After an incredible season in Southeastern Conference play that saw No. 2 Texas A&M women’s tennis lose just one of its 14 matchups, it all came down to one final match as the Aggies hosted the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs at the Mitchell Tennis Center with the SEC regular season title on the line.

After dropping the doubles point and several matches going the distance, the Aggies were able to dig deep and demonstrate immaculate mental toughness to take down the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs and claim their fourth-straight SEC regular season championship, 4-3. 

“Georgia played a really good doubles point,” coach Mark Weaver said. “They always play very good doubles, they are one of the best in the nation at it. I thought we played pretty well in doubles, they came up with the big points though.” 

Beginning with doubles play on Court 3, the Aggies’ duo of junior Daria Smetannikov and 2024 doubles All-American junior Mia Kupres were not able to overcome the power and consistency of the Bulldogs’ No. 17 duo of senior Guillermina Grant and junior Anastasiia Lopata. While many games went the distance, it was the Bulldogs that seemed to always come out on top as they took the victory, 6-1. 

Court 5 was a different story for the Maroon and White. A&M’s pair of junior Nichole Khirin and freshman Lexington Reed were on a mission from the baseline and net. Incredible skills were on display as Georgia’s No. 90 duo of sophomore Aysegul Mert and freshman Hayden Mulberry were not able to keep up, 6-2.

All eyes were focused on Court 1, where two top-40 duos in the country, Aggies’ No. 38 duo of senior Mary Stoiana and sophomore Lucciana Perez and the  Bulldogs’ No. 5 duo of senior Dasha Vidmanova and senior Mell Reasco, faced off.

An early break from Georgia forced A&M to play catch-up, but the set was far from over. It seemed that an unstoppable force met an immovable object as many long and exhausting rallies took place. Net brilliance and effort from the Aggies gave no easy points, but a couple of errors at the wrong time led to their downfall, 6-3. 

Moving on to singles matches on Court 6, A&M’s freshman Lexington Reed has proven to be lethal and reliable. She was able to stay consistent and return balls with power that forced Georgia’s junior Sofia Rojas into baseline errors. After breaking twice in the first set and another time in the second, Reed walked away with a comfortable win, 6-3, 6-3. 

Smetannikov fought hard and showed flashes of talent on Court 5 against No. 91 Grant but ultimately fell. While she was able to return consistently, costly errors on her serve in the open court led to a double break in the first set and another to close out the second point for the Bulldogs, 6-2, 6-3.

A contrast of play styles clashed on Court 2 between No. 14 Khirin and No. 55 Lopata. While Khirin primarily played from the baseline, Lopata loved going to the net to volley easy points away. The Bulldog prevailed in the first set before Khirin excelled in the second to set up a nail-biting deciding set. 

The last set began with excruciating rallies that had both players winded. Exceptional ball-striking was presented as bullets flew back and forth. While Khirin’s consistency was high in the second set, some errors on her serve allowed Lopata to break and snatch the Bulldogs’ third point of the day, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. 

Court 1 featured a battle of the countries’ top-ranked singles players as No. 1 Vidmanova and No. 2 Stoiana faced off in a fiercely competitive match. A combination of baseline brilliance, backhand-to-backhand rallies and remarkable net game led to both teams holding serve that set up a tiebreak. After rallying back and forth, Stoiana captured a mini-break with a forehand down the line, ultimately leading to a first-set win.

The second set was a thriller as both players once again refused to give up serve, giving the fans another grueling tiebreak. Both held serve before Vidmanova took a mini-break. However, Stoiana is a master of digging deep when it matters the most. She not only recovered, but was also able to break on match point, 7-6, 7-6.

The Aggies were able to equalize the score on Court 3 due to stellar play from No. 68 Kupres. After a heartbreaking loss in a first-set tiebreak, Kupres played to her strengths and pushed Reasco around the court. After dominating in the second set, she would eventually win in three, 6-7, 6-1, 6-3. 

“All the girls really stepped up on the biggest stage,” Weaver said. “They showed incredible fight and incredible composure, something we have spoken a lot about with the team in recent weeks. I think we dug deep and really handled ourselves well in some tough situations.”

It all came down to the deciding point on Court 4 between No. 51 Perez and No. 42 Mert. After Perez dominated in a first-set tiebreak, Mert came back with a vengeance to take the match to a thrilling third set.

Perez broke twice and was up 5-2 with match point before Merit displayed mental toughness to fight back. After Merit tied it, Perez took them to a final-set tiebreak, where she once again arose to the occasion. After outlasting Merit in the tiebreak, she gave the Aggies their fourth point to seal the win, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6.

“Incredible heart by Lucciana,” Weaver said. “She was challenging her mind and her body on every single point and, really, I think her heart is what got her across the finish line. She’s so tough and has the heart of a champion. She did such a great job of bouncing back and staying in the moment to find a way to get across the finish line. There’s a lot of pressure on everyone out there because this is about the biggest stage you have to perform on, but all the credit to Lucciana for getting us to the four points out there.”

The Aggies will be back in action when they play in the SEC Tournament on Friday, April 18. Their opponent and time is yet to be determined.