It took two tries, but the Aggies have finally conquered the Bears.
It was the ninth straight win for the Aggies against Baylor University and the sixth straight at home victory for the Texas A&M women’s tennis team. Prior to Wednesday night, A&M had beaten both of its last two opponents in shut out style against Stephen F. Austin and Abilene Christian.
A&M has now improved to 8-3 on the season.
Doubles at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center was where Baylor quickly went 1-2-3 and did not allow Texas A&M a single court victory. The Bears rapidly clinched as the score turned to 1-0 Baylor.
Through singles Baylor once again scored first but then there was a comeback to tie it up with two crucial wins for A&M by Domenica Gonzalez and Ines Deheza in courts five and six respectively.
Rutuja Bhosale also played a pivotal role as she beat Baylor’s Kiah Generette giving A&M the lead 3-2 on court number three.
“After losing the doubles point was really hard because we were expecting to win the doubles point. Going into singles, I went into it without thinking of what just happened,” Bhosale said.
Just after that, Aggie junior Saska Gavrilovska was battling against Baylor’s Rhiann Newborn on the first court. This was the last court to be played while Gavrilovska got the win in straights sets 7-5 and 6-4. Court four where Aggie sophomore Eva Paalma was playing remained unfinished since it was finalized between both teams at 4-2 overall Texas A&M.
“It was a tough match. I for sure didn’t play my best today but you know, I was able to overcome that,” Gavrilovska said.
Feb. 24 was the last nonconference game for the Aggie women’s tennis team. Their first opponent in the SEC this year will be the Auburn Tigers that will be played at Auburn early next month.
Head coach Mark Weaver had several words to end this chapter of the season.
“In a way, it’s nice to get the nonconference out of the way. We’re off to round two and the good news is that we’re progressing as a team; we’re getting better and better everyday. It’s nice to move on from the first stage, and we’ve passed, and now it’s time to move onto the second phase,” Weaver said.
A&M will take on the Tigers Mar. 3 at 2 pm.