The Texas A&M women’s tennis team improved to 4-0, defeating Texas State, 6-0, and Sam Houston State, 5-2, in a doubleheader today at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
Texas A&M and Texas State (0-2) agreed to start the match with singles, playing doubles only if necessary. The Aggies never trailed and won all six singles matches in straight sets, not giving up more than three games in a single set.
Freshman Dorthea Faa-Hviding was first off and gave the Aggies a 1-0 lead, winning her first nine games on the way to a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Alex Jones at the No. 4 line. Senior Domenica Gonzalez immediately followed with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Ana Perez at No. 1 to put the Aggies ahead, 2-0.
Senior Macarena Olivares jumped out to 4-0 leads in each of her sets against Julia Navajo-Melendez and went on to win 6-1, 6-1, on Court 2 to give A&M a 3-0 lead. Freshman Riley McQuaid then clinched the victory for the Maroon and White, cruising to a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Joy Chia Ming at No. 5.
The remaining two matches would be played out, with senior Eva Paalma winning seven consecutive games to close out a 6-3, 6-0 win over Rishona Israel-Lewis at No. 3 to put A&M up, 5-0. Freshman Iulia Ivascu then completed the shutout against the Bobcats, defeating Sofia Murcia-Rodriquez, 6-3, 6-3 at No. 6.
With the win, the Aggies improved to 19-0 in the all-time series against the Bobcats.
A&M opened the match against Sam Houston (1-1) by winning the first two doubles matches to be completed to take a 1-0 lead. Faa-Hviding and McQuaid were first off as they won four consecutive games to wrap up a 6-2 victory over Rosalie Gerritsen and Sahaja Yamalapalli at the No. 3 line.
Gonzalez and Paalma quickly followed and secured the doubles point with a 6-3 victory over Carrie Casey and Mila Milanovic at the No. 1 line. Ivascu and Olivares held a 5-2 lead over Fabienne Gettwart and Khee Yen Wee at No. 2 when play was stopped.
The Bearkats, whose first-year assistant coach is former A&M All-American Saska Gavrilovska, put up a good fight in singles and became the first team to get a point against the Aggies this season. A&M would win all three matches at the top of the lineup to clinch the point before SHSU got on the board.
Olivares, who entered the match riding a team-leading six-match win streak, fell behind early, dropping the first three games against Wee at No. 2. The Chilean then reeled off 12 consecutive games to win, 6-3, 6-0, and give A&M a 2-0 lead.
Paalma extended her win streak to six matches with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Yamalapalli at No. 3 to give A&M a 3-0 lead. Gonzalez then clinched the team victory, defeating Gettwart, 6-3, 6-4, at No. 1.
Lusine Chobanyan gave SHSU its first point with a win over Ivascu at No. 6. The Bearkat jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the opening set and managed to hold off Ivascu, 6-4. Chobanyan also won the second set, 6-4, getting a service break to close out the match.
McQuaid gutted out a 7-6 (3), 4-6, 10-8 victory over Milanovic at No. 5 to put A&M ahead, 5-1. McQuaid had fallen behind, 3-1, in the first-set tiebreaker as well as the third-set 10-point tiebreaker, but she rallied to win both.
Casey notched the final point for SHSU, defeating Faa-Hviding, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, at No. 4 to conclude the match.
A&M improved to 9-0 in the all-time series against the Bearkats.
The Aggies continue their seven-match homestand with a doubleheader against Liberty and Stephen F. Austin on Saturday, Feb. 3. The first-ever meeting against the Flames begins at noon, and first serve against SFA is slated for 4 p.m.
General admission seating for all regular-season matches is free this season.
