No. 14 Aggies Fall to No. 10 Georgia, 4-3

Friday, March 15

Athens, Ga.

4:00 PM

Texas A&M

Georgia

Mar 15, 2024 | Women's Tennis

Box Score

By: Sam Thornton, Athletics Communications

ATHENS – It all came down to the third set on the final court, but the No. 14 Texas A&M women's tennis team was unable to get by No. 10 Georgia, falling 4-3 in a back-and-forth top-15 battle at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex Friday night.

It was a tight match from the start as all three courts battled for the early doubles point. Sydney Fitch/Nicole Khirin gave the Aggies (12-6, 4-1 SEC) an early edge with a 6-4 win on court 3 over Mell Reasco/Alexandra Vecic before the remaining courts each went to tiebreaks. Georgia's (10-3, 5-0 SEC) No. 34 Mai Nirundorn/Guillermina Grant got by Lucciana Perez/Jeanette Mireles, 7-6(2), on court 2 and it all came down to court 1. No. 6 Mary Stoiana/Mia Kupres held strong to secure the doubles point for the Aggies, 7-6(4), and claim their 13^th dual match victory of the season as a pair.

Georgia picked up the first point in singles play on court 5 and added another point on court 4, but the Aggies evened things up at two apiece when No. 17 Khirin took down No. 25 Vecic (6-2, 7-6) on court 2, notching her 11-consecutive victory and team-best 14^th dual match win on the season.

The Bulldogs regained the lead with a three-set victory on court 6, but A&M didn't back down. No. 30 Kupres picked up the first set on court 3, 6-3, but dropped the second 6-4 to send it to a third set. Back-and-forth play ensued and Kupres fought through the tiebreak for a 7-6(5) victory that tied things up at three-all. No. 1 Stoiana fought to the end against No. 29 Vidmanova, bouncing back in the second and pushing the deciding court to a third set, but Georgia eventually claimed the final point for the match.

COACH'S QUOTES
Head coach Mark Weaver on today's match…
"That was the longest and the wildest college tennis match that I have ever been a part of. It was a five hour match that came down to the wire on multiple occasions. Unfortunately, Georgia came up with a few more of the bigger points than we did, and ultimately that's the difference when the elite teams are competing against one another. We need to have short term memory and get ourselves ready both physically and mentally for a tough Tennessee team on Sunday"

Up Next
The Aggies remain on the road, traveling to Knoxville to take on No. 22 Tennessee at 11 a.m. at Barksdale Stadium.

Match Results
Singles Results
(UGA) No. 29 Dasha Vidmanova Def. (TAMU) No. 1 Mary Stoiana – 6-4, 6-7(10), 7-6(5)
(TAMU) No. 17 Nicole Khirin Def. (UGA) No. 25 Alexandra Vecic – 6-2, 7-6(4)
(TAMU) No. 30 Mia Kupres Def. (UGA) No. 68 Mell Reasco – 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(5)
(UGA) No. 98 Anastasiia Lopata Def. (TAMU) Lucciana Perez – 6-3, 6-3
(UGA) Aysegul Mert Def. (TAMU) Daria Smetannikov – 6-1, 6-0
(UGA) Guillermina Grant Def. (TAMU) Jeanette Mireles – 5-7, 6-3, 6-3

Doubles Results
(TAMU) No. 6 Mary Stoiana/Mia Kupres Def. (UGA) No. 8 Aysegul Mert/Dasha Vidmanova – 7-6 (4)
(UGA) No. 34 Mai Nirundorn/Guillermina Grant Def. (TAMU) Lucciana Perez/Jeanette Mireles – 7-6 (2)
(TAMU) Sydney Fitch/Nicole Khirin Def. (UGA) Mell Reasco/Alexandra Vecic – 6-4

FOLLOW THE AGGIES
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