The No. 2 Texas A&M women’s tennis team scored a win over conference opponent No. 38 South Carolina on Sunday, March 5, in Columbia, South Carolina with a final score of 4-1.
The maroon and white wrapped up its road trip with an overall record of 5-0 and 2-0 in conference play.
On Court 1, the duo of sophomore Mary Stoiana and senior Carson Branstine struck first for the Aggies, winning the first doubles match against another sophomore and senior combo in South Carolina’s Sarah Hammer and Ayana Akli. Stoiana and Branstine continued their undefeated doubles streak with a 6-2 victory.
Following a loss on Court 3 by doubles partners sophomores Jeanette Mireles and Gianna Pielet, the doubles point came down to the wire. A&M’s duo of graduates Jayci Goldsmith and Salma Ewing battled close sets against South Carolina’s freshman Alice Otis and sophomore Gracie Mulville on Court 2. After the Aggies were up 4-2 initially, Otis and Mulville were able to close the distance with a 5-4 set advantage over the maroon and white. However, Goldsmith and Ewing stormed back and clinched a tiebreaker victory with a 7-6 win to secure A&M’s double point.
From there, five of the six players from doubles stayed on the courts for singles. Freshman Daria Smetannikov came in to replace Pielet.
South Carolina evened the score at 1-1 due to an early injury to Branstine on Court 2 that resulted in a retirement from the match. However, Goldsmith scored an early singles point for the Fightin’ Farmers on Court 4. Pitted against senior Elise Mills from the Gamecocks, Goldsmith came out victorious with a 6-1, 7-6 set victory and upped the score to 2-1 for the Aggies.
Shortly after, A&M extended its lead to 3-1 following a singles point from Mireles on Court 5. In both of her sets, she won with ease with a 6-2 final score in both of her matches against South Carolina’s senior Ana Cruz.
Smetannikov tied up her single match against Gamecocks sophomore Misa Malkin, splitting her two sets with scores of 2-6 and 7-5. However, Ewing closed out Mulville in Court 3 to score A&M’s final point and secured the Aggies’ victory over South Carolina.
Coach Mark Weaver told 12thMan.com he was proud of the team and that he’s looking forward to coming back home for the next match.
“That’s another excellent win for our group today, it’s never easy to win in the SEC, especially in an SEC road match,” Weaver said. “I thought South Carolina put up a great fight today across the board, they played a terrific doubles point, which we were able to pull through and then battled well in singles. We’re all looking forward to getting home to Aggieland and then playing in front of the 12th Man this upcoming weekend.”
Next, the team will look to defend home court as it welcomes Arkansas on Friday, March 10, at 5 p.m. This will mark the first of four straight at home for the Aggies.