Ags beat Michigan 4-1 to set up title showdown with Georgia in Waco

WACO, Texas — With grey skies surrounding the Hurd Tennis Center, Texas A&M faced a similar situation.

Would its semifinal match be halted by weather just as the quarterfinal was?

Or could the Aggies beat the rain to reach something that's...well...familiar?

The latter prevailed as the second-seeded Maroon & White beat No. 3 seed Michigan on Saturday in Waco, 4-1.

"It was a battle out there," A&M head coach Mark Weaver said. "We've played a million battles this season, so everyone's feeling it physically and mentally, but I think knowing that tomorrow is the last match and it's done... Whatever you've got left in the tank, you just got to bring it in all positions."

A&M's 11th consecutive NCAA Tournament victory sets up a championship grudge match with top-seed Georgia on Sunday at 4 p.m. CT.

On outdoor courts in 2025, the Aggies and Bulldogs have split a pair of matches, with UGA claiming the most recent meeting in the SEC Tournament finals.

"You have to enjoy this one quick, but you just have to try to shut your mind down tonight," Weaver said. "A lot of things kind of race through your mind when you're trying to go to sleep at night. We got to really enjoy this."

Georgia swept North Carolina earlier in the day on Saturday, while A&M had to labor a bit more vs. the Wolverines.

In earlier tournament victories over UCLA and Tennessee, the Aggies dropped the doubles point.

However, that familiar fate did not replicate on Saturday.

The pairing of Lexington Reed and Daria Smetannikov defeated Reese Miller and Julia Fliegner 6-4 to even doubles play at 1-1.

"It was just all heart," Nicole Khirin said. "We knew that doubles was important, so we kept fighting."

With attention focused on Court 5, controversy arose as Khirin and Lucciana Perez appeared to break serve and go up 5-4 on Piper Charney and Emily Sartz-Lunde.

However, A&M assistant James Wilson's celebration might have cost the Aggies the break.

"In four-all, 40-all, she hit the ball out, and Coach James said 'Come on' before the ball landed, but it was kind of obvious that the ball was going out," Khirin explained. "The main thing was to go out there and keep fighting because we knew how important it was."

Nevertheless, Khirin and Perez rebounded, earned yet another break and won the match 7-5 as A&M assumed a 1-0 lead.

In singles play, the rookie Reed breezed to a straight-sets victory on Court 6, dominating Jessica Bernales (7-5, 6-0) as the Aggies took a 2-0 advantage.

While Perez fell to Sartz-Lunde in straight sets (6-2, 6-4), Mia Kupres won a second-set tiebreak to beat Lily Jones (6-4, 7-6).

"She did a great job of resetting and played a very confident tiebreaker and really won the tiebreaker rather decisively," Weaver said. "Credit to Mia. She looked like she was really staying in the moment out there.

Callie Garner, TexAgs

Mia Kupres’ straight-sets victory on Court 3 gave Texas A&M a 3-1 lead. The junior from Edmonton needed a tiebreaker in the second set to beat Lily Jones.

"You could kind of start to see the finish line there, and that just gives the team a lot of confidence overall when you see that kind of scoreboard momentum."

With Smetannikov playing — and ultimately winning — a tiebreak to force a third set on the court next to her, Kupres' 7-3 win put the Aggies on the brink of a second straight berth in the title match.

As the Ags assumed a 3-1 edge, the pro-A&M crowd watched as sunshine was replaced by threatening clouds and rumbles of thunder in the distance.

"When it started to cool down and get dark, I actually asked the head referee out there, 'What's the weather looking like,' and they said, 'You got about 20 minutes to finish it out here,'" Weaver said. "At that point, I think Nicole was up 3-1 in the third, and I think Mary was getting close to getting up 3-1 in the third.

"I was hoping we'd get across the finish line or at least get pretty close to the finish line."

This time, no delay was necessary.

With little time to spare, all A&M required was a third-set victory from one of Khirin, Mary Stoiana or Smetannikov.

And just as it was last May, the Israeli outraced Stoiana to the finish line.

"My mindset was like I have to do a repeat like last year to clinch for the final," Khirin said. "We tried to race each other, and it's just really nice to see that Mary's also up, and she's giving me confidence. If I'm not gonna get it, she's gonna get it."

With Khirin's triumph in the third set (5-7, 6-3, 6-1), the Aggies will meet Georgia for the eighth time across the last two seasons.

Once more, the two SEC giants will play for the biggest prize in college tennis.

Again, another showdown awaits.

"We played them four times last season. This will be the fourth time this season," Weaver said. "We've played them in so many big matches, so it's been a pretty amazing rivalry. One against two. To be able to do it again, it's pretty exciting."