The Texas A&M women’s tennis team had players advance to the Singles Round of 32 and Doubles Round of 16 in the NCAA Individual Championships at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Champaign, Ill., on May 23 and 24.
Despite its loss to No. 2 Oklahoma in the NCAA National Quarterfinals on May 20, the Aggies have another chance to bring home some hardware with junior Carson Branstine, senior Jayci Goldsmith and graduate Tatiana Makarova competing.
No. 24 Makarova moved onto the Round of 32 for the first time in her career after defeating Ohio State’s No. 13 Irina Cantos with 6-3 and 6-0 scores. Eighth-ranked Branstine came up short against Virginia’s No. 44 Natasha Subhash by scores of 7-5 and 6-2. With her win on Monday, Marakova moved to a 32-3 record in singles and 5-2 in tournament matches. Branstine finishes the season with a 17-9 record and 14 ranked wins.
A&M head coach Mark Weaver seemed impressed with Makarova’s performance while commenting on Branstine’s defeat.
“Tatiana [Makarova] had an excellent showing today against Ohio State star Irina Cantos Siemers,” Weaver said. “To be a seeded individual, that decisively is very impressive to say the least. Tatiana [Makarova] will have an opportunity on Tuesday to become the first player in program history to claim All-America honors in both singles and doubles twice. Meanwhile, Carson [Branstine] had a tough one today. There were a ton of no-ad[vantage] games that didn’t go her way, which ultimately made the difference in her match. Overall, I’m proud of the effort that both of our players put in today.”
Makarova’s run came to an end on Tuesday after dropping a 6-2, 6-4 match to No. 55 Fiona Crawley from North Carolina. The first match saw a 2-2 score, but Crawley won the next four games to secure the first set. Makarova continued to fight, bringing the score tied at 4-4 during the second match, but Cawley took the next two sets to win the match.
The Moscow, Russia native finishes her career at A&M with 105 victories, making her the third-winningest player in program history. She is second on the team in singles wins, boasting a .888 winning percentage. Her career winning percentage of .745 in singles puts her at a tie for fifth place all time.
Moving onto the doubles matches, sixth-ranked Goldsmith and Makarova advanced to the Round of 16 for the second consecutive season after dominating 18th-ranked Miyuka Kimoto and Polina Kozyreva of Syracuse, 6-2 and 6-1.
With this win, Goldsmith and Makarova remain the winningest team in program history, compiling a 93-35 career record and a 34-6 record this season. Weaver said that Goldsmith and Makarova have a solid chance of bringing a doubles title back to Aggieland.
“I thought that Tatiana [Makarova] and Jayci [Goldsmith] put together an excellent opening round match of doubles there,” Weaver said. “Defeating a highly-ranked opponent and only surrendering three games in the process is quite an accomplishment …With that being said, Tatiana [Makarova] and Jayci [Goldsmith] have more work to do on Wednesday. I believe that they are both primed to make a great run at the doubles title this year.”
A&M returns to the court on Wednesday, May 25 to compete against Tulane’s No. 31 Charlotte Russell and Lahari Yelamanchili in the Round of 16. First serve will be announced on the team’s social media.