{"id":104873,"date":"2026-05-17T07:26:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T11:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=104873"},"modified":"2026-05-17T07:26:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T11:26:19","slug":"ncaa-womens-tennis-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2026\/05\/17\/ncaa-womens-tennis-final\/","title":{"rendered":"Auburn Seeking Program History, Texas AM Finding Its Best Ahead of NCAA Women’s Tennis Final"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the NCAA women\u2019s tennis team tournament comes to a close, No. 2 seed Auburn has one more step to take to make yet another piece of program history this season. But No. 4 seed Texas A&M has been unrelenting and keeps coming out on top in close matches against high-quality teams.<\/span><\/p>\n

NCAA Women’s Tennis Final Preview: Auburn vs Texas A&M<\/h2>\n

Auburn is seeded second but is ranked No. 1 in the ITA rankings, and they\u2019ve played like it. They dismantled No. 3 seed Ohio State, 4-1, and haven\u2019t been in any real, serious doubt throughout this tournament.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, Texas A&M had to claw their way through the final site, with 4-3 wins over No. 5 seed North Carolina and host team No. 1 seed Georgia. They are battle tested, but perhaps their toughest test yet awaits in the form of Auburn. Each spot is crucial for both teams.<\/span><\/p>\n

Doubles<\/h4>\n

Texas A&M, simply, hasn\u2019t been a doubles team this season, and Auburn has. Auburn has two top 10 doubles teams and consistently has doubles as a point on the board, while Texas A&M dropping the doubles point has become the norm.<\/span><\/p>\n

The best chance Texas A&M has to take the doubles point is if Auburn comes out nervous, but Auburn has been steady in all its program milestones up until this point and has the tools to defeat Texas A&M\u2019s doubles teams.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

No. 1 Singles<\/h4>\n

Lucciana Perez, Texas A&M\u2019s top player and the No. 1 singles player in the country, is undefeated this season. She extended her win streak to 28-0 with the clinching win over Georgia\u2019s Anastasiia Lopata in the semifinals, a win that came after Perez\u2019 defeat of NCAA Champion Reese Brantmeier.<\/span><\/p>\n

Auburn\u2019s D.J. Bennett has been a great player throughout her college career, but she\u2019s coming off a 6-1 6-0 loss to Ohio State\u2019s Teah Chavez and hasn\u2019t won many matches lately. Going up against a red-hot Perez, Bennett can\u2019t afford to repeat that performance but very well may not have a choice. Perez hasn\u2019t lost yet, and it\u2019s hard to see her losing now. This spot is a huge advantage for Texas A&M.<\/span><\/p>\n

No. 2 Singles<\/h4>\n

Texas A&M\u2019s Mia Kupres suffered a lopsided loss against North Carolina, but bounced back to claim a crucial straight-set win against Georgia the very next day. Aside from the North Carolina loss, Kupres has looked solid all tournament and, like her team overall, is playing her best tennis.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She\u2019ll pose a tough test for Auburn\u2019s Ekaterina Khayrutdinova, but Khayrutdinova proved herself against Ohio State by holding off standout player Luciana Perry, going unfinished as she looked poised to send the match to a third set.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the last match between Kupres and Khayrutdinova, they split the first two sets before the match was abandoned, and it\u2019ll likely be just as close here. If the match does come down to a 4-2 or 4-3 decision, this could be a pivotal win.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

No. 3 Singles<\/h4>\n

Auburn senior Angella Okutoyi has been full of comeback wins but didn\u2019t need one in the semifinal as she dominated in her straight-set win. Okutoyi hasn\u2019t lost a match since February and is a consistent point on the board and leader for this Auburn team.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her opponent, Texas A&M\u2019s Ilinca Amariei, is coming off a tough loss against Georgia. She lost the first set in a tiebreak, then lost the second set 6-1, losing steam entirely. She has gotten crucial wins on the board for Texas A&M earlier in the tournament, but against a player as resilient as Okutoyi, she can\u2019t afford to lose control of the match.<\/span><\/p>\n

No. 4 Singles<\/h4>\n

In the quarterfinal against LSU, Auburn\u2019s Merna Refaat was benched due to matchup strategy. In the semifinal against Ohio State, she clinched the match against one of Ohio State\u2019s most consistent players. All season long, Refaat has slotted into the lineup wherever she is needed and, most of the time, has delivered.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Texas A&M\u2019s Lexington Reed notched quality wins in the Super Regional against USC and the quarterfinal against North Carolina, and against Georgia she lost to Emma Dong, one of the most consistent players of the season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Both Reed and Refaat have proven they can come through for their respective teams, but the last time these two played it was a straight-set win for Refaat.<\/span><\/p>\n

No. 5 Singles<\/h4>\n

Violeta Martinez clinched Texas A&M\u2019s win over North Carolina in a long, hard-fought three-set match. The very next day, she came back from a 6-1 first set loss for yet another three-set win. Martinez has shown that she shouldn\u2019t be counted out of any match and that she can deliver in high-pressure moments.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Auburn\u2019s Ashton Bowers has lost just two matches this spring season, but most of her wins have come in straight sets and she hasn\u2019t had the chance to finish out many of her three-set matches. Martinez\u2019s ability to push matches to three sets and finish them will give her an advantage, as Bowers isn\u2019t as experienced in those tight moments.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

No. 6 Singles<\/h4>\n

Both Auburn\u2019s Ava Esposito and Texas A&M\u2019s Daria Smetannikov pulled through with a win in the semifinals\u2014Esposito in dominant straight sets and Smetannikov in a turbulent three-setter. The last time they played, Smetannikov won in straight sets, but Esposito has looked strong all tournament long while Smetannikov has been more shaky.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Both players are seniors and will be playing the final match of their college careers, heightening the stakes. This spot is one that is very much up for grabs, and could certainly be an important difference-maker.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Clayton Freeman\/Florida Times-Union]<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the NCAA women\u2019s tennis team tournament comes to a close, No. 2 seed Auburn has one more step to take to make yet another piece of program history this season. But No. 4 seed Texas A&M has been unrelenting and keeps coming out on top in close matches against high-quality teams. NCAA Women’s Tennis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5769,"featured_media":67873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[2822,2830,2836,2835],"class_list":["post-104873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-news","tag-college-tennis","tag-ncaa-tennis","tag-ncaa-tennis-tournament","tag-ncaa-womens-tennis"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5769"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104873"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104876,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104873\/revisions\/104876"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}