Texas A&M
Vanderbilt
No. 10 Texas A&M Wins Last Match Standing, Downs No. 8 Vanderbilt, 4-3
Apr 10, 2015 | Women's Tennis
It is the sixth consecutive victory and the 11th win in the last 12 matches for Texas A&M (14-4, 10-2 SEC), which also upset No. 7 Baylor, 4-3, Wednesday in Waco with a third-set victory in the last match standing. The win also moves the Aggies into a second-place, three-way tie with Georgia and the Commodores in the Southeastern Conference standings with one match remaining in the regular season.
The Commodores, who entered the match having won their last six matches, including a win over league-leading Florida in their previous outing, fall to 15-6 overall and 10-2 in conference play.
Vanderbilt, which never trailed in the team score until the final match was completed, fought off two match points in the deciding doubles match to take a 1-0 lead. Pierson and her partner, freshman Eva Paalma, began the contest by upsetting 16th-ranked Sydney Campbell and Courtney Colton, 8-4, at the No. 1 line. Vanderbilt quickly equalized the race for the doubles point as 15th-ranked Ashleigh Antal and Astra Sharma defeated 18th-ranked Ines Deheza and Stefania Hristov by the identical 8-4 score at No. 2.
A&M appeared to be on its way to clinching the point at the No. 3 line as Rutuja Bhosale and Saska Gavrilovska overcame a 5-3 deficit, winning four consecutive games to build a 7-5 lead over Frances Altick and Marie Casares. The Aggie duo held double match point, but the Vandy duo fought back and won the next four points to win the game and get within 7-6. The Commodores held serve to even the match at 7-7 and force a tiebreaker. A&M jumped out to a 3-1 lead before relinquishing the next six points as Vanderbilt won the match, 8-7 (3) to give the Commodores a 1-0 lead.
Gavrilovska rebounded by winning her first six games in singles en route to defeating Colton, 6-0, 6-3 at the No. 4 line to even the team score at 1-1. It marked the team-leading seventh consecutive victory for the sophomore from Serbia.
Vanderbilt regained a 2-1 lead as 44th-ranked Sharma downed 52nd-ranked Bhosale, 6-3, 6-0 at No. 2, but Paalma evened the score at 2-2 with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over 88th-ranked Casares at No. 5.
Altick held off Deheza, 6-4, 7-6 (5) at No. 3 to put the Commodores ahead, 3-2, but A&M's Anna Mamalat and Pierson were both mounting comebacks.
Mamalat, who entered the match riding a five-match win streak, let a tiebreaker slip away as she fell 7-6 (5) in the first set against Antal at the No. 6 line. Mamalat then dropped the first two games of the second set before catching fire and winning nine consecutive games to take the second set, 6-0, and build a 3-0 lead in the third set. Antal got within 3-2 before Mamalat won the next three games to win, 6-3, tying the team score for the third time and setting up the decisive showdown on Court 1.
Pierson, ranked 39th in singles, had won three consecutive games to break away from a 3-3 tie and take the first set against seventh-ranked Campbell, but Campbell won the second set by the identical 6-3 score after jumping out to a 4-1 lead. The third frame was back on serve at 4-4, and the players continued to hold serve to tie the score at 6-6 and force the tiebreaker. Campbell held a narrow 4-3 lead in the tiebreaker but committed four consecutive unforced errors, hitting wide on the final point as Pierson completed the highest ranked win of her collegiate career.
A&M closes out its regular-season home slate Sunday, hosting No. 21 Kentucky at the Mitchell Tennis Center. The start time of the match has been moved up to 9 a.m. due to the higher chance of rain later in the day.
The Aggies are mathematically still in the hunt for a share of the SEC regular season title. In order for A&M to win its second SEC title in three years, the Aggies must defeat Kentucky and rely on Tennessee, which entered today's match against South Carolina tied for 11th in the league, to upset sixth-ranked Florida (19-2, 11-1 SEC) Sunday in Gainesville, Fla.
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M women's tennis. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M women's tennis team on Twitter by following @AggieWTEN or on Facebook at Facebook.com/AggieWomensTennis.
Texas A&M Head Coach Howard Joffe quotes:
Opening statement…
“Anyone that watched today's match can tell just how delicate the margin is between winning and losing. The first thing I would say is I really feel for Vanderbilt, the young ladies on their team and their coaches, because for them, they had some match points to actually win the SEC this year, and so that's an awful painful loss. But I have to give them credit. What an outstanding team. The match was…we had match points to win the doubles point and lost them. They had match points to win the dual match and lost them. So all-in-all you are just looking at a very, very relieved and happy coach. I am proud of the team and very thankful that we came out on the winning side today.”
On the team winning back-to-back top-10 matches in the last match standing…
“The biggest thing that I can see is, you know I'm lavishing a lot of praise on the girls for their resilience and how tough they are and how proud I am, and yet the reality is, without making excuses, they are a very, very weary and tired group. We are actually playing very good tennis, but anyone watching these matches can see just how much emotional energy and physical energy goes into it. I really feel like we've played too much in a short amount of time. We've got a weary group, and so in some respect, some of these matches that we have come from behind, we might have left a point or two out there on the courts. But it does speak to the resilience of the team, and hopefully we can get a bit of a rest and catch our breath and save our best tennis for the NCAA tournament, because it doesn't seem like there is going to be a lot of rest time with Kentucky knocking on our door pretty soon and then the SEC tournament.”
On how today's match helps with the upcoming SEC tournament…
“Conventional wisdom says it helps us because we'll probably get seeded higher, and yet the SEC is so doggone good, that in this particular year, if you are the No. 1 seed, you may have a tougher match than if you are the No. 2 seed, the No. 3 seed or the No. 4 seed. My coach at Pepperdine, Allen Fox, always told me that at the end of the day, it's always better to win than lose. So it helps us with confidence and on paper with seedings and those types of things.”
On still being in the chase for the SEC title…
“It's a very boring coach cliché: we can control what we can control. Other than bringing in a witch doctor from California to put a hoodoo on some team on Sunday, that will take care of itself. I'm just very, very pleased with our team for how they did. We were two points from beating Florida, and we may have been in poll position to actually win the thing. But I'm delighted with our kids.”
#10 Texas A&M 4, #8 Vanderbilt 3
Singles – Order of finish: 4, 2, 5, 3, 6, 1
1. #39 Rachel Pierson (A&M) def. #7 Sydney Campbell (VU), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (4)
2. #44 Astra Sharma (VU) def. #52 Rutuja Bhosale (A&M), 6-3, 6-0
3. Frances Altick (VU) def. Ines Deheza (A&M), 6-4, 7-6 (5)
4. #45 Saska Gavrilovska (A&M) def. #80 Courtney Colton (VU), 6-0, 6-3
5. Eva Paalma (A&M) def. #88 Marie Casares (VU), 6-4, 6-4
6. Anna Mamalat (A&M) def. Ashleigh Antal (VU), 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-2
Doubles – Order of finish: 1, 2, 3
1. #33 Paalma/Pierson (A&M) def. #16 Campbell/Colton (VU), 8-4
2. #15 Antal/Sharma (VU) def. #18 Deheza/Stefania Hristov (A&M), 8-4
3. Altick/Casares (VU) def. #68 Bhosale/Gavrilovska (A&M), 8-7 (3)
Team records:
Texas A&M: 14-4, 10-2 SEC
Vanderbilt: 15-6, 10-2 SEC
Players Mentioned
