The new No. 2 Texas A&M women’s tennis won 5-1 over their next opponent in Northwestern on Monday, Feb. 27, in Orlando, Fla. at the USTA National Campus to wrap up a series of three games at the facility. This victory comes after defeating the former No. 2, Ohio State. The maroon and white currently have a .857 percentage of wins against ranked opponents.
“This has been a highly productive trip for us, and we have gained some great experience as we will be striving to make a run for the national title come May,” coach Mark Weaver said to 12thMan.com.
The No. 34 doubles pairings of graduates Jayci Goldsmith and Salma Ewing played against the Wildcats’ senior Briana Crowley and sophomore Sydney Pratt, as well as sophomore Gianna Pielet and freshman Mia Kupres who rallied with junior Maria Shusharina and sophomore Kiley Rabjohnswith secured the doubles point for the Aggies.
The No. 10 pairing’s action that ended with the earning of the point was senior Carson Branstine and sophomore Mary Stoiana who were in the lead over senior Christina Hand and sophomore Justine Leong when the match was called off. Branstine and Stoiana as a pair have yet to be defeated as doubles partners. This doubles point added to the streak of now two doubles points in a row after losing their only one to FIU on Feb. 24.
No. 121 Kupres won 6-2 and 6-4 over No. 99 Hand to get the first singles point for the Aggies, as well as to stay undefeated in singles this season. The maroon and white’s Ewing lost her singles match to the purple and white’s Leong by records of 6-1 and 6-2 putting the first point for the Wildcats on the board.
“I credit Northwestern for putting up a good fight for us,” Weaver said to 12thMan.com. “They made us work for it and we will be better off because of it.”
Winning by the same score in two sets of 6-3, Stoiana defeated Shusharina to make the score 3-1. To close out the match, No. 68 freshman Daria Smetannikov and sophomore Jeannette Mireles won their matches. Smetannikov defeated Pratt 7-5 and 6-3, and Mireles overcame Rabjohns 6-1 and 7-6(4).
A&M, so far this season, only lost one match on Courts 3 through 5. Specifically, on Court 4, the Aggies have held the a .900 winning percentage. That is the highest percentage of all the courts for the maroon and white.
The Aggies will stay in Florida but make their way to Gainesville to play the newly demoted No. 24 Florida on Friday, March 3, at 4 p.m. Fans can watch at FloridaGators.com. The Aggies played the Gators last on Jan. 30 and defeated them 4-2 after a consistent back-and-forth match brought to a winning close for the maroon and white by Stoiana.
“This has also been great preparation as we head into our opening weekend of SEC play,” Weaver said to 12thMan.com.