Women's Tennis Shuts Out Missouri, 4-0

Thursday, March 15

College Station

3 p.m.

Texas A&M

Missouri

Photo by: Sam Craft/Texas A&M Athletics

Mar 15, 2018 | Women's Tennis

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Media Relations

COLLEGE STATION, Texas– The Texas A&M women's tennis team had an exciting finish in doubles and then cruised to three straight-set singles victories to shut out Missouri, 4-0, today at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center

With the win, the 42^nd-ranked Aggies improve to 11-4, including 2-3 in Southeastern Conference matches and end a three-match losing skid. The Tigers, 11-7 overall, left town still looking for their first conference win as they suffered their fourth consecutive loss to fall to 0-4 in league play.

Missouri got off to a strong start in doubles and appeared poised to run away with the point as Ellie Wright and Mackenzy Middlebrooks defeated A&M's freshman duo of Riley McQuaid and Dorthea Faa-Hviding, 6-0 at the No. 3 line. When that match finished, A&M had a comfortable lead on Court 2, but Missouri's Marta Oliveira and Clare Raley looked as though they were on pace to clinch the point for the Tigers as they held a 5-1 lead over A&M's senior pair of Eva Paalma and Domenica Gonzalez.

By the time A&M's Tatiana Makarova and Iulia Ivascu completed a 6-2 win over Amina Ismail and Serena Nash at No. 2 to even the race for the doubles point, Paalma and Gonzalez had won three consecutive games to get within 5-4. They went on to stretch the win streak to five straight games to take a 6-5 lead after winning back-to-back no-ad points. The Tigers won the next game to force a tiebreaker. The tiebreaker was tied at 4-4 before the Aggies reeled off three straight points to complete the major comeback and give A&M a 1-0 lead.

The singles wasn't nearly as dramatic as the Aggies won the first set on all six courts and went on to win three matches in straight sets. In addition, A&M held second-set leads in all three matches that went unfinished.

Faa-Hviding gave the Aggies a 2-0 lead after reeling off 10 consecutive games to close out a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Raley at the No. 6 line.

Gonzalez, ranked No. 111 in singles, put A&M ahead, 3-0, with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Nash at No. 1, and Paalma clinched the Aggies' victory with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Taylor Gruber at No. 3.

In the matches that went unfinished, Macarena Olivares was ahead, 6-4, 3-0 against Middlebrooks at No. 2, McQuaid was leading Wright, 6-2, 4-3 at No. 4, and Makarova held a 6-2, 5-4 lead over Ismail at No. 5.

The match marked the start of a six-match home stand for the Aggies. A&M returns to the Mitchell Tennis Center on Saturday to play host to No. 33 Arkansas. First serve is at 12 p.m. and many former players will be in attendance for the program's Legacy Day reunion.

General admission to all regular-season men's and women's home matches is free.

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 by following @AggieWTEN on Twitter and Instagram, as well as on Facebook at Facebook.com/AggieWTEN.

Texas A&M Postmatch Quotes:

Head Coach Mark Weaver
On today's match…
"Overall we did a great job, there were some very difficult conditions with the wind, especially in the doubles. We no doubt didn't play our best in the doubles, but nothing but determination and perseverance pulled out the doubles point for us. At the end of the day, it looked like we were likely going to win all the singles matches or at least had a chance to. I do feel psychologically, that it definitely helped us, we were way down, 5-1, in No. 1 doubles and came back. It was definitely a critical point in the match. We really played tough tennis out there, it was windy, not the easiest conditions out there. To end the day, we definitely kept a lot more balls in play than they did. I'm very pleased; any win in the conference is a big win. We have such a difficult conference. To win it, 4-0, and looking good in the remaining three, yeah I couldn't be happier."

On big comeback at No. 1 doubles…
"There were some awkward things happening. We lost the first two games with no add and I believe we lost another no add game about two-thirds through the set. Just tricky things happening in the wind. We just really stepped it up, and went for our shots a little more and kept our composure. At the end of the day, we were fortunate enough to win a few more big points than they did."

Tennis Match Results
Mizzou vs Texas A&M
3/15/2018 at College Station, Texas
(George P. Mitchell Tennis Center)

#42 Texas A&M 4, Mizzou 0

Singles competition
1. #111 Domenica Gonzalez (A&M) def. Serena Nash (MIZ) 6-3, 6-1
2. Macarena Olivares (A&M) vs. Mackenzy Middlebrooks (MIZ) 6-4, 3-0, unfinished
3. Eva Paalma (A&M) def. Taylor Gruber (MIZ) 6-4, 6-2
4. Riley McQuaid (A&M) vs. Ellie Wright (MIZ) 6-2, 4-3, unfinished
5. Tatiana Makarova (A&M) vs. Amina Ismail (MIZ) 6-2, 5-4, unfinished
6. Dorthea Faa-Hviding (A&M) def. Clare Raley (MIZ) 6-3, 6-0

Doubles competition
1. Domenica Gonzalez/Eva Paalma (A&M) def. Marta Oliveira/Clare Raley (MIZ) 7-6 (7-4)
2. Tatiana Makarova/Iulia Ivascu (A&M) def. Amina Ismail/Serena Nash (MIZ) 6-2
3. Ellie Wright/Mackenzy Middlebrooks (MIZ) def. Riley McQuaid/Dorthea Faa-Hviding (A&M) 6-0

Match Notes:
Missouri 11-7, 0-4 SEC
Texas A&M 11-4, 2-3 SEC; National ranking #42
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (6,1,3)