Mar 15, 2019
COLLEGE STATION – Texas A&M freshman Renee McBryde clinched Texas A&M women's tennis, 4-2, upset over No. 4 Vanderbilt Friday evening at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center. With the win, the Aggies improved to 15-3 this spring and 3-2 against the rigorous SEC schedule, the Commodores fell to 9-4 on the year and 4-1 in the league.
"I am thrilled with the effort and execution from the team tonight," Texas A&M women's tennis head coach Mark Weaver said. "We have spoken to the team about belief several times and there is no doubt that became a factor there as we were trying to close out this great win. This effort started early in the week on the practice courts after a really tough road trip last weekend. We had a good match at Tennessee, but then we followed that up with our lowest day of the year at Georgia. We took a step back and looked ourselves in the mirror and decided how we wanted to respond. We had an incredible week of practice and came out and played an incredible match today."
McBryde, from Wollongong, Australia, outlasted No. 32 Amanda Meyer of Vanderbilt to deliver the fourth and final point of the night for the Aggies. After taking the first set 7-6(3) in a tiebreaker, McBryde bounced back from a difficult 6-3 setback in the middle set. The A&M freshman faced defeat down 4-5 in the third set, but rallied off three straight games to clinch the victory and earn the first ranked win of her collegiate career.
"Going into the doubles it was really important for us to come out and play well," McBryde said. "We were really solid in doubles and that put us one step closer to the win. My confidence was boosted from that doubles match and I was ready to play in singles. That match was a grind and in that third set I just decided to be a brick wall and get every ball back. I played every shot with that mentality, going into those final games with that in mind I was able to reduce my unforced errors. Once the team came rushing over and celebrated I felt on top of the world."
The Maroon & White got off to a great start in doubles action after waiting out a 30 minute delay due to a brief hail storm rolled through Bryan/College Station. The A&M duo of Riley McQuaid and Lucia Quiterio topped Vandy's 30th ranked duo of Summer Dvorak and Fernanda Contreras, 6-3, on doubles court three. The ranked win was the first for the A&M duo this season and improved their record to 4-2 as a team. A&M clinched the point through a 6-4 win by McBryde and Katya Townsend on court two over the Commodore tandem of Georgia Drummy and Christina Rosca, ranked No. 51 nationally. McBryde and Townsend improved to 7-2 on the year and 2-0 against ranked duos.
Townsend followed up the ranked doubles win with the highest ranked win by an A&M freshman in program history. Townsend topped No. 3 Contreras 6-2, 6-0 on court one to put A&M up 2-0. The win matches the highest ranked win by any A&M player ever, in 2013 Christina Sanchez-Quintanar topped No. 3 Robin Anderson of UCLA in the NCAA Semifinals.
"We have been working really hard all year and this win shows that hard work really pays off," Townsend said. "I had a couple close matches last weekend and I wanted to work hard out of those moments. I knew I needed to stay focused and make every point matter."
A&M's McQuaid tallied the third point with a dominating 6-3, 6-3 win on court five over Vandy's Carolyn Campana. The win was the sixth straight for McQuaid and the 18th and her last 19 matches. The sophomore paces the Aggies with a 23-3 overall record this season and a 15-1 dual record.
Vanderbilt earned points from wins on court two and three to tighten the match up at 3-2 in A&M's favor. No. 8 Rosca bested A&M's Jayci Goldsmith, ranked No. 100, 603, 7-6(6) and No. 67 Drummy topped A&M's Tatiana Makarova 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-0.