No. 2 Texas A&M women's tennis begins title hunt on Friday afternoon

The Mitchell Tennis Center is once again hosting the NCAA Tournament as No. 2 Texas A&M faces Quinnipiac on Friday afternoon. Ahead of the Aggies' first-round match, head coach Mark Weaver joined TexAgs Radio to share why his team is ready to chase a national title.

Key notes from Mark Weaver interview

• We have been working it all year for this weekend, and we did a great job on the scheduling. The ultimate goal is to be in the top eight seeds. We are home this weekend, so that is an advantage for sure. We were the No. 1 seed in our region and the No. 2 seed overall. North Carolina is the top seed, North Carolina State is the No. 3, and Georgia is No. 4.
   
• Usually, you can figure out the brackets before they come out, so we had a good time standing around for a while waiting for ours and seeing where everyone is placed.
   
• I had to look up Quinnipiac though. Mary Stoiana has heard of them as they are close to her hometown, so she told me a little bit about them. I had to look up a lot about them. SMU and Baylor will be here as well.
   
• It's in our hands, especially in the first few rounds on our home courts. That has pretty much been the message of our whole season. The two losses we had this year, I don't think we were necessarily outplayed. I don't think we handled the pressure of the moment all that well, but we were not outplayed.
   
• Let's get the Aggies out there to the Mitchell Tennis Center. We are hoping for a great crowd this weekend.
   
• It's been a journey. We had a great start to the season. The national indoors set the tone for the season. It gave us confidence. North Carolina is the favorite this year, and we had them on the ropes in their home. We had a great trip in Florida where we beat Ohio State. You know we had Carson Branstine go out early on in SEC play. That shook us up, but I think we responded well. This season has been brutal with all the traveling, but we took care of it. Yes, it was heartbreaking to lose to Georgia in the SEC Tournament, but it refocuses us and keeps us on our toes. I think it shook us up for the good.
   
• The last time we lost a home match was about two years ago. We have a big home-court advantage. We want to protect our home court and represent our fans well. As a group, we know how to play out the tough points, and we practice every day. We have a lot of confidence playing here.
   
• Being the SEC co-Coach of the Year feels great even though I haven't really had a chance to enjoy it too much yet. I couldn't have done it without Jordan Szabo, who is an all-star assistant coach. We just have a great group of girls that are very talented. They definitely make me look like I'm a good coach.
   
• Mary Stoiana had a great freshman year. She has taken it to another level and has barely lost a match. She is out playing opponents and plays with a lot of variety. She is an all-around great player.
   
• While we don’t know Quinnipiac too well, we do know SMU and Baylor. I think they will have a battle. I know Baylor beat SMU in the regular season, and we know their players quite well as well as their coaches. There should be some exciting matches this weekend.
   
• We have a nice blend in the roster. Jayci Goldsmith and Salma Ewing are both fifth-year seniors. Stoiana doesn't seem like a sophomore, but she is. We are going to be losing some great seniors, but we have some great underclassmen that will be here for a while and some great signees coming in as well.
   
• We can't look past any weekend. You can't get too caught up in the upsets. Every match is win or go home as they say. We want to take care of business when we get an opportunity to put a team away. We want to do that as well as stay healthy for the next day.