Aggie Women’s Tennis Roars Back to Earn Third Straight NCAA Title Match Spot

News release from Texas A&M Athletics: 

The No. 3 Texas A&M Aggies mounted a monumental comeback to earn a spot in their third consecutive NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship Final. Trailing 3-1 against the home squad, the Maroon & White pulled out a 4-3 victory over No. 2 Georgia Saturday evening at the Magill Tennis Complex.

Continuing her epic junior campaign, No. 1 Lucciana Perez earned the clinching point to improve to 28-0 on the season. She rattled off a 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-3 victory over No. 19 Anastasiia Lopata on court 1 to seal the deal. It marked the 18th ranked win of the season for the Lima, Peru, native.

Texas A&M (27-5) was doomed in doubles action for the fourth straight match. Georgia (22-6) claimed the point with No. 19 Lopata/Patricija Paukstyte topping No. 11 Perez/Mia Kupres on court 1, 6-2, and No. 4 Deniz Dilek/Aysegul Mert besting No. 35 Violeta Martinez/Ilinca Amariei on court 2, 6-3.

Momentum continued to build for the Bulldogs after prevailing in the only two first set tiebreakers. The first resulted in a 7-6(3), 6-1 win for No. 64 Deliz over No. 71 Amariei on court 3 to put Georgia up 2-0.

No. 50 Kupres worked hard to earn one last collegiate match with her effort on court 2. She toppled No. 7 Mert, 6-4, 6-2.

The Bulldogs’ other tie-breaker triumph produced a 7-6(3), 6-1 victory by No. 93 Emma Dong against No. 106 Lexington Reed on court 4, putting Georgia one match away from the title bout.

The Aggies rallied the troops with the last three matches headed to third sets. One night after her thrilling quarterfinal victory, Martinez scored another big blow. This time she topped No. 81 Sofia Rojas 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 on court 5 to stem the tide.

No. 98 Daria Smetannikov followed with a 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 triumph over Paukstyte on court 6, to pull the Aggies and Bulldogs even at 3-3.

The Aggies face No. 1 Auburn Sunday for the national title. Doubles action starts at 6 p.m.

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