There was a moment in No. 2 Texas A&M women’s tennis’ four-hour marathon of a match against No. 10 Tennessee in the NCAA Quarterfinals that looked worrying for the Aggie fans in attendance.
After the Lady Vols took the doubles point and the Aggies lost the first set in three of the six singles matches, the chances of A&M claiming back-to-back national championships seemed to dim.
But as the day stretched into the evening and the sun descended over Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, it was junior Mia Kupres who — despite a late lightning delay in her third set — clinched the win for the Aggies in a 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 thriller over the Lady Vols’ junior Leyla Britez Risso.
“Just a lot of pressure on my match, I was kind of feeling it, and then the delay gave me a chance to find some clarity,” Kupres said. “And I think I came out just playing more aggressive and decisive tennis. Yeah, I think that definitely helped me get over the finish line in the end.”
FINAL: A&M 4, Tennessee 2
Mia Kupres clinches the win for @AggieWTEN as they advance to the NCAA Semifinals on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/IbP6Vj18Jo
— Ian Curtis (@Texiancurtis) May 16, 2025
A&M once again went into the match with the same doubles pairings it debuted against Quinnipiac in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. Senior Mary Stoiana and Kupres took on the Lady Vols’ duo of juniors Catherine Aulia and Britez Risso.
Although the pairings ended their NCAA Tournament undefeated streak, they’d already defeated the Lady Vols after dropping the doubles point in the regular season.
“Having past success over Tennessee helps,” Stoiana said. “Obviously, we know every time we go up against them, it’s going to be a different kind of challenge. … We’re pretty much always trusting ourselves to go across the finish line in tough moments. So yeah, [we] definitely can draw on past experiences, we have that there.”
Stoiana and Kupres dominated close to the net, forcing the Lady Vols into sending multiple shots wide and into the net after back-and-forth rallies in the frontcourt. They dished a bagel, taking their doubles match, 6-0.
After A&M’s pair of sophomore Lucciana Perez and junior Nicole Khirin were soundly defeated 6-1 on Court 5, the critical doubles point came down to a fight on Court 3.
Junior Daria Smetannikov and freshman Lexington Reed were forced to battle back after going down early against Tennessee’s senior Elza Tomaze and freshman Saray Yli-Piipari.
After rallying back to take the lead 4-3, all other doubles action had ceased and a roaring contingent of the 12th Man, which had made the drive north up Highway 6 from Aggieland, focused its sole attention on the pairs.
The Aggie duo seized the momentum and took the next game, tying everything up at 4. That didn’t stop the Lady Vols, who rallied back to make the score 5-4 after a 40-40 point held every eye in Hurd Tennis Center focused on the court.
The final point was much less cinematic as Tennessee took the final game of doubles play, 40-0, to put the team from Rocky Top on top, 1-0 headed into singles play.
A&M took a crushing blow to start singles play after Stoiana took a tumble in the first game of her singles match, leaving her to be looked at by the Aggie training staff before returning to her match.
Texas A&M’s #1 Mary Stoina took a tumble a couple points into her singles match.
She’s taking a MTO for what appears to be her ankle. pic.twitter.com/98TdETs7YJ
— John (@JTweetsTennis) May 15, 2025
In the meantime, Khirin was able to put the Aggies on the board with their first singles point of the day, thanks to an easy 6-2, 6-2 victory over Tennessee’s Aulia on Court 2.
Thankfully for the 12th Man in attendance, Stoiana was able to recover and take not just the injury-interrupted first game of her match, but the point as well. She won a close set over Tomaze 7-5, before dominating the second set 6-2, giving the Aggies a 2-1 lead over the Lady Vols.
“At first it was a shock,” Stoiana said. “You never know what it’s going to be like right away. But then we got it taped up, and after a couple of games, I knew it was nothing too serious.”
The day’s result came down to the third set in Waco, with four of the six singles matches making it to three sets.
Reed finished first as she took down Tennessee’s Yli-Piipari 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. She clinched the match by letting a high-arching looping shot from the Lady Vol fall beyond the baseline, putting A&M up 3-1.
With Reed’s win, the Fightin’ Farmers needed just one of the three remaining matches to fall their way.
Perez was up 4-3 (40-15) in her third set when the lightning delay struck. But it wasn’t the Peruvian who would clinch the win for the Aggies as she ended up falling in her match 3-6, 7-5, 5-7.
It wouldn’t matter as Kupres managed to clinch the Aggies’ spot in the NCAA Semifinals.
“It was high level tennis, but the composure was off the charts by us, every single point,” coach Mark Weaver said. “I just truly believe we were locked in mentally, and that’s been one of our kind-of challenges from the coaching staff with our players. They really embraced it today.”
At 1 p.m. on Saturday, A&M will face the winner of No. 3 Michigan and Oklahoma State for a spot in the NCAA Championship match.
