Coming off of an ITA Kickoff Weekend tournament that saw the Aggies refuse to drop a point on their way to the championship, No. 2 Texas A&M women’s tennis looked to continue its momentum. The Aggies hosted the San Diego Toreros at the Mitchell Tennis Center, where they handed out several bagels on their way to a 6-1 victory.
The Maroon and White did not disappoint their home crowd, taking down USD 6-1 while dishing out three bagels in singles and a bagel in doubles to secure their 59th consecutive home victory.
Starting with doubles on Court 5, A&M’s junior Nicole Khirin and senior Jeanette Mireles displayed perfect chemistry, taking advantage of volley opportunities on their way to a convincing victory against San Diego’s sophomore Kristina Nordikyan and freshman Gabby Greg, 6-0.
Junior No. 102 Daria Smetannikov and junior 2024 doubles All-American Mia Kupres clinched the first point for the Maroon and White, never failing to hold serve to fend off USD’s freshman duo of Anni Puls and Hannah Read, 6-3.
“I’m very pleased with how we played throughout the match,” coach Mark Weaver said. “I was very pleased with the doubles combinations. We haven’t really been able to practice [with senior Mary Stoiana] and [sophomore Lucciana Perez] much at all. Lu’s actually been pretty sick all week, so to her credit, she came out very strong today in both the doubles and the singles. Mary and Lu played one pro event back in the fall and played quite well together. We definitely have a couple different options for the doubles lineups, and I was very pleased with how we performed in the doubles on all three courts.”
Moving on to singles on Court 2, Khirin was first to strike for the Aggies, dropping just one game to senior Claudia Heras, 6-0, 6-1.
Court 6 was no different as Reed displayed incredible skills at the net. Utilizing big serves and slices, Reed was able to keep Greg on the move around the court, resulting in the third point for the Aggies, 6-4, 6-0.
Perez seized A&M’s fourth point of the day, breaking Puls a total of six times on her way to a straight-sets victory, 6-0, 6-1.
Finishing up her match on Court 5, Smetannikov took on Read. While Smetannikov has been in good form recently, she was broken in both sets which resulted in a straight sets win for Read, 4-6, 4-6.
Kupres showed relentlessness in her match on Court 3, staying consistent with her backhand and lasering forehands that sparked a comeback. After dropping the first set, she fought back to win the second in great fashion. In the tiebreak, she left it all out there and got the win, 4-6, 6-2, 10-6.
Court 1 was a similar story, as the 2024 ITA National Player of the Year, Stoiana, took the court against USD’s redshirt senior Kailey Evans. This match was a back-and-forth battle as, after dropping the first set, Stoiana showed why she is ranked No. 3 in the country, securing the second set and then winning the tiebreak in smooth fashion, 4-6, 6-2, 10-4.
“Throughout the season, each match has gotten a little more challenging,” Weaver said. “Our opponents have gotten stronger and stronger. So overall, I’ll take a 6-1 win against a very good San Diego team, which is a team we actually lost to last year. So obviously, they’re capable of performing at a high level. I don’t know that we necessarily played our best tennis all throughout the six courts, but we found ways to get ourselves back in the matches we were down in.”
The Aggies will be back in action on Sunday, Feb. 2 at 1 p.m. when they host Sam Houston at the Mitchell Tennis Center.
