Sweet 16 bound! A&M beats UCSB as run continues in NCAA Tourney
Business as usual.
On Saturday evening, No. 2 seed Texas A&M disbanded the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos at Mitchell Tennis Center, 4-1.
The Aggies are headed to the Sweet 16 for a sixth consecutive year.
“Getting into the next round is always good,” A&M’s Lexington Reed said. “That’s what we want to do.”
After a 4-0 sweep of Quinnipiac on Friday, Mark Weaver’s reigning national champions had to battle to put away the feisty Gauchos in the second round.
“I’m pleased to advance to the Sweet 16. It’s not easy to do,” Weaver said. “There’s some extra pressure out there, whether people want to recognize it or not.”
Reed/Daria Smetannikov on Court 3 and Nicole Khirin/Lucciana Perez on Court 5 clinched the doubles point for the Aggies by winning 6-2 and 6-0, respectively.
Heading into singles with a lead, it was the bottom of A&M’s roster that continued the momentum, with Smetannikov winning in straight sets on Court 5 to go up 2-0.
The top half of UCSB’s roster made the Aggies work in the first set, with both Mia Kupres and Mary Stoiana finding themselves in tiebreakers.
Kupres won an unreal 11-9 tiebreak to take her opening set 7-6. Khirin brought home another point in straight sets, and Perez fell in straight sets as the Maroon & White found themselves with a 3-1 lead as the action slowed down into the night.
UCSB’s Amelia Honer gave Stoiana a run for her money on Court 1, following a similar story to when these two met at the ITA All-America consolation semifinals. Stoiana won a back-and-forth match with a decisive 7-5 third set earlier this season, and she got the best of Honer again, winning a tiebreaker to take Set 1.
Court 1 set the stage for an epic showdown between two of the top-20 singles players in the country, according to the ITA Rankings.
Needing just one more win to advance to the Sweet 16, Stoiana battled with another thriller in the second set, but it was Reed who ultimately sealed the deal.
“I’m alone on Court 6 sometimes because the entrance is on the other side,” Reed said. “It was really nice to see more people coming and cheering me on. That was my first time clinching, so that was fun.”
After splitting the first two sets, Reed dominated the third and final set 6-2 to send the Aggies into the next round.
“Lexington did a great job staying focused and getting across the finish line as a freshman to advance to the Sweet 16,” Weaver said. “That’s a great job by her to be composed.”
A&M’s hunt to defend its national title continues next weekend at the Mitchell Tennis Center against the UCLA Bruins on Friday, May 9, at 2 p.m. CT.
“I’m very proud of the consistency of the program,” Weaver remarked. “We’ve done it with different players and different coaching staffs, so I’m pleased we can make the Sweet 16 again. I’m proud of that achievement.”
Survive and advance!
