Texas A&M women's tennis falls to Georgia in championship match
WACO, Texas — At about 7:43 p.m., Mary Stoiana stood alone.
As her teammates gathered to watch Court 6 and likely pray for a miracle, the All-American looked on, a statue stuck on Court 1.
It was the dying moments of a collegiate career fitting of a statue outside Aggieland’s Mitchell Tennis Center.
Yet, in that moment, Stoiana — a victor of 138 individual college matches and a national champion herself — was helpless after falling to Dasha Vidmanova in straight sets (6-4, 6-4) earlier on Sunday evening.
"I was just trying to keep the energy going, see if we could stay in it a little bit longer, but ultimately, it came down to how it ended," Stoiana said. "You got to just stay out there and try and keep your teammates going, even if you lost your match. Just get right back on the line. We came up short."
From across the Hurd Tennis Center, the Texas A&M legend saw freshman Lexington Reed's return sail wide to complete Georgia’s sweep of the Aggies in the national title match.
Only after the final point fell and Bulldog barks of joy rang out did Stoiana finally move.
Hugs of condolence from her fellow Aggies greeted her as Georgia celebrated its third championship some 50 yards away.
That's a feeling A&M knows all too well. Just 364 days ago, Stoiana led the Aggies to the program's first national title by beating the very same Bulldogs in Stillwater, Okla.
In 2025, they'll make an 89-mile trek back to College Station as the national runners-up.
"It's eight times we've played in the last two years," A&M head coach Mark Weaver said. "We got them last year in the big one. They got us this year in the big one. It sure felt a lot better last year. It doesn't feel so good right now, to be honest."
Now that its quest to repeat has officially been thwarted, A&M finishes the year 30-4.
With four losses, the Aggies were four points away from establishing a Maroon & White dynasty.
Instead, they never got particularly close to claiming a single point on Sunday.
"We've just had an amazing group of girls here. Just a super talented group," Weaver said. "We've done the things all the right way. We have nothing to be ashamed of.
"It feels awful, just being honest with you, but we can hold our heads high. What an amazing season we've had."
The Dawgs dominated doubles as Guillermina Grant and Anastasiia Lopata beat Reed and Daria Smetannikov, 6-2, before Aysegul Mert and Hayden Mulberry fended off Nicole Khirin and Lucciana Perez, 7-5.
From then on, the Aggies were chasing.
Stoiana was first to fall in singles as Vidmanova increased Georgia's edge to 2-0.
"It does sting a little to end my last match with a loss, considering how well I feel like I've done throughout my career," she said. "I know there's so much going for me still, and I'm super proud of everything I've accomplished. I'm going to try and hang on to that.
"Hopefully, we can just inspire people going forward. People coming to the team, seeing what we've been able to accomplish in the past, I think, is inspirational."
Prior to Stoiana's loss, Perez dropped a back-and-forth tiebreaker as Mert claimed a hard-fought first set 7-6 with the 11-9 decider.
That's when the momentum on a windy Sunday shifted to the red and black.
"They played the bigger points a little better than we did," Weaver said. "We won three first sets, and we were very unfortunate to not get four first sets. Lucciana played a great match out there. She was up in a set 40-love with four set points to win it. Missed a passing shot by an inch or two that she probably makes nine out of 10 times."
Stoiana fell at 7:30. Ten minutes later, Khirin dropped her third set to lose to Lopata (0-6, 6-4, 6-2).
At 7:48, the celebrations and lamentations began.
"She fought to the end," Weaver said of Reed. "They had a lot of momentum going, all across the board, and probably it ultimately caught up to us individually as well."
A rookie, Reed will be a key piece to future puzzles. As will Khirin and Mia Kupres, both juniors.
But Sunday isn't the time to fixate on next year's jigsaw.
Instead, A&M will mourn the finality of a career that leaves a legacy to build on.
"The Aggies have been pretty successful for going on close to 15 years now," Weaver said. "No one is ever going to be able to replace Mary Stoiana, but the future is still bright for our program."