Since the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, No. 14 Texas A&M women’s tennis struck a four-game win streak until Thursday’s meet in their first SEC bout of the season in Auburn, Alabama. After A&M’s 4-2 defeat to No. 29 Auburn (14-2, 2-0) Thursday, A&M, however, redeemed their earlier loss by defeating the No. 38 Crimson Tide (4-6, 0-2 SEC) Saturday afternoon.
Domenica Gonzalez and Ines Deheza were the only Aggies to come away with a victory against Auburn Thursday in their singles competitions. A&M (9-4, 1-1 SEC) lost three other singles matches as Auburn dominated doubles, nearly sweeping the category with two wins and one match left unfinished.
Despite the clear advantage over A&M in the event, Auburn head coach Lauren Spencer told auburntigers.com that the week was stressful trying to figure out Auburn’s doubles in preparation for the match.
“We decided we needed to break everyone up and it brought a fresh attitude to our team,” Spencer said. “This was a very talented team and we knew we would have to fight… We know that we can be a top 25 team, but we also know that it won’t be given to us. We are going to have to fight for it.”
Part of A&M’s bounce back from Thursday’s meet was an improved performance in doubles competition from the pairs of Paalma/Pierson and Deheza/Gonzalez. Paalma and Pierson were able to capture a victory by a 6-3 finish, while Deheza and Gonzalez swept their competition 6-0.
“It was an excellent win for a variety of reasons,” Texas A&M head coach Mark Weaver said to 12thman.com. “We bounced back from a tough loss to Auburn, and we came out and played perhaps our best match of the year.”
A&M’s return to action Saturday proved successful with the Crimson Tide’s Erin Routliffe to be the only player to walk away with a Alabama point for the day. As for Rutuja Bhosale and Ines Deheza, they propelled to capture their singles match victories for the Aggies. No. 53 Saska Gavrilovska, who was defeated by Auburn’s No. 32 Andie Dikosavljevic, was able to take a singles win over No. 38 Andie Daniell.
“We were winning quite easily for the most part, and to Alabama’s credit, they hung in there and things started to get a little tight and interesting towards the end,” Weaver said via 12thman.com. “Saska did a great job of closing it out for us today when the overall match was on the line.”
