Four Texas A&M women’s tennis athletes made the trip to the NC State Invitational hosted by North Carolina State from Sept. 21-24. Junior Mary Stoiana and sophomore Mia Kupres came home with a doubles title, while Stoiana added her own run to the semifinals in singles play in Cary, North Carolina.
The Aggies opened the tournament with a day of doubles play, as the duo of 2023 SEC Player of the Year Stoiana and 2023 All-SEC Second Team Kupres defeated a Virginia pair, 6-0. They followed up that win with a 7-5 win over Texas partners graduate Tanya Sasnouskaya and senior Charlotte Chavatipon.
Stoiana and Kupres took home their tournament title after defeating Ohio State 6-2 on Sunday morning.
Things didn’t go as smoothly for A&M’s other doubles pair of sophomores Nicole Khirin and Daria Smetannikov. They began their tournament with a loss 7-5 to a North Carolina duo and followed it up with another close defeat as they fell 6-4 to hosts NC State.
Khirin and Smetannikov were able to turn it around on the final day of doubles play, earning a 6-3 victory over the Longhorns’ Sasnouskaya and Chavatipon and a win over Duke by way of a walkover.
In singles, top-seeded Stoiana made a run to the semifinals of her draw. Stoiana defeated Georgia Tech senior Mahak Jain in straight sets to begin the run and followed it up with a tiebreaker win over Ohio State junior Sydni Ratliff to advance to the quarterfinals, where she defeated North Carolina junior Carson Tanguilig thanks to a pair of 6-3 wins in both sets.
Stoiana’s run was brought to an end by fifth-seeded senior Amelia Rajecki of NC State, who would go on to win the draw. In consolation play, Stoiana added a match win over a different Wolfpack opponent thanks to a 10-6 Set 3 win.
Meanwhile, Kupres was able to upset No. 3 seed Ayana Akli of South Carolina in the first round and advanced to the third round where she fell to No. 6 seed graduate Irina Cantos Siemers of Ohio State in straight sets.
Khirin was the third Aggie to advance to the third round, thanks to a pair of straight-set victories. Khirin’s run was ended by a 7-5, 7-6 loss to NC State senior Abigail Rencheli, but the Aggie sophomore added a pair of wins in consolation draw play.
In the second draw, No. 3 seed Smetannikov fell in the second round to Virginia’s unseeded senior Sara Ziodato 6-1, 6-2, who would go on to win. Consolation play allowed Smetannikov to finish out the tournament with another two match wins.
The Maroon and White will return to Cary for the ITA All-American Championships on Saturday, Sept. 30, and have their home opener in the Texas A&M Fall Invitational on Nov. 3 at the Mitchell Tennis Center.