Texas A&M’s No. 1 seed doubles pair Tatiana Makarova and Jayci Goldsmith made a finals run in the ITA Texas Regional main draw over the weekend before being defeated by Baylor’s No. 2 seed pair of Melany Krywoj and Alicia Herrero on Monday, Oct. 18.
The maroon and white duo beat teams from Texas Tech, Houston, Southern Methodist and Texas before losing the tournament’s final match in straight sets. A&M’s No. 6 seed pair of Gianna Pielet and Mary Stoiana won its first doubles match together Saturday with a win over UTSA’s Keegan McCain and Jasmin Starr, 8-3. The pair lost in the following round to No. 10 seed Baylor pair Paula Baranano and Ana Carmen Zamburek, 8-7(6).
A&M head coach Mark Weaver said he had praise for the freshman pair of Pielet and Stoiana.
“It was a good day for the Aggies,” Weaver told 12th Man. “Mary and Gianna played a very encouraging match, and we had it on our racket. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to convert on some match points in the tiebreaker. For their first collegiate matches together and Gianna’s first tournament, they played quite well together.”
In singles play, three Aggies made quarterfinal runs in the main draw. Pielet opened her collegiate career in the Singles Main competition with a Round 1 win over Emma Aucagne 6-4, 7-5 from A&M Corpus-Christi on Friday. She fell in the following round of 32 to SMU’s Lana Mavor 6-4, 7-5. No. 11 seed Stoiana opened with three straight wins defeating Martha Makantasi from Tarleton in the opening round 6-1, 6-1, Tech’s Metka Komac 6-1, 6-3 in the following round, and No. 3 seed Charlotte Chavatipon from Texas 6-1, 7-5 in the round of 16 on Saturday.
Graduate student and No. 1 seed Makarova had wins over Houston’s Azul Pedemonti 6-2, 6-1, and SMU’s Nicole Petchey 6-4, 6-3 on Friday. Makarova followed up with a win over Texas Tech’s Bojana Marinkov 6-3, 5-7, 10-8 on Saturday. Meanwhile, No. 8 seed senior Jayci Goldsmith opened her side of the bracket with wins over Lucie Devier of North Texas 6-2, 6-1, Kailey Evans from Texas Tech 6-4, 6-7(3), 11-9, and Hana Kvapilova of Texas State 6-1, 3-6, 10-6.
Weaver said he was satisfied with his team’s performance in the opening singles round on Friday.
“Overall, it was a good day for us since we went 7-1,” Weaver said. “Our last two matches came down to super-tiebreakers, and once a match gets to that point, it could go either way.”
The quarter finals round saw the final three Aggies fall as Goldsmith was defeated in her match by No. 2 seed Melany Krywoj of Baylor in straight sets 6-4, 6-3. Stoiana lost her match to No. 15 seed Malika Rapolu of Texas 4-6, 7-5, 10-2, and Makarova fell to No. 9 seed Alicia Herrero Linana of Baylor, who went on to place second in the Singles tournament.
The team is set to compete next at the Rice Invitational in Houston on Friday, Oct. 29.
