Texas A&M and Georgia Meet for Women's Division I Team Indoor Championship in Tuesday's Rematch of 2024 NCAA Final; Brantmeier Attorneys File Amendment to Include All College Tennis Players in Suit Against NCAA
Monday's semifinals at the ITA Women's Division Team Indoor Championships didn't have a promising start, with the Georgia Bulldogs cruising past Virginia 4-0 in just two hours. Georgia, the top seed at the Northwestern site, went up quick breaks in all three doubles matches and never looked back, with Virginia unable to get anything going once singles began. Playing once again without Elaine Chervinsky, normally at No. 1 doubles and No. 2 singles, the Cavaliers managed just one first set, at line three, and by that time it was already 3-0 Georgia. It was a race to the clinch for the Bulldogs, with Aysegul Mert beating Martina Genis Salas 6-3, 6-2 at line 4 before Dasha Vidmanova could close out Annabelle Xu at line 1.
Georgia reached the final in 2023, losing to North Carolina; their last Indoor title came in 2019, with the team led by Katarina Jokic and featuring freshman Maria Carle, now in the WTA Top 100.
Doubles:
1. Dasha Vidmanova and Mell Reasco(UGA) d. Karolina Kozakova and Melodie Collard(UVA) 6-0
2. Anastasiia Lopata and Guillermina Grant(UGA) d. Martina Genis Salas and Annabelle Xu(UVA) 6-2
3. Ayesegul Mert and Hayden Mulberry(UGA) v Margaret Navarro and Sara Ziodato(UVA) 4-4, unf.
Order of finish: 1, 2
Singles:1. Dasha Vidmanova(UGA) Annabelle Xu(UVA) 6-1, 5-2 unf.
2. Anastasiia Lopata(UGA) v Sara Ziodato(UVA) 6-4, 2-2 unf.
3. Isabelle Lacy(UVA) v Mell Reasco(UGA) 7-6(5), 2-1 unf.
4. Aysegul Mert(UGA) c Martina Genis Salas(UVA) 6-3, 6-2
5. Guillermina Grant(UGA) d. Melodie Collard(UVA) 6-0, 6-3
6. Sofia Rojas(UGA) d. Blanca Pico Navarro(UVA) 6-2, 6-0
Order of finish: 6, 5, 4
The nightcap was everything the first semifinal was not, it started out in similar fashion. Texas A&M, the No. 1 seed at the Illinois site, transitioned to the Northwestern site with no discernible problems, and had early breaks in doubles that they held on to to take a routine doubles point from No. 6 seed Oklahoma.
But Oklahoma immediately took control in the singles, with two quick wins by Emma Staker, the hero of the Sooners 4-3 quarterfinal win over Michigan on Saturday, at line 4 and Ava Catanzarite at line 6 putting them up 2-1. That didn't last, with Texas A&M taking lines 1 and 2 with Mary Stoiana and Nicole Khirin getting straight set wins to put the Aggies back in front 3-2 a little over two hours into the match.
But although Texas A&M led, they were far from a victory, with both Mia Kupres at 3 and Daria Smetannikov at 5 having lost the first sets of their matches with Sooner freshmen Salakthip Ounmang and Gloriana Nahum respectively.
Smetannikov had to save a match point serving at 4-5 in the second, after losing the first set 6-3 to Nahum, but she went on to take the set 7-5, giving Kupres a partner to shoulder the pressure. Kupres had just earned a third set, winning four straight games at one stretch in the second set after going down 2-0 at its start.
That same scenario played out in the third set, with Kupres coming back from 2-0 down again. At 4-all in that match, with Ounmang serving, Nahum went down with a cramp with Smetannikov leading 1-0, 30-all and received treatment throughout the game on the adjacent court. Kupres had two break points at 30-40, with Ounmang saving the first with a forehand winner, but on the deciding point, after a tense rally, she sent a forehand long, giving Kupres the chance to serve for the match.
The drama didn't end there, with Kupres falling behind 15-30, before taking the next two points to earn two match points. She only needed one, with a first serve getting a return error from Ounmang to send the Aggies to their first National Team Indoor Championship final.
Texas A&M[1] 4, Oklahoma[6] 2
Doubles:
1. Mary Stoiana and Lucciana Perez(TAMU) d. Cara Mester and Alina Shcherbinina(OU) 6-4
2. Daria Smetannikov and Mia Kupres(TAMU) d. Julia Garcia Ruiz and Chloe Noel(OU) 6-4
3. Salakthip Ounmang and Gloriana Nahum(OU) v. Jeanette Mireles and Nicole Khirin(TAMU) 5-4, unf.
Order of finish: 2, 1
Singles:
1. Mary Stoiana(TAMU) d. Julia Garcia(OU) 6-4, 6-0
2. Nicole Khirin(TAMU) d, Alina Shcherbinina(OU) 6-4, 6-3
3. Mia Kupres(TAMU) d. Salakthip Ounmang(OU) 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
4. Emma Staker(OU) d. Lucciana Perez(TAMU) 6-2, 6-2
5. Daria Smetannikov(TAMU) v Gloriana Nahum(OU) 3-6, 7-5, 2-0, unf.
6. Ava Catanzarite(OU) d. Lexington Reed(TAMU) 6-2, 6-2
Order of finish: 6, 4, 1, 2, 3
Tuesday's final, which will be broadcast at Cracked Racquets' YouTube Channel beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern time, is a rematch of last May's NCAA team final, which Texas A&M won 4-1. It's the first Indoor final for the same two teams from the previous year's NCAA final since Stanford beat Florida in both finals in 2010 and 2011.
Although there is unlikely to be any decision on this case for many, many months, there have been periodic developments in the lawsuit filed by North Carolina's Reese Brantmeier early last year against the NCAA's enforcement of its rules prohibiting tennis players from collecting prize money. Today, attorneys for Brantmeier and co-plaintiff Maya Joint have filed to include all college tennis student-athetes since March 2020 as plaintiffs. For more details, see this article from The Carolina Journal.
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