Three freshmen made their Texas A&M debut this past weekend after competing in The Racquet Club Collegiate Invitational in Midland, Texas.
Texas A&M head coach, Mark Weaver, originally wanted to use his spots in the tournament to bring four players, but due to redshirt sophomore Margo Taylor’s injury, Weaver is sent freshman, Riley McQuaid, Dorthea Faa-Hviding, and Iulia Ivascu. Weaver said he wanted to give the younger players exposure after losing five A&M seniors this past season.
“The way the tournaments set up we’re only allowed to send four players…so we just picked the new kids to play this one,” Weaver said. “We definitely lost some very good players with a lot of experience…its exciting we did have a very strong recruiting class. It’s early on in the season so we’re looking at just the fall season, especially the one coming up in Midland, just a way for you to kind of get your feet wet.”
On the first day of women’s singles, No. 8 seed Faa-Hviding defeated Abilene Christian’s, junior Whitney Williams, in two sets 6-4, 2-6 to improve her overall record to 11-9. Faa-Hviding then defeated Texas Tech’s, freshman Alex Angyalosy, with a set score of 6-3, 2-6 (10-7) in the second round. However, in the singles quarterfinals she lost 6-4 in both sets to Natsuho Arakawa of Arkansas.
Iulia Ivascu and Riley McQuaid both lost their singles games in the first round and were eliminated in this bracket. Ivascu fell to Arkansas’, sophomore Jackie Carr, in two sets 6-3, 6-2. While McQuaid was defeated by Tyler Junior College’s, freshman Tamara Arnold, 6-0, 6-2.
In doubles play, Faa-Hviding defeated Texas State’s, sophomore Joy Chia Ming Ming and Sofia Murcia, 6-0 with her double partner Maria Shishkina of Tyler Junior College. After making it to the second round, Faa-Hviding and Shishkina, lost to Natsuho Arakawa and Agne Cepelyte of Arkansas 6-3 and who went on to be doubles champions.
Dissimilar to their singles bracket, Ivascu and McQuaid paired as doubles partners and advanced to the semifinals. They defeated UT Arlington’s, Agustina Serio and Nanaka Takeuchi, 7-5 in the second round after getting a bye in the first. This Aggie duo went on to defeat junior Paula Del Cuento Castillo and senior Brianna Lashway of Nebraska, 6-3. Ivascu and Mc Quaid failed to make it past the semifinal round, losing 6-3 to Illinois’ Emilee Duong and her partner Grace Tapak.
Following the conclusion of the tournament, Weaver said he was pleased with the freshman’s first time in an Aggie uniform.
“Overall, I’m delighted with the progress that we made every day as a group,” Weaver told 12thman.com. “We definitely had some first-match jitters, which is completely understood being that the girls are playing in maroon and white…this ended up being a very productive weekend for this young group of Aggies.”