Mar 08, 2019
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 21 Texas A&M women's tennis team suffered their first conference setback, 4-2, at Tennessee on Friday. The Aggies fell to 14-2 on the year and 2-1 in SEC play while the Volunteers improved to 10-4 this spring and 1-1 against the league.
"Today was a tough match for the Aggies," Texas A&M women's tennis head coach Mark Weaver said. "We had a lot of close points that didn't go our way in both doubles and singles. At the end of the day, I felt that we fought extremely well and we were almost able to make a great comeback, but all credit to Tennessee for the energy that they brought after every point."
Tennessee claimed the doubles point to open the match, earning the, 1-0, advantage through victories on courts one and three. UT's Sadie Hammond and Kaitlin Staines, ranked No 8 nationally, topped the A&M duo of Jayci Goldsmith and Tatiana Makarova, ranked No. 31, by a score of 6-2. The Aggie pair of Renee McBryde and Katya Townsend bested UT's Maia Haumuller and Tenika McGiffin, 6-3, on court two. The point was clinched on court three in a tiebreaker by UT's Rebeka Meterna and Johanna Silva over A&M's Riley McQuaid and Lucia Quiterio.
The two teams split first sets in singles action, but Tennessee earned the first result from Silva on court three over A&M's Makarova, 6-2, 6-3, to take a 2-0 advantage. UT's Hammond, ranked No. 65, posted the third point of the day after besting A&M's Townsend, 6-2, 6-3, on the top court.
The Aggies reeled off the next two points of the match through straight-set wins by McQuaid and freshman Dorthea Faa-Hviding on courts five and six, respectively. McQuaid posted her 17th win in her last 18 matches with a 6-4, 6-3, triumph over UT's Ariadna Riley. Faa-Hviding followed with her team-best nine straight win on court six over McGiffin, 6-4, 6-3.
Tennessee clinched the match with a 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-3 win on court four by Meterna over A&M's McBryde.