Following a stellar ITA National Team Indoor Championships semifinal run that saw it knock out two ranked opponents, No. 5 Texas A&M women’s tennis returned home to host the Lone Star Showdown against No. 10 Texas at the Mitchell Tennis Center on Sunday, Feb. 22.

The ability to limit errors and attack on the return was a huge key for the Aggies, forcing the Longhorns to play long matches before capturing the victory, 4-3.

Starting with doubles play on Court 5, A&M’s sophomore Lexington Reed and senior Daria Smetannikov illustrated incredible chemistry against Texas sophomores Salma Drugdova and Eszter Meri. Serving well was a key factor for the Maroon and White, as they were able to limit their errors and force the Longhorns to play on the run. A pair of sneaky volleys allowed the Fightin’ Farmers to break twice and claim the set, 6-2.

Court 3 saw the Aggies’ senior Violeta Martinez and freshman Ilinca Amariei fall against the Longhorns’ sophomore Carmen Herea and freshman Mathilde Ngijol-Carré. An error-filled set led to both teams giving up serve multiple times. While a volley followed by an overhead smash allowed the Maroon and White to get back on serve, errors on that following service allowed the Longhorns to claim the set, 6-4.

A&M’s No. 15 duo of senior Mia Kupres and junior Lucciana Perez demonstrated superb net-game skills and baseline consistency against Texas’ freshmen Christasha McNeil and Elizabeth Ionescu. The wall-like defense from the Aggies made it virtually impossible for them to be broken on serve. After the score reached 5-5, Kupres and Perez became unbeatable on their return, breaking the Longhorns’ love before holding serve to claim the first point of the day, 7-5.

Moving on to singles play on Court 2, No. 5 Perez proved to be on a different level than the Longhorns’ freshman Anastasia Abbagnato. Perez’s easy holds of serve and firepower on the return led to many errors from Abbagnato. Back-to-back breadsticks were handed out by Perez, as she dropped just two games in the entire match, 6-1, 6-1.

Martinez took advantage of her matchup on Court 5 against Texas’ freshman Kate Mansfield. The game plan was simple: attack the backhand and charge the net when Mansfield was out of position. This tactic worked on both the serve and return. Big returns and excellent defense from Martinez forced Mansfield to give up serve twice in the first set before falling in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.

No. 125 Smetannikov gave it her all on Court 6 against Ionescu. After dropping the first set, she quickly went down a break in the second set as Ionescu simply couldn’t miss. Her first ball after the serve proved to be deadly, which kept Smetannikov on the run.

However, after going down 1-4 in the second set, something snapped. Smetannikov began hitting fireball-like baseline strokes and served big, catching Ionescu before going on a four-game winning streak. Although a comeback seemed possible, Ionescu more than matched her energy as she would go on to win in a close straight sets, 6-4, 7-6.

A similar story took place on Court 4 between Reed and McNeil. While Reed failed to deliver in the first set, the second set changed the tide of the match as Reed handed McNeil a bagel in dominant fashion. However, in the deciding set, McNeil put Reed’s comeback hopes to rest as errors and baseline consistency from Reed became apparent, 6-3, 0-6, 6-2,

No. 35 Kupres and No. 3 Herea finished their intense matchup on Court 1. This matchup proved to be baseline warfare with both players refusing to break their consistency. Herea read Kupres easily in the first set, passing her whenever she came to the net and extending the court. However, the in-and-out forehand and approach volley from Kupres caught Herea by surprise, helping Kupres send the match into a third and final set.

Both teams refused to be broken, striking big serves before ripping baseline shots to keep themselves alive. While it seemed that Kupres had the upper hand late in the set, two cross-court forehands from Herea took the match to a tiebreak that she won, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5. 

With the score tied at 3-3, another three-set war presented itself on Court 3 between Amariei and Meri. The ball flew with topspin across the court as both players seemed to be locked in a stalemate. The first two sets were grueling as hutch-punching rallies took the breath from both players. In a deciding third set, Amariei proved to be more consistent, as double-faults and errors from Meri late in the match paved the way for Amariei to capture the fourth point and win for the Maroon and White, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

The Aggies will take the court again when they travel to Brownlee O. Currey Jr. Tennis Center in Nashville, Tennessee, to visit No. 28 Vanderbilt at 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 27.