiho Mushika and sophomore Yu-Chin Tsai. A few minutes later, Stoiana and Kupres got to watch fifth-year Sydney Fitch and sophomore Daria Smetannikov pick up the doubles point with a 6-1 victory of their own.
In singles action, Stoiana picked up right where she left off as she made quick work of senior Isabel Pascual. The nation’s No. 1 singles player didn’t drop a set in her 6-0, 6-0 win. The No. 26 Kupres followed her lead against a ranked opponent, taking down No. 53 Destinee Martins, 6-3, 6-3.
Ten minutes later, freshman Lucciana Perez made a late push against Tsai, taking her down 6-3, 6-4 and locking up A&M’s trip to the ITA Indoor Championships in Seattle for the seventh time.
“I am very pleased with our performance today,” coach Mark Weaver said. “We get better with every match and TCU is a good team and we handled them decisively.”
Before A&M heads to the Pacific Northwest, it’ll make a trip to South Beach for a Friday, Feb. 2 contest against Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Aggies are 4-0 all-time against the Hurricanes, who are 1-2 this season.
A&M aims to continue its ITA success on Feb. 9-12. Last season, it fell in the tournament semifinals to No. 2 North Carolina, who went on to win the national title.
“We are excited to go back to Seattle and our ultimate goal is to win a national championship here and that’s another opportunity for us,” Weaver said.
