Texas A&M women’s tennis junior Mary Stoiana took home the ITA All-American Championships singles crown after defeating Miami junior Alexa Noel on Sunday, Oct. 8.
Stoiana was seeded second in the tournament. She began her run with wins over North Carolina State senior Sophie Abrams and Oklahoma State junior Ange Oby Kajuru, both in three sets. Stoiana followed that up with straight set wins over SEC foes Georgia junior Dasha Vidmanova and South Carolina junior Sarah Hamner.
Noel took the first set of the final 6-3. Stoiana was able to rally back, winning the second set in a tiebreaker (7-6(5)) before dominating the last set 6-1 to become the first Aggie to win the tournament title.
“I played Alexa [Noel] last year in our match against Miami so I know she’s a very talented player,” Stoiana told 12thman.com. “I just made sure to focus on my tennis and really flipped the match around after the first set and took it point-by-point.”
Stoiana and teammate sophomore Mia Kupres also had a run to the semifinals in doubles play, taking down the defending NCAA doubles champions out of North Carolina before falling to an Oklahoma duo of senior Dana Guzman and junior Alina Shcherbinina.
Aggie women’s tennis will return at the ITA Texas Regional in Waco, Texas on Oct. 12.