The No. 11 Texas A&M women’s tennis team served up a flawless performance against Rice, picking up a 7-0 win on Sunday, Feb. 18 at Mitchell Tennis Center.
After facing a tough loss away against No. 4 Georgia, the Aggies welcomed the opportunity for a home game.
“We’ve been on the road and playing indoors for about seven-eight days and we are glad to be home in Aggieland,” head coach Mark Weaver said.
In doubles, the No. 3 duo of junior Mary Stoiana and sophomore Mia Kupres showed out, besting senior Federica Trevisan and graduate student Chie Kezuka 6-3. Sophomore Nicole Khirin and fifth-year Sydney Fitch followed suit with an even better performance, winning 6-1 against freshman Nithesa Selvaraj and freshman Divna Ratkovic and putting the Aggies up 2-0 heading into singles.
No. 1 Stoiana demonstrated why she’s the best in the country by not dropping a single set in her second matchup versus Trevisan, winning 7-5 and 6-3. No. 32 Khirin shutout Ratkovic 6-0 in the first set but faltered in the second by losing 6-3. Khirin bounced back handedly and won the match with a 6-1 third set performance. The Maroon and White didn’t drop a single set from that point on.
No. 24 Kupres followed in her doubles partner Stoiana’s suit, keeping a clean slate in sets against Kezuka with victories of 6-2 and 6-4 respectively. Lucianna Perez faced a tough challenge in Saara Orav, winning the tie break 7-4 to prevail 7-6, but managed to finish the job 6-4 in the second. Daria Smetannikov blanked Nithesa Selvaraj in the first set 6-0 and took the second set handedly 6-2. Jeannette Mireles was tasked with securing the sweep and she delivered with a dominant performance against Anushka Ashar 6-0 and 6-3.
The Aggies return to the court on the road against the Baylor Bears at the Hurd Tennis Center on Sunday, Feb. 25.
