No. 2 Texas A&M swept by No. 7 Stanford in NCAA quarterfinals, 4-0

The end of the road.

No. 2 Texas A&M’s run in the NCAA Tournament was halted by Pac-12 regular season and tournament champs No. 7 Stanford, who swept the Aggies 4-0 in the quarterfinal round on Wednesday.

It was familiar for the Aggies as just last year, Oklahoma cut their season short in the quarterfinals, 4-3. 

It was unfamiliar for the Aggies as they had only dropped two matches prior to Wednesday night.

Texas A&M’s loss of the doubles point was the first damage done, as Salma Ewing and Jayci Goldsmith failed to clinch and dropped just their sixth doubles point in 33 matches this season. 

Heading to singles play, the Aggies faced a difficult challenge ahead but did not hesitate to fight.

Mary Stoiana asserted her willingness to punch back by taking the first set from Stanford’s Alexandra Yepifanova. Yet, the climb grew steeper as all the other Aggie singles dropped their first sets.

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

Securing the highest tournamet seed in program history, A&M holds a 26-match winning streak in SEC regular season play.

Goldsmith, who broke the program record for all-time doubles and singles wins this season, was put in an unfamiliar situation after dropping her first set but quickly posted a 6-3 victory to keep herself afloat.

Mia Kupres’ straight-set loss earned Stanford their first singles point of the night. The scratching and clawing continued, but the hole became too big for A&M to climb out of.

Goldsmith fell behind in her third set, and to conclude the match, Stanford’s Valencia Xu overpowered Daria Smetannikov in straight-set fashion.

The Maroon & White’s 2023 season is tied with last year’s quarterfinal loss as the second-farthest tournament run in Texas A&M women’s tennis history. In 2013, Howard Joffe led his squad to the NCAA Finals but fell just short of a national championship as Stanford took home the crown. 

Texas A&M was unable to get revenge this time around. 

A sweep stings, but head coach Mark Weaver and Texas A&M women’s tennis have boasted remarkable runs through the last two years. 

The past 24 months have consisted of back-to-back perfect records in conference play, back-to-back regular season titles, one SEC Tournament title and back-to-back trips to the NCAA quarterfinals.

Let’s not forget about their staggering 63-5 record during that time. 

The journey to Orlando may have been short-lived, but it shouldn’t hide A&M’s emergence as a consistent contender for a national title.