SEATTLE, Wash. – The undefeated Texas A&M women’s tennis team heads to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, Feb. 10-13.
With sights set on Seattle, the Aggies (6-0) look to battle with the best in the country. Sixteen teams qualified for the indoor championships and are seeded in a bracket format, with Texas A&M being listed as the No. 3 seed. In the opening round, A&M will face No. 17 San Diego after the Torero’s defeated a pair of ranked opponents to qualify for the indoor championships.
“Our group is very excited to compete for a national title in Seattle,” head coach Mark Weaver said. “We are carrying a lot of confidence into this weekend and I know what this team is capable of, now we just need to show that in our performance.”
Last year in the competition the Maroon & White fell in the opening round to then-No. 4 California. This knocked A&M to the consolation bracket where it defeated back-to-back ranked opponents in then-No. 17 Old Dominion and then-No. 10 USC.
Through its opening six matches of the spring A&M has dropped only two points, with both coming in a ranked match with then-No. 20 Florida. A&M currently boast a .938 winning percentage in dual match singles play and a .923 winning percentage in dual match doubles play. There are four Aggies that hold a perfect 4-0 singles record, No. 8 Mary Stoiana, Carson Branstine, Mia Kupres and Daria Smetannikov. In doubles, pairing Kupres/Gianna Pielet lead the Maroon & White with a 4-0 record, closely followed by Stoiana/Branstine with a 3-0 record. A&M is undefeated on courts 1,2,3 and 5 in singles, while also being undefeated on courts 2 and 3 in doubles so far this season.
Among a star-studded group, Stoiana has shone early as she was awarded SEC Player of the Week February 1 for her performance at the ITA Kickoff Weekend. She went a combined 4-0 in singles and doubles over the weekend, and punched the Aggies’ ticket to Team Indoors with her win over the Gators’ Carly Briggs. The Aggies have two freshmen who are making an instant impact for the team in Kupres and Smetannikov. The pair is undefeated in singles play and has played a plethora of the positions in the order, giving A&M more versatile options.
On February 8, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association released a new set of singles and doubles rankings. Stoiana received the…
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