One win was not enough for Texas A&M’s equestrian team this weekend as the team goes into a tie-breaker against Fresno State in the doubleheader meet. After a shaky season-opening loss to Georgia, A&M recovered with back-to-back victories in Southern California.
Texas A&M (2-1) took to the road to face the Fresno State Bulldogs (3-4) Friday and the New Mexico State Aggies (2-4) Saturday evening. The Aggies finished the weekend with two more wins on their record.
Texas A&M first took on the border-state Aggies of New Mexico State at the meet. Anna Rea gave the Texas Aggies the early advantage with her equitation on the flat-high score. She earned the high score of 80 and the hunter seat competition ended with an A&M 6-1 victory, assisted by Marlena Parker.
Parker later helped the Aggies in an over fences shutout, claiming her second victory of the day. Rachel Hake, Alex Desiderio, and Haley Webster earned the remaining points to complete the 4-0 shutout. Webster caught MVP honors with an event-high, 83 points in the category.
Kaci Fisher was awarded MVP honors on her performance in horsemanship in the western division. Horsemanship rounded out its western performance by sweeping New Mexico State 8-0. Western also succeeded in reining with a 4-0 sweep led by Ashley Dotson, NCEA Reining Rider of the Month. Logan Pluhar captured victories in both western divisions. The Aggies finished their first competition with a 14-1 final score against NMSU.
The following day, the Aggies took on Fresno State in their second match of the meet. They struggled in the opening hunter seat competition. The Aggies were defeated in equitation on the flat 1-3, and later were again defeated in over fences competition 1-4.
The Aggies’ western division was able to bring back life for the team, with a 3-2 finish in horsemanship. Dotson helped gain a 2-0 lead before Pluhar and her opponent were given the chance of a redo after experiencing difficulties with their horse. After her redo, she edged out her opponent 68-67.5 to tie the overall standing score at 9-9.
With the score tied off of a Hollywood performance by Pluhar to bring the Aggies back, A&M was able to outscore the Bulldogs 1412.5-1383 in the nail-biting tiebreaker. Texas A&M equestrian head coach Tana McKay said she was proud of her team based on their efforts.
“A very solid win over New Mexico State started the day off on the right foot before our hard fought battle with Fresno State,” McKay said to 12thman.com. “Winning on the road is always tough, so it was nice to get a road win under our belt before we host a few teams at home.”
Texas A&M equestrian will return to action this upcoming Thursday to host the NCEA National Champion South Carolina Gamecocks. The Aggie home-opener will take place at 10 a.m. in College Station.
