No. 12 Texas A&M Women’s Tennis Drops Regular Season Home Finale to Florida

COLLEGE STATION – The No. 12 Texas A&M women's tennis team dropped their regular season home finale, 4-2, to Florida (9-8, 6-4) at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center Sunday afternoon. The Aggies (19-4, 6-4) take to the road for the final two weekends of the regular season before hosting the SEC Championship April 17-21 in College Station.
 
"We always try to find some positives in the match and it is really tough when you lose a really close match like that," Texas A&M women's tennis head coach Mark Weaver said. "We fought until the bitter end and gave ourselves a chance to win even though we definitely did not play up to the best of our ability. Even after a slow start in singles, we were able to force a bit of change in momentum and find some energy about midway through the singles. We were a point away from going up 6-5 in the third set on Tatiana's [Makarova] and were in great shape in the third set on Katya's [Townsend] court.."
 
The Aggies dropped the doubles point to open the match for the first time in their last five matches. The Gators claimed a 6-1 win on court two by Tsveta Dimitrova and Ida Jarlskog over A&M's Katya Townsend and Renee McBryde before A&M evened the doubles tally with a 6-3 win on court one by No. 63 Jayci Goldsmith and Tatiana Makarova over UF's Victoria Emma and McCartney Kessler. UF clinched the point with a 7-6(3) win on court three by Sydney Berlin and Marlee Zein over A&M's Riley McQuaid and Lucia Quiterio.
 
A&M evened the match quickly in singles play as Florida's No. 38 Kessler was forced to retire due to injury on court two against A&M's Goldsmith. With the score knotted a one-all, the Gators posted four first set victories, but A&M forced third sets on three of those courts. Florida regained the advantage, 2-1, with a 6-4, 6-0 win on court six by Berlin over A&M's Dorthea Faa-Hviding.
 
A&M evened the match at two-all with an impressive three-set win by McQuaid on court five over Dimitrova. McQuaid claimed the first set, 6-3, before Dimitrova forced the final frame with a 6-4 win in the second set. McQuaid posted her team-leading 17^th dual victory with a resounding 6-1 victory in the third set.
 
The Gators closed out the match with a win on court four by Zein over A&M's McBryde and on court three by No. 67 Emma over A&M's Makarova.
 
The Aggies travel to take on LSU on Friday before rounding out the regular season at Mississippi State and Ole Miss, on April 12 and 14 respectively.
 
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 or Instagram by following @AggieWTEN or on Facebook at Facebook.com/AggieWTEN.
 
 
Tennis Match Results
Florida vs Texas A&M
3/31/2019 at College Station, TX
(George P. Mitchell Tennis Center)
 
#31 Florida 4, #12 Texas A&M 2
 
Singles competition
1. #50 Katya Townsend (TAMU) vs. #16 Ida Jarlskog (UF) 5-7, 7-5, 4-1, unfinished
2. #106 Jayci Goldsmith (TAMU) def. #38 McCartney Kessler (UF) 2-1, retired
3. #67 Victoria Emma (UF) def. Tatiana Makarova (TAMU) 6-1, 2-6, 7-5
4. Marlee Zein (UF) def. Renee McBryde (TAMU) 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-2
5. Riley McQuaid (TAMU) def. Tsveta Dimitrova (UF) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
6. Sydney Berlin (UF) def. Dorthea Faa-Hviding (TAMU) 6-4, 6-0
 
Doubles competition
1. #63 Jayci Goldsmith/Tatiana Makarova (TAMU) def. Victoria Emma/McCartney Kessler (UF) 6-3
2. Tsveta Dimitrova/Ida Jarlskog (UF) def. #55 Renee McBryde/Katya Townsend (TAMU) 6-1
3. Sydney Berlin/Marlee Zein (UF) def. Riley McQuaid/Lucia Quiterio (TAMU) 7-6 (7-3)
 
Match Notes:
Florida 9-8, 6-4; National ranking #31
Texas A&M 18-5, 6-4; National ranking #12
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (2,6,5,4,3)