Texas A&M women’s tennis concluded a four-day tournament highlighted by a freshman winning second in the singles tournament.
Jeanette Mireles, a freshman from Houston, turned heads as she racked up two ranked wins in the H-E-B Invitational in Waco. Mireles took down Tulsa’s highest ranked player, No. 74 Laia Conde Monfort, by a score of 6-4, 6-1 on day two of the event. On day four she did it again, knocking off Baylor’s top player, No. 37 Mel Krywoj, 2-6, 6-3, 1-0 (8).
Mireles earned the second place spot after going 3-1 in singles play, falling behind Morgan Cross of Arkansas. Mireles was not a member on the ITA Division I women’s top 10 newcomers list, but was a top-30 recruit according to the Tennis Recruiting Network.
“I commend her on playing at a very high level today and beating an excellent, experienced collegiate talent,” A&M coach Mark Weaver said.
None of A&M’s three ranked players competed over the weekend, but the rest of the talent performed well. On day one, the Aggies faced off against the Arizona Wildcats. A&M athletes won three of the six singles matches, but swept the Wildcats in all three doubles matches.
Day two saw less success than the first. The Aggies faced Tulsa and lost in five of the six singles matches, the only win coming from Mireles. The maroon and white faced Arkansas in doubles and won two of the three matches.
On day three, A&M faced off with Arkansas in singles play, splitting the six matches. The team faced both Tulsa and Baylor in doubles and only won one of their six matches. The lone A&M doubles win came from sophomore Elise Robbins and freshman Kayal Gownder, who took down a Baylor duo 7-6 (3).
A&M took on Baylor in singles competition on day four and came out with only two wins out of six matches. The wins came at the hands of Mireles and Gownder, each in three-set matches. They also played Arizona in the doubles competition and swept the Wildcats in all three matches.
“Overall, it was a very good weekend of competitive tennis for our team,” Weaver said. “I think we played some pretty solid doubles over the course of the event. I switched up the pairings quite often to test the waters and the girls really adapted well to that.”
After a solid performance by the young A&M core, the Aggies don’t have to look too far for their next competition. They compete in the ITA All-American Championships Singles Qualifying Round of 64 on Monday, Oct. 4.
The event will take place in Charleston, S.C. and freshman Mary Stoiana, a top-five recruit, is expected to make her collegiate debut.