No. 19, Texas A&M Women’s tennis claimed their spot to the SEC semifinals Friday afternoon as they defeated No. 17 Tennessee with a 4-2 victory. With the win, the Aggies improved to 7-6 all-time in the SEC Tournament, making it their best conference tournament since the 2014 season.
“When we saw the draw comes out, this was the match we wanted,” Texas A&M head coach Mark Weaver told 12thman.com, “It was a great opportunity to get some revenge after they were able to beat us indoors in Knoxville earlier this year. I remember once that match was over I thought I hope we get another shot at them at home in the conference tournament.”
A&M opened the day with securing doubles matches after the Lady Volunteers earned a 6-3 victory on the top court. A&M’s Townsend and Renee McBryde found victory against Tennessee’s Maia Haumuller and Tenika McGiffin with a 6-3 win. To follow, A&M’s Riley McQuaid and Lucia Quiterio bested Rebeka Mertena and Johanna Silva 6-4.
Next, the Aggies earned a pair of straight set wins, while Tennessee gained a single point in straight sets. Quiero gave the Aggies a 2-0 advantage as she earned a 6-0, 6-4 win over McGiffin. With this victory, Quiterio earned her fourth straight win and improved to 14-2 of the spring season.
Tennessee earned their first point of the day with a 6-4, 6-3 victory by Ariadna Riley over McQuaid. Shortly thereafter, A&M’s Makarova pulled out a 6-1, 7-6(5) win against Silva, making the A&M advantage to 3-1. Friday’s victory gave Makarova the ability to claim her 13th dual win of the spring season to improve 19-8 overall this year.
The Lady Volunteers improved to 3-2 as Kaitlin Staines stomped A&M’s Jayci Goldsmith 4-6, 7-5, and 6-2. The finals two matches caused fans to circulate between courts, for A&M had the advantage of both.
After facing defeat of the first set to No. 56 Sadie Hammond, Townsend double backed and won 12 of the 16 games to earn a 6-3 overall victory. With the, 6-1 win in sets two and three, Townsend sent the Aggies to the SEC Tournament Semifinals for the third time in program history.
“I don’t know if she was getting tired, but I stayed focused and I knew that I had to keep pushing no matter what the scores were on the other courts,” Townsend told 12thman.com. “Knowing that I will fight for every point even if I am down. For my whole life that has been my biggest strength, stronger than my forehand, my serve or anything else. Just being able to keep fighting, I think that is what is most important.”
Texas A&M head coach Mark Weaver was pleased with Townsend’s fight and victory.
“The mental consistency from Katya [Townsend] was remarkable, she really took that match to another level in the second set and I would have bet my life on that match once it went to the third set,” Weaver told 12thman.com.
Texas A&M (22-6) will advance to Saturday’s semifinals against No. 1 Georgia at 3:30 PM.The winner of Friday’s semifinal matchup will take on the winner of No. 8 Vanderbilt and No. 5 South Carolina in the SEC Tournament final at 3:30 PM on Sunday.