• Posted by Admin
• Date : 19 May 2022

Print Save Seventh-ranked Texas A&M will meet second-ranked Oklahoma at 7 p.m. Friday at the NCAA womens tennis tournaments quarterfinals at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Urbana, Illinois. The matchup is the lone one of the Elite Eight featuring 30-win teams. The Sooners (30-2), who are making their first quarterfinal appearance, won the Big 12 Conference regular-season title but lost to fourth-ranked Texas in the leagues tournament title match on April 24. Oklahomas other loss was to North Carolina in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship on Feb. 14. The lone loss by A&M (33-1) also came at the ITA event as the Aggies lost 4-3 to California in the first round. They have won 24 straight since, going 13-0 in the Southeastern Conference during the regular season and also winning the leagues tournament. A&M has had eight shutouts and held nine other opponents to only one point. The Aggies have had only a pair of 4-3 victories during the winning streak. Five of their players have at least five match-clinching points led by freshman Mary Stoiana with 10. People are also reading College Station man arrested for drug dealing We need everybody, because its going to be a fine line in the next match against Oklahoma, A&M head coach Mark Weaver said after A&M swept Vanderbilt 4-0 to reach the quarterfinals for the second time in program history. Well need all the girls at all the positions feeling good about themselves, and theres no reason why we shouldnt at this point. A&M graduate Tatiana Makarova, ranked 24th, is 27-0 in dual-match singles. Shes complemented by 74th-ranked Stoiana (26-2), senior Jayci Goldsmith (25-2), freshman Gianna Pielet (18-8), eighth-ranked junior Carson Branstine (17-7) and freshman Jeanette Mireles (12-4). In doubles, sixth-ranked Goldsmith and Makarova are 24-2, 47th-ranked Branstine and Stoiana are 20-3 and senior Renee McBryde and Pielet are 12-1. Confidence is the trend of our team, Branstine said. We all work so hard day in and day out. The confidence didnt come from nowhere. We put in the work every single day, and we push each other. We are all super close on and off the court, and thats made us the team we are. The Aggies went 21-8 last year, including 9-4 in the SEC to tie LSU for third place behind Georgia and Florida. The Aggies lost to Florida State in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. Branstine, a transfer from Virginia, helped change the complexion of the team along with the freshmen. Our mission all year has been to win the national title, Weaver said. Oklahoma is led by 10th-ranked junior Layne Sleeth, a Florida transfer who is 26-8 in singles this season. Junior Carmen Corley is ranked 53rd in singles, freshman Anchisa Chanta is 64th and senior Ivana Corley is 97th. The Corley sisters are 10th in doubles. NOTES The A&M-Oklahoma winner advances to play the winner of No. 3 Duke (22-3) vs. No. 6 North Carolina State (26-5). The other quarterfinal matches are No. 1 North Carolina (27-2) vs. No. 8 Pepperdine (23-6) and No. 4 Texas (23-4) vs. No. 5 Virginia (23-5). ... A&Ms other Elite Eight appearance came in 2013 also at Illinois, when the Aggies reached the title match and lost to Stanford.