After over a day’s worth of postponements due to weather, the No. 4 ranked Texas A&M women’s tennis team rallied in the overcast weather on Sunday, Jan. 29, against Florida Atlantic.
“I thought our group handled the conditions really well, it’s hard to come out and play great tennis after sitting around for 48 hours,” coach Mark Weaver said to 12thMan.com.
On Court 1, doubles partners sophomore Mary Stoiana and senior Carson Branstine overcame their opponents senior Martina Kudelova and freshman Carla Galmiche 6 games to 0.
Freshman Mia Kupres and sophomore Gianna Pielet also defeated their Owl opponents with a score of 6-1 and earned the Aggies their doubles point.
After achieving their doubles point, the maroon and white moved onto the singles matches which featured three victorious Aggies.
Sophomore Jeanette Mireles secured the win for the Aggies with scores of 6-0 and 6-2, and also the fourth and final point for the night. Florida Atlantic will return to Boca Raton, Fla. with no points.
Graduate Jayci Goldsmith overcame the Owls’ redshirt sophomore Amber McGinnis 6-1 and 6-0 to get the first singles point for A&M.
Scoring similarly, Stoiana received her singles point for the team with final results of 6-0 and 6-1 over the red, blue and silver.
To continue the ITAKickoff weekend, the Fightin’ Farmers took on the University of Florida on Monday, Jan. 30 with a 1 p.m. first serve time. The match was played in Waco at the Hurd Tennis Center due to more inclement weather.
The National Team Indoor Championship trip was up for grabs for the Aggies and the Gators as they traveled to Baylor Bear territory.
“We had home court advantage taken away from us today due to weather, so we headed to a neutral indoor site which really changed the feel of the match,” Weaver said to 12thMan.com. “However, we battled hard and found a way to get the job done.”
The three courts of doubles partners remained the same as the opponent changed from Sunday’s match up to Monday’s.
Branstine and Stoiana won their match against the blue and orange’s first pair in senior Carly Briggs and sophomore Alicia Dudeney which resulted in a 6-4 victory.
Pielet and Kupres claimed the doubles point for the Aggies with the same margin of victory as the previously won doubles match.
The Gators tied the overall score up to 1-1 as Goldsmith fell 6-1 and 6-3 to junior Sara Dahlstrom.
Roughly 15 minutes later, Aggie graduate Salma Ewing brought the maroon and white into the lead with a score of 2-1 due to her 6-4 and 6-1 results.
Florida regained a tie with a win over Mireles, but, soon after, Branstine pushed A&M ahead with a win making the overall team score 3-2.
A&M is headed to Seattle for the indoor championship as Stoiana took the win on her court to increase the team score to 4-2 over the Gators.
“I call that a great team win in a high-quality college tennis match,” Weaver said to 12thMan.com.
The maroon and white will play next in Houston against the Rice Owls on Saturday, Feb. 4, at 11 a.m.