It’s often said that the hardest thing to do in sports is repeat as a champion. It’s a lesson that No. 2 Texas A&M women’s tennis and No. 1 Georgia have both learned the hard way, playing each other eight times in the past two seasons, with plenty of Southeastern Conference and national hardware shared between the two.
This time, it was the Aggies’ turn to taste heartbreak as they fell to the Bulldogs 4-0 in the National Championship Match at Hurd Tennis Center in Waco on Sunday, May 18 in a rematch of last year’s national title showdown.
“It feels awful, just being honest with you, but what an amazing season we’ve had,” A&M coach Mark Weaver said. “I don’t know if equating it to the Federer-Nadal rivalry is quite the same, but in a sense it is. I feel like two straight years we played in all the big matches, so many finals and tournament situations, and I think we’ve just really pushed each other along the way.”
The first domino to fall in doubles play was Georgia’s senior Guillermina Grant and junior Anastasiia Lopata easily dispatching A&M’s junior Daria Smetannikov and freshman Lexington Reed, 6-2 on Court 3.
For a few minutes on Court 5, it looked like the Maroon and White pairing of junior Nicole Khirin and sophomore Lucciana Perez would repeat their comeback from being down 4-1 just as they did against No. 3 Michigan on Saturday. But after rallying back to tie the score 5-5, they fell 7-5 to the Bulldogs’ duo of sophomore Aysegul Mert and freshman Hayden Mulberry.
End doubles: Georgia 1, A&M 0.
Two of the three matches went into extra games, but the Bulldogs take the doubles point as Perez and Khirin are unable to complete their comeback. pic.twitter.com/c1d83cCRZn
— Ian Curtis (@Texiancurtis) May 18, 2025
The Aggies’ pair of senior Mary Stoiana and junior Mia Kupres found themselves locked in a battle on Court 1 against the Bulldogs’ senior Dasha Vidmanova and senior Mell Reasco, but it came without a payoff after the match was left unfinished 6-5 after Georgia clinched the point.
In a much-anticipated clash on Court 1 between the country’s top-ranked singles players, Stoiana was the first Aggie to suffer defeat in singles play. The Southbury, Connecticut native lost in straight sets 4-6, 4-6 to the Bulldogs’ Vidmanova in a brutal end to a legendary Aggie career.
“I was coming off of the two wins against her in a short span, and I feel like I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to go out and do that again,” Stoiana said. “I know how important that point is, she’s a great player. And yeah, I feel like mentally I just was thinking about maybe not all the right things.”
Vidmonava was grateful to emerge victorious in one of the all-time college women’s tennis individual rivalries. She completed the triple crown of NCAA titles with Georgia’s win, having already won a singles and doubles national championship.
“Any time we play, I know it’s going to be tough,” Vidmonova said. “It can go either way. And today was my last match, and I really wanted that one, so I just tried my best, as I usually do, and it went my way. And just to do it in the last match ever, in the final with this team, it’s really special.”
Despite dishing out a bagel in her first set, Khirin became the next domino to fall on Court 2 as Georgia took a 3-0 lead, needing just one more singles win to avenge their loss in last year’s national championship match. Khirin fell to Georgia’s Lopata 6-0, 4-6, 2-6 to put last year’s title winners in a hole that they desperately tried to claw out of.
Georgia got its revenge on Court 6, where after Reed won her first set 7-5 for the second day in a row; she dropped the next pair of frames 3-6, 2-6 as the Aggies’ season came to an end.
FINAL: Georgia 4, A&M 0.
Court 6 is the clincher, as Reed falls in a third set.
Aggies were able to battle and force multiple third sets, but the Bulldogs avenge their National Championship loss last year. pic.twitter.com/xachzrkVDC
— Ian Curtis (@Texiancurtis) May 19, 2025
The 4-0 sweep doesn’t tell the whole story: Smetannikov was able to force a third set after a second-set tiebreak, Perez was tied 5-5 in her bid to force a final frame and Kupres was just one game away from winning her match and putting the Aggies on the board.
Stoiana leaves Aggieland with a plethora of accolades: 138 singles wins, a 2024 team national title and the 2024 ITA National Player of the Year, in addition to her All-SEC and All-American awards.
She’s proud of her career, and hopes it’ll set a standard that the Aggies will live up to in the future.
“I’ve achieved so much on a personal level, us as a program we’ve done so well, made history,” Stoiana said. “I just hope it can inspire the next generations, the next Aggies that come and play for the women’s tennis team, that feats like this are possible.”
Stoiana has left an impact on her teammates as well, Kupres says.
“I think everyone on the team looks up to her a lot, and she’s one of my best friends,” Kupres said. “She’s gotten me through a lot and really supported me throughout all my time at A&M. It’s gonna definitely be a hole missing from the team next year because she’s left such an impact, but I know that like now, it’s Daria and Nicole and my turn to step up and we’ve seen how Mary does it, being a leader.”
And while Stoiana’s time in maroon is done, she is the only starter A&M loses heading into next year.
“It’s gonna be sad to see her go,” Weaver said. “That’s no doubt about it. We’ll be rooting for her, and she’s going to have an amazing career. … The Aggies have been pretty successful for going on close to 15 years now … No one’s ever gonna be able to replace Mary Stoiana, but the future is still bright for our program.”