Texas A&M Women’s Tennis Headed to Third Straight NCAA Semifinals

News release from Texas A&M Athletics: 

The 4-seed Texas A&M Aggies advanced to their third consecutive NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship Semifinals with a thrilling 4-3 victory over the 5-seed North Carolina Tar Heels Friday evening at Magill Tennis Complex.

Violeta Martinez won the match with a thrilling victory on court 5. She topped the Tar Heels’ Anna Frey, 7-5, 5-7, 7-6(5).

Texas A&M (26-5) showed grit, responding from an early deficit to ticked off three straight wins to nose ahead 3-2.

North Carolina (27-4) briefly surged to a 2-0 advantage as No. 18 Ange Oby Kajuru was the first to record a singles result. She topped No. 50 Mia Kupres, 6-2, 6-2.

The momentum swung back toward Texas A&M as No. 1 Lucciana Perez prevailed in the marquee matchup against No. 2 Reese Brantmeier, 6-3, 6-1. With her victory over the reigning NCAA Singles Champion, Perez improved to 27-0 on the season, recording her sixth top 10 victory of year.

The match became a 2-2 stalemate when No. 71 Ilinca Amariei bested No. 42 Tatum Evans on court 3, 6-3, 6-2.

No. 106 Lexington Reed continued the charge with a straight set win on court 4. She claimed the first set, 6-4 and after falling behind 5-3, Reed rattled off four straight games to put A&M one victory from the semifinals.

The Tar Heels responded with a win on court 6. Thea Rabman nosed past No. 98 Daria Smetannikov, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, to turn all eyes to Martinez and Frey on court 5.

The pivotal doubles point came down to a tiebreaker on court 1. No. 9 Brantmeier/Alanis Hamilton gave North Carolina the early lead with a 7-6(1) victory over No. 11 Perez/Kupres.

UNC’s No. 5 Evans/Kajuru checked in with a 6-2 victory against Smetannikov/Reed on court 3 to start doubles. No. 35 Martinez/Amariei evened the keel with a 6-4 triumph over Zampardo/Susanna Maltby on court 2.

The Aggies face the No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs in Saturday’s 6 p.m. semifinal contest. It marks the third consecutive time the teams will meet in the NCAA Tournament. The last two seasons they met in the finals with A&M winning the title in 2024 and the Bulldogs responding with a victory in 2025.

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