Make no mistake, No. 2 Texas A&M women’s tennis is focused on earning their second-straight national title as they take to the court at the Hurd Tennis Center in the NCAA Championship in Waco this week.
But before the matches begin, A&M has another quest to complete. After winning last year’s national championship, fueled by countless Starbucks trips over the course of the season, the team has made it a point to try a local coffee shop wherever they go.
“It’s such a great feeling, because we used to go to Starbucks all the time,” junior Daria Smetannikov said before A&M left for Waco on Monday afternoon. “I feel like now — nothing against Starbucks — but I feel like the local coffee shops, it’s just so fun to go as a team. And obviously the coffee there is better, in my opinion.”
With the on-court action reaching peak intensity late in the NCAA Tournament, the Aggies are relying on their camaraderie off the court to help them reach the top of the mountain once again.
“When you get to the later rounds and when you get to playing all the good teams, everyone’s good,” Smetannikov said. “It just really matters how you are as a team. And our team, genuinely all of us are best friends with each other. You can go to anyone and say anything. And I feel like when you have a team like that, it really plays a long factor [in] winning matches and such.”
It’s the special bond this team has built — one that’s been boosted by countless coffee shop trips and team movie nights far from the court — that’s aiding the Aggies’ in their quest to achieve their now-realistic goal.
“Achieving a national championship, that seems like such an unattainable goal to teams that haven’t done it before,” junior Mia Kupres said. “I know, even to me last year and the year before we did it, it felt like something that was so out of this world. But now all of us know that it’s really not. We are more than capable of doing that.”
At 4 p.m. on Thursday, A&M will face No. 10 Tennessee, a team the Aggies previously defeated 4-1 on the road in Southeastern Conference play this season.
Coach Mark Weaver said that while their prior match was indoors, there’s still plenty of lessons from that road trip that can be applied to Thursday’s action.
“It’s nice to know what we’re getting ourselves up against, just as far as overall how they compete as a team,” Weaver said. “And we do know most of their players individually pretty well. So it’s nice to have some familiarity with playing the team we know.”
After losing the doubles point in several regular-season matches, Weaver decided to shift the Aggies’ partners before the NCAA Tournament, pairing senior Mary Stoiana with Kupres, junior Nicole Khirin with sophomore Lucciana Perez and Smetannikov with freshman Lexington Reed.
So far it’s worked, as A&M has yet to drop a doubles point in its first three NCAA Tournament matches.
“I hate to say we had nothing to lose, because we actually have done pretty well in the doubles this season,” Weaver said. “ … It is a risk. [But] it looks like it’s been the right risk. We’ve played the doubles point tremendously in the NCAA Tournament. So far, I would say we’ve played better doubles in the last three matches than we have for the majority of the season.”
A&M is grateful for its close proximity to Waco, as the hour-and-a-half drive makes the Maroon and White the closest team — the only one from the Lone Star State — remaining in the tournament.
“I think it’s going to be really fun because of the crowd,” Kupres said. “I’m sure we’ll get a lot of fans going down there. … Even in Stillwater last year, which was a much farther drive, we had tons of fans which I think really helped us get over the finish line in the final. So it’s going to be an awesome atmosphere for us.”
All the preparation — the bonding, the practices and the atmosphere — can only do so much at this stage of the season, Weaver said. In the end, the title is decided on the court.
“It’s not about trying to fix your forehand anymore, it’s just time to let the chips fall and go out and go after it, just go out there and take it,” Weaver said. “It’s sure not gonna be given to you.”
