The No. 6 Texas A&M women’s tennis team ended the regular season undefeated in SEC play after defeating Missouri by a score of 4-0 on Sunday, April 17. With the win, the newly crowned SEC champion Aggies are now the first team in program history to record 27 wins in a season, finish a season undefeated in conference play and claim sole ownership of the SEC championship since A&M joined the conference back in 2012.
In the match against Missouri, the Aggies got hot quickly in doubles play. Across the three courts, A&M only allowed two points to be scored by the Tigers, including the duo of junior Carson Branstine and freshman Mary Stoiana shutting out their opponent. Over the span of 28 matches this season, the Aggies won the doubles point a total of 26 times.
With an early 1-0 lead, the Aggies continued to control the pace heading into singles. Branstine and graduate Tatiana Makarova secured the next two points for A&M, quickly leading to a 3-0 lead.
The point that secured the undefeated SEC season came at the hands of Stoiana. With her victory over Missouri junior Elys Ventura, Stoiana capped off an incredible regular season freshman campaign. Along with being ranked as high as 63rd nationally, Stoiana was able to gain recognition as the SEC Freshman of the Week on four separate occasions over the course of the season. Stoiana has proven to be a huge part of the success seen this season for the Aggies, as she was able to rattle off tough victories against ranked opponents throughout the year, including then-No. 51 California freshman Jessica Alsola during the sole loss of the season for A&M.
The remaining matches went unfinished, and the day would end with A&M winning by a final score of 4-0.
What A&M accomplished this season is unparalleled to any other team in program history, but there is still work to be done with both the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament still to be played.
“It has just been an amazing regular season,” coach Mark Weaver told 12thman.com. “To finish the regular season with the most wins in program history, those are the sorts of things that you dream of as a head coach. I’m scared to wake up and realize that it was all a dream, but this thing really did happen. We have such an awesome group of tennis players. We need to enjoy this moment and then get ready to get back to work next week.”
As the top seed in the SEC Tournament, the Aggies have earned the right to a first round bye and will face the winner of nine-seed Ole Miss and eight-seed Vanderbilt on Friday, April 22, at 11 a.m. at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville, Fla.