Final Stats ORLANDO, Fla. – The No. 7 Texas A&M women’s tennis team defeated FIU, 4-1, Friday, Feb. 24 in its opening match of three at the USTA National Campus.
The Maroon & White (9-1) faced a battle early in doubles with the Panthers (4-3). FIU struck first on court 3 as the pair of Salma Loudili/Katerina Mandelikova bested Mia Kupres/Gianna Pielet (6-4). The Panthers continued that momentum on court 2 as Yasmine Kabbaj/Oyinlomo Quadre defeated No. 34 Salma Ewing/Jayci Goldsmith (7-5), and secured the doubles point for FIU. No. 10 Carson Branstine/Mary Stoiana were leading with match point on court 1 (6-6(6-5)) versus Kamila Umarova/Ekaterina Khairutdnova, however the match was left unfished due to doubles point being claimed by the Panthers.
Needing a response, No. 121 Kupres did just that. She opened the scoring for A&M with a win on court 4 over Umarova (6-2, 6-0), also extending her undefeated streak to seven. No. 37 Branstine gave the Maroon & White the lead with a victory on court 2, as she bested Khairutdnova (6-3, 6-3). A few moments later No. 77 Goldsmith secured a win on court 3 in her match with Quadre (6-0, 7-6(3)), leaving the Aggies needing one more point to claim the match. Clinching A&M’s ninth win of the season was Jeanette Mireles, putting on a dominating performance in the second set versus Loudili (7-6(4), 6-2) on court 6 securing the match. The Aggies were up on courts 1 and 5 before the match was decided, No. 9 Stoiana had match point versus Kabbaj (6-0, 3-6, 5-1), while Daria Smetannikov was locked into a battle with Mandelikova (3-6, 6-3, 4-3).
COACH’S QUOTES
Head coach Mark Weaver on today’s matchup…
“Overall I’m pleased with the day. After losing a tough doubles point, I think the troops responded well. Florida International has a strong and feisty team and they made us work for the win. At the end of the day, I think we would still have won the match six to one if we had played out the matches. This will be a great jumpstart for us to get us ready for a big match on Sunday against Ohio State.”
UP NEXT
The Aggies play their second match of the trip at the USTA National Campus, Sunday, Feb. 26 versus No. 2 Ohio State, with first serve set for 12 p.m. CT.
TEAM NOTES
- Freshman Mia Kupres leads the Aggies with seven wins and remains undefeated.
- Pairing Mary Stoiana/Carson…
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