STARKVILLE, Miss. – The 15th-ranked Texas A&M women’s tennis team returned to the win column and posted its sixth victory over the last seven matches with a 5-2 victory over No. 35 Mississippi State this afternoon at A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
With the win, Texas A&M improves to 9-4 overall, including 6-2 in Southeastern Conference matches. MSU drops to 13-6 overall, 3-5 in SEC play and 0-5 in the all-time series against the Aggies.
“Today was a really good win for the Aggies,” A&M head coach Howard Joffe said. “Mississippi State was every bit as good and tough as advertised. This was an overall team effort, and the encouraging pieces from today were I felt our ladies were oppressive at every position. [Stefania] Hristov and [Anna] Mamalat both won tough three-set matches to get us over the finish line, Rutuja [Bhosale] had another excellent ranked win over Georgiana Patrasc and the doubles teams are starting to click.”
Texas A&M won the doubles point for the 10th time in 12 matches to take the early lead. Hristov and Mamalat, playing together for only the third time in a dual match this season, gave the Aggies the early edge with a quick 8-3 victory over Timea Guibe and Naomi Tran at the No. 3 line.
Eva Paalma and Rachel Pierson soon followed with an 8-3 win at No.1 against Martina Frantova and Patrasc to clinch the point for the Aggies.
Court 2 was knotted at 5-5 between A&M’s Bhosale and Saska Gavrilovska and the Bulldogs’ Jasmine Lee and Louise Ronaldson, but play was stopped as soon as the doubles match was clinched.
Gavrilovska then got the Aggies off to a quick start in singles, winning the first five games in each set en route to a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Louise Ronaldson at the No. 3 line to put A&M ahead 2-0.
The Bulldogs kept the match close by winning the first set on three of six singles courts and cut the lead to 2-1 as 56th-ranked Lee topped 32nd-ranked Pierson, 6-4, 6-0 at No. 1.
Bhosale, celebrating her 19th birthday, moved up to the No. 2 line for only the second time this season. She gave the Aggies a 3-1 lead and extended her team-leading win streak to seven matches, taking the final three games to cap a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Patrasc. With the victory, the reigning SEC Player of the Week improved to 7-1 in SEC matches and 9-2 in dual match play.
MSU once again got back within a point at 3-2 as Frantova held off Paalma, 7-5, 6-4, at the No.4 line, while the remaining two matches would go to a third set to determine the overall winner.
Despite dropping the opening set, Hristov would be the one to clinch the victory for the Aggies. The third set was tied at 3-3 before Hristov reeled off the next three games to complete a come-from-behind 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Guibe at the No. 6 line to put A&M up, 4-2.
Mamalat also broke away from a 3-3 third-set tie by winning her final three games to defeat Jennifer Brown, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, to close out the Aggies’ 5-2 victory.
The Aggies conclude their trip through Mississippi on Sunday as they take on No. 21 Ole Miss in Oxford. First serve has been moved up to noon at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center.
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.
#15 Texas A&M 5, #35 Mississippi State 2
Singles – Order of finish: 3, 1, 2, 4, 6, 5
1. #56 Jasmine Lee (MSU) def. #32 Rachel Pierson (A&M), 6-4, 6-0
2. #57 Rutuja Bhosale (A&M) def. #81 Georgiana Patrasc (MSU), 6-1, 6-3
3. #77 Saska Gavrilovska (A&M) def. #124 Louise Ronaldson (MSU), 6-3, 6-1
4. Martina Frantova (MSU) def. Eva Paalma (A&M), 7-5, 6-4
5. Anna Mamalat (A&M) def. Jennifer Brown (MSU), 3-6, 6-1, 6-3
6. #101 Stefania Hristov (A&M) def. Timea Guibe (MSU), 3-6, 6-2, 6-3
Doubles – Order of finish: 3, 1
1. #56 Paalma/Pierson (A&M) def. Martina Frantova/Georgiana Patrasc (MSU), 8-3
2. #80 Bhosale/Gavrilovska (A&M) vs. Jasmine Lee/Louise Ronaldson (MSU). 5-5 unfinished
3. Hristov/Anna Mamalat (A&M) def. Timea Guibe/Naomi Tran (MSU), 8-3
Team records:
Texas A&M: 9-4, 6-2 SEC
Mississippi State: 13-6, 3-5 SEC
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics