Texas A&M women’s tennis is still on its quest for a national title, but several players have already captured hardware to take home.
Junior Mary Stoiana, the top-ranked player in the nation, achieved SEC Player of the Year status for the second season in a row while Lucciana Perez was named the conference’s Freshman of the Year. Sophomores Nicole Khirin and Mia Kupres also joined Stoiana as First Team All-SEC recipients.
The conference announced the awards on Wednesday, April 24, which are voted on by the SEC’s 14 coaches. They are not allowed to vote for their own players.
A year removed from being the first Aggie to be named SEC Player of the Year, Stoiana became the conference’s first player to win the honor back-to-back since 2016. She went 19-2 in singles action, including an 11-1 mark in SEC play. The Connecticut product picked up six wins over top-40 opponents and two top-10 victories.
Stoiana became the conference’s winningest player for the second year in a row. She formed the country’s No. 7 doubles tandem alongside Kupres, going 6-1 against SEC opponents, featuring four ranked wins.
A native of Lima, Peru, Perez earned the program’s first Freshman of the Year accolade. She put together a 10-3 record in conference play, tied for the most wins by a freshman and on the highest-ranked courts. Perez teamed up with junior Jeanette Mireles for six doubles victories and made Second Team All-SEC plus the All-Freshman team.
Khirin went 10-1 in SEC singles matches in addition to an appearance in the Billie Jean King Cup as a representative of Israel. She coupled with fifth-year Sydney Fitch in doubles, where they led the Aggies with nine wins and two losses.
Kupres built on her 2023 Second Team All-SEC and All-Freshman selections with an upgrade to First Team. In addition to being a doubles force with Stoiana, she brought an 8-2 mark to Court 3 in singles.
A&M now turns to the NCAA Tournament, with its opponents and location for the first two rounds being announced on Monday, April 29 at 5:30 p.m. Individual championship competitors will be released on Tuesday, April 30.
