After an incredible display of talent saw No. 1 Texas A&M women’s tennis sweep the No. 14 Texas Longhorns in the quarterfinals, the Aggies found a new test against the No. 6 Auburn Tigers in the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Auburn, Alabama.
Failing to get the doubles point didn’t stop the Aggies from giving their heart in every match. Baseline strokes and defense were the keys in this matchup, as Auburn struggled to keep consistency up and errors down. Huge singles wins propelled A&M into the SEC Tournament final, 4-3.
“I’m really proud of the team’s win today,” junior Mia Kupres said. “It was a great comeback victory from us. To lose a very tough doubles point, then go down on a lot of singles courts, just for so many of the girls to crawl back and never stop fighting just shows the grit our team has. I’m really proud of how the team played and am super excited for the final tomorrow.”
Beginning with doubles play on Court 3, the Aggies’ duo of junior Nichole Khirin and freshman Lexington Reed had their consistency tested by the Tigers’ sophomore Ava Esposito and freshman Maria Garcia.
Exhausting baseline rallies had both teams winded after constant bullets were fired at each other. The key for the Maroon and White were big time serves that allowed them to take advantage of the tired Tigers on return. After a break of serve late in the set, Khirin and Reed would prevail 6-4.
Court 1 saw A&M’s No. 35 duo of senior Mary Stoiana and sophomore Lucciana Perez struggle to find a rhythm against Auburn’s junior DJ Bennett and graduate Ava Hrastar. Errors on serves and baseline strokes forced them to give up serve twice. While displaying great effort, they were unable to find a solution, and the Tigers took the victory 6-2.
A thriller of a set took place on Court 2 between A&M’s junior pair of Daria Smetannikov and Kupres and Auburn’s junior Angella Okutoyi and freshman Merna Refaat. After the Tigers broke early in the set, the Aggies fought back with a combo of down-the-line shots and overhead smashes to get back on serve.
This all led to a tiebreak where Auburn took the first five points and left the Aggies in shambles. Although Kupres and Smetannikov fought back, they were ultimately downed 7(7)-6(5).
Singles play began going the Aggies way.
On Court 2, No. 17 Khirin was simply dominant. Her playstyle of hard hitting from the baseline perfectly countered No. 59 Okutoyi’s softer baseline play. Khirin fired to both corners of the court on her serve and return, and after bageling in the first set, she would go on to victory in straight sets, 6-0, 6-3.
Court 3 saw another A&M dominant performance from No. 72 Kupres. Her heavy-topspin forehand punished No. 79 Hrastar during the rally, while her down-the-middle serves punished her on the return. Because Kupres couldn’t miss, she kept Hrastar on defense and got every shot she wanted. After dropping just three total games, Kupres sealed the match with another ace down the middle, 6-2, 6-1.
Auburn freshman Alice Battesti played some incredible tennis on Court 6. While Reed struggled to get her ground strokes going, Battesti capitalized and broke twice in the first set and again in the second to take the victory, 6-1, 6-3.
No. 2 Stoiana encountered problems in her matchup against No. 4 Bennett. While her volleys and net game were intact, her baseline shots had trouble with errors and flow.
After dropping serve twice in the first set, she made a point to push toward the net more. While her play improved, errors ultimately derailed her success, as Bennett broke again at the end of the set to prevail 6-1, 6-4.
The Aggies needed a comeback if they wanted to advance to the SEC Tournament final, and there’s no better person to start that than No. 51 Perez. After dropping her first set to No. 57 Refaat, Perez began to fire shots from inside the baseline. Her forehands and backhands seemed to get faster every time, and Refaat struggled to contain them. Perez bageled the second set.
Playing immaculate defense, Refaat struggled to get any points on the return and eventually dropped serve. An error from Refaat sealed the win for the Maroon and White, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2.
Court 5 at first seemed to be going all the Tigers’ way, as Smetannikov struggled to contain the left-handed Esposito’s serve and strokes. After what seemed like countless errors, Smetannikov dropped the first set. However, getting into a groove helped her power and consistency, and she began firing to both sides of the court. Hardened defense also played a role, as after taking the second set, she would break twice to steal the win for the Aggies, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
A&M will be back in action when it takes on No. 2 Georgia in the final of the SEC Tournament on Saturday, April 20, at 12 p.m.
