No. 1 Aggies fall to the No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs in SEC Championship
AUBURN – The No. 1 Texas A&M women’s tennis team fell to the No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs in a tough outing, 4-2, at Yarbrough Tennis Center in Sunday’s SEC Championship finals action.
It marked the fifth consecutive SEC Championship finals appearance for Texas A&M.
The Aggies dropped the doubles point giving the Bulldogs the 1-0 lead. On court 2, No. 74 Anastasiia Lopata/Guillermina Grant took down Daria Smetannikov/Mia Kupres, 6-3. Minutes later, Aysegul Mert/Hayden Mulberry held off a late surge by Nicole Khirin/Lexington Reed, closing out the point on court 3, 6-4.
In singles action, No. 72 Kupres lost a 6-3, 6-1 decision on court 3 to Reasco to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 advantage.
No. 54 Mert claimed court 4 with a win over No. 51 Lucciana Perez 6-3, 6-1, bringing Georgia one point away from the title.
In an awaited match between the ITA’s top two ranked players, No. 2 Mary Stoiana triumphed over No. 1 Dasha Vidmanova on court 1 with a 6-4, 6-3 victory, trimming the Aggie deficit to 3-1. Stoiana improved to 2-1 against the top-ranked Vidmanova on the season.
Looking to keep the momentum going, Reed defeated Sofia Rojas in a tough battle on court 6, 6-3, 7-5.
With all eyes on court 2 and 5, No. 85 Grant prevented a comeback from No. 102 Smetannikov with a 6-2, 7-5 win, giving the Bulldogs the win.
Highlighting the tournament, Stoiana and Khirin earn a spot on the SEC All-Tournament-Team.
Head Coach Mark Weaver
On the match…
Unfortunately the doubles point didn’t go our way and likely determined the match out there. Perhaps it did, perhaps it didn’t. I felt like the doubles was right there for us to take, and we just didn’t cross the finish line. Overall, I was really impressed with Mary (Stoiana) and Lexington (Reed). They had a rough go at it yesterday and they both came back very composed and played some great tennis today/ I was very impressed with that. Overall there was a little bit of streakiness on our end. We have to be a little bit more stable throughout the matches, but all credit to Georgia, the two best players in the nation battling out once again in my opinion, and congratulations to them.”
On the NCAA Tournament coming up…
“We’ve hardly had a day off in quite a long time. We’re going to get back to College Station and get a couple of days of rest. The good news is, if all things go the way they should, we should be hosting the first few rounds of the NCAA tournament, so we’re excited to be at home for a while, which we haven’t been for about four or five weeks. I think the wear and tear has kind of caught up with us somewhat as a group, so we are definitely ready to be home in our own beds and in our own courts for the next few weeks.”
