The No. 3 Texas A&M women’s tennis team traveled to play Rice in Houston at the George R. Brown Tennis Center before heading up to Seattle on Saturday, Feb. 4.
“Overall, very pleased with today’s performance,” coach Mark Weaver said to 12thMan.com.
Doubles partners and graduates Jayci Goldsmith and Salma Ewing as well as the freshman-and-sophomore combination of Mia Kupres and Gianna Pielet earned the doubles point for the Aggies with scores of 6-4 and 6-2.
The doubles match that did not finish was senior Carson Branstine and sophomore Mary Stoiana who were ahead 6-5 by the time of the clinched doubles point.
The highest-ranked singles court, featuring Branstine and her blue opponent sophomore Allison Zipoli, was obtained by the maroon and white.
“We had a great crowd out today and there was a lot of maroon and white in the stands supporting us, we are very thankful for the 12th Man,” Weaver said to 12thMan.com.
Ewing consistently overcame her opponent in the Owls’ Moroccan fifth-year Diae El Jardi by results of 6-3 and 6-2.
Kupres went against a significantly older opponent in fifth-year Sydney Berlin. The Aggie defeated the Owl 6-4 and 6-2.
Connecticut born Stoiana won out against the Italian junior Federica Trevisan with scores of 6-2 and 6-0.
On the Barbara and David Gibbs Court, two freshmen rallied. Daria Smetannikov played for the maroon and white while Belgian Marte Lambrecht battled for the blue. Smetannikov conquered Lambrecht.
After a rocky start to her singles match, Goldsmith secured the clean sweep of seven points for A&M with results of 2-6, 6-2 and 6-4 over the English senior Maria Budin.
“This was our first true road match and to come down to Rice and beat them 7-0, I couldn’t be happier with the group,” Weaver said to 12thMan.com.
Aggie women’s tennis will fly to Seattle to compete in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships that start on Friday, Feb. 10 against a to be announced opponent. The tournament will play through the weekend, and the final will take place on Monday, Feb 13, at 12 p.m. PST or 2 p.m. CST.
