The Texas A&M women’s tennis team closed out the home portion of its regular season schedule with a hard-fought 4-2 setback to 10th-ranked Ole Miss on Senior Day today at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
The Aggies (15-5, 5-4 SEC) came close to extending their winning streak to six with what would have been their highest ranked win of the season, but Ole Miss (15-5, 6-4 SEC) rallied back after dropping the doubles point to win four of five singles matches to be completed to get the victory.
A&M had one of its best performances of the season in doubles to take the early 1-0 lead. After the Rebels’ Sabina Machalova and Tea Jandric posted a 6-1 victory over A&M’s freshman duo of Tatiana Makarova and Riley McQuaid at the No. 2 line, the Aggies’ senior tandem of Domenica Gonzalez and Eva Paalma recorded its highest ranked win of the season, getting a service break to close out a 6-4 victory over seventh-ranked Arianne Hartono and Alexa Bortles at No. 1.
The doubles point came down to the No. 3 line, where A&M’s Macarena Olivares and Dorthea Faa-Hviding won three consecutive games to finish off a 6-3 win over Allie Sanford and Tereza Janatova, giving the Aggies a 1-0 lead.
Ole Miss, however, would win the first set on five of six singles courts, and the Rebels would go on to win the first three matches to be completed. Anna Vrbenska evened the team score after finishing off McQuaid, 6-2, 6-4, at the No. 4 line. Hartono, ranked 17th in the nation in singles, then gave the Rebels the 2-1 lead with a 6-4, 6-4 win over 119th-ranked Gonzalez at No. 1.
Jandric, ranked 82nd in the nation in singles, then put the Rebels ahead, 3-1, with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Paalma at No. 3.
Olivares put A&M within 3-2 and recorded her highest ranked singles victory with a hard-fought 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 win over 90th-ranked Machalova at the No. 2 line. Olivares clinched the victory just before Janatova finished off Faa-Hviding, 7-6 (4), 6-4, at the No. 6 line, securing the win for the Rebels.
Play was stopped at Court 5, where Bortles held a 6-4, 2-6, 5-2 lead over Makarova.
Ole Miss ran its overall win streak to four while picking up its first SEC victory over the Aggies since A&M joined the league in 2013.
The Aggies hit the road for their final four matches of the regular season, playing at No. 2 Vanderbilt on April 5, at No. 20 Kentucky on April 7, at No. 15 Auburn on April 13 and at Alabama on April 15. The SEC Tournament is April 18-22 in Knoxville, Tennessee.
