Georgia Avenges NCAA Final Loss, Wins ITA Women's Division I Team Indoor Title Over Texas A&M; Draws for Men's D-I Team Indoor Feature Wake Forest and TCU as Top Seeds; US Open Radically Alters Mixed Doubles Event for 2025

The University of Georgia women got their revenge Tuesday night at the ITA Women's National Team Indoor Championships in Evanston Illinois, turning the tables on Texas A&M in the second consecutive major team championship played between the teams. 

Georgia had lost to Texas A&M 4-1 in last May's NCAA final in Stillwater, in a match moved indoors due to rain. Nine months later the Bulldogs prevailed by the same score, with 2024 fall NCAA champion Dasha Vidmanova clinching over Mary Stoiana at line 1.

Vidmanova had lost to Stoiana 6-1, 7-6(4) in the NCAA team final, but had won both the NCAA doubles title in May and the singles title in November since. There was no question that match would be pivotal to the outcome, and Vidmanova's 6-1, 7-6(5) victory provided some additional symmetry to the rematch.

Georgia had taken the doubles points with a quick 6-1 win at line 2 for Anastasiia Lopata and Guillermina Grant over Daria Smetannikov and Mia Kupres, and then a late break at line 1 that gave Vidmanova and Mell Reasco a 7-5 victory over Lucciana Perez and Stoiana.

Georgia took three first sets in singles, giving them a straight-sets path to four points and they got them, although with the requisite twists and turns that accompany most collegiate dual matches. 

Sofia Rojas, a transfer from Oklahoma State who was not on the team that made the NCAA final, gave Georgia a quick singles point, beating Lexington Reed 6-2, 6-2 at line 6 to record her fourth straight-sets win of the tournament.

Texas A&M's Kupres, who had clinched the Aggies 4-2 semifinal victory over Oklahoma last night, was serving for her match with Reasco at 5-3 shortly after Rojas posted her point, but Kupres was unable to close it out at line 3. Reasco then seized the momentum and served for the set at 6-5, but lost a deciding point to send it to a tiebreaker.

Stoiana had buoyed the hopes of Aggie fans with a break of Vidmanova at 5-all in the second set, putting herself in the position of getting into the third set that Texas A&M needed to extend the match. But serving at 6-5, she was broken at love, and once Mert closed out Perez 6-2, 7-5 at line 4 to give Georgia a 3-0 lead, that tiebreaker was the focus.

Kupres did win her tiebreaker with Reasco to get Texas A&M on the board, but Smetannikov dropped her second set to Georgia's Grant, providing Georgia with a little more breathing room.

Vidmanova took a 4-2 lead in the tiebreaker and extended it to 6-2, but she needed all four match points to seal the championship. Stoiana's return at 6-2 forced an error from Vidmanova and Stoiana came up with a dazzling drop volley-lob combination on the next match point. A confident Stoiana overhead made it 6-5, with Vidmanova getting her second match point on her serve, and unlike the first match point, she got her first serve in and blasted a forehand winner, putting that NCAA loss in the rearview mirror for all Georgia fans, and picking up a fifth National Indoor title for the trophy case.

Georgia[1] 4, Texas A&M[1] 1

Doubles:
1. Dasha Vidmanova and Mell Reasco(UGA) v Mary Stoiana and Lucciana Perez(TAMU) 7-5
2. Anastasiia Lopata and Guillermina Grant(UGA) d. Daria Smetannikov and Mia Kupres(TAMU) 6-1
3. Jeanette Mireles and Nicole Khirin(TAMU) v Ayesegul Mert and Hayden Mulberry(UGA) 5-4, unf

Order of finish: 2, 1

Singles:
1. Dasha Vidmanova(UGA) d. Mary Stoiana(TAMU) 6-1, 7-6(5)
2. Nicole Khirin(TAMU) v Anastasiia Lopata(UGA) 7-6(2), 4-4, unf.
3. Mia Kupres(TAMU) d. Mell Reasco(UGA) 6-1, 7-6(1)
4. Aysegul Mert(UGA) d. Lucciana Perez(TAMU) 6-2, 7-5
5. Guillermina Grant(UGA) v Daria Smetannikov(TAMU) 2-6, 6-4, unf.
6. Sofia Rojas(UGA) d. Lexington Reed(TAMU) 6-2, 6-4

Order of finish: 6, 4, 3, 1

The ITA Division I Men's Team Indoor Championships begin Friday, February 14th, and as with the women, will be playing the first three days at two different sites. The top two seeds at SMU, which is also the semifinals and final site, are Wake Forest and Virginia, leaving preseason No. 1 Texas as the likely quarterfinal opponent for the Cavaliers.  The top two seeds at Baylor are TCU and Ohio State, both of whom have recently lost to Texas and Wake Forest, respectively. Ohio State is the defending champion, having beaten TCU in a 4-3 nail-biter for the title.

Friday's first round matches at SMU:

(all times Central)

Virginia[2] v Michigan[7] 9 am

Texas[3] v Texas A&M[6] noon

Wake Forest[1] v SMU[8] 3:30 pm

Kentucky[4] v NC State[5] 6:30 pm

Friday's first round matches at Baylor:

Ohio State[2] v Central Florida[7] 9 am

Columbia[3] v Stanford[6] noon

Duke[4] v San Diego[5] 3:30 pm

TCU[1] v Baylor[8] 6:30 pm

I'll be on site at SMU covering the tournament beginning Friday (weather here in the Midwest permitting) and will be there throughout the tournament. Cracked Racquets will again be providing coverage from both sites at their YouTube channel.

The USTA announced today a major change to the mixed doubles competition this year, moving it to two days during qualifying week, reducing the draw size from 32 to 16 and prioritizing singles rankings in the selection of eight teams, while retaining eight wild cards. The tournament will also change formats introducing four-game sets prior to the final. The USTA's release on these changes can be found here. Prize money will increase substantially, with a million dollars going to the team that claims the championship.

Since this early morning announcement the reaction on social media has been mostly negative, with the consensus that this is changing a traditional major championship into an exhibition, and despite the monetary rewards, devaluing the title, opinions I share. 

For reactions from some of the top doubles players, including last year's US Open mixed champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori of Italy, see this article from Australia's Channel 7.