Local Voices. Statewide Impact. Stay Informed with Georgia News
- Texas A&M upset top-seeded Georgia, winning 4-3 after a deciding battle on court 1.
- Lucciana Perez beat Anastasiia Lopata 6-1, 6-7, 6-3, overcoming cramps in a long, physical match.
- Anastasiia Lopata saved match points, took an injury timeout for cramps, and drew praise from coach Drake Bernstein.
- Texas A&M reached its third straight national final and will meet first-time finalist Auburn in the championship.
May 16, 2026Updated May 17, 2026, 12:46 a.m. ET
New year, new site, same high-stakes matchup for Georgia women’s tennis and Texas A&M.
They met in Stillwater, Okla. in 2024 and Waco, Texas in 2025 with a national title on the line with the teams splitting.
This time, the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens was the setting for a raucous, tight NCAA Championships semifinal on Saturday night May 16 that came down to a battle on court 1.
Texas A&M’s Lucciana Perez, the nation’s No. 1 player, held off a charge from Anastasiia Lopata to clinch the 4-3 win for the No. 4 seed Aggies over the top-seeded Bulldogs. It denied Georgia a chance to repeat as national champions.
That group laid it all out tonight,” Georgia coach Drake Bernstein said after meeting with his team after the match. It’s a special tournament having it in Athens and in this community. Never felt more proud to be affiliated with tennis at the University of Georgia.”Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!
Both Perez and Lopata battled cramps with Lopata taking an injury time out to get attended to by a trainer during the first game of the third set after staving off two match points in the second set.
Perez won 6-1, 6-7 (7-5), 6-3, nailing a backhand winner to tie the third set at 3 and then breaking Lopata’s serve. When Lopata hit the ball out to end the match, Bernstein gave her a hug on the court.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been more proud of a young lady and how far she’s come,” he said. It was a special effort saving the match points in the second. Just trying to find a way and summoning everything she had. She left herself out there tonight. …When she was returning, you could see the cramp bulging out of her leg. It was a heroic effort just to be out there.”
Said Perez: “I think we both got into the limit of our bodies. Every point was a 30-shot rally, it was so hard for both of us. I think it was just me in the morning, watching everyone on the team just cheering for you and just want to fight even harder.
Georgia beat Texas A&M for the NCAA title in 2025 in Waco 4-0 but the Aggies won the championship, 4-1, in 2024 in Stillwater, Okla.
Texas A&M (27-5) became the first team to reach three straight championship matches since Stanford from 2016-19. The Aggies returned to the courts after getting pushed until 12:25 a.m. Saturday in a 4-3 win against North Carolina in the quarterfinals.
It’s kind of nice to see the sails taken out of the crowd a little bit,” Texas A&M coach Mark Weaver said.
They will meet Auburn, playing in its first NCAA finals, at 7 p.m. Sunday.
Georgia (22-6) started strong by securing the doubles point—its fifth straight–with wins on court 1 with Lopata and Patricija Paukstyte, 6-2, and on court 2 behind Deniz Dilek and Aysegul Mart, 6-3.
Fans got loud and offered: “UGA! UGA!” chants to try to energize the Bulldogs when Texas A&M started strong in singles.
It paid off on court 3 where Texas A&M’s Ilinca Amariei’s was unnerved by the crowd and the Romanian lost a first set tiebreaker to Deniz Dilek 7-6 (7-3). Bernstein said fans were warned for talking in the middle of a point.
“It was a great atmopshere,” he said.
“Georgia has a 1,000 people behind their back, yelling and screaming,” Weaver said. “For us to (win), it’s just a miraculous effort.”
Dilek made it 2-0 Georgia by cruising 6-1 in the second set before Texas A&M’s Mia Kupres got a Texas A&M point with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Murt on court 2, but freshman Emma Dong soon made it 3-1 Georgia with a 7-6, 6-1 decision against Lexington Reed on court 4.
Violeta Martinez rallied for a 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over Georgia’s Sofia Rojas on court 5 to cut the lead to 3-2 and it was tied 3-3 when Aggie Daria Smetannikov got past Paukstyte 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 on court 6.
“You kind of add up the math there where there’s ways to make the comeback there,” Weaver said. I think all our girls did a great job of taking care of their court.”
Texas A&M returned to the courts after getting pushed until 12:25 a.m. Saturday in a 4-3 win against North Carolina in the quarterfinals.
Georgia beat Texas A&M in College Station on March 12, but the Aggies won the rematch in Athens late Saturday night.
In sports these days, I think a lot of time you see it in the College Football Playoff, you start to underestimate what it takes to get to these late rounds of a national championship,” Bernstein said. When they get to the point where a Final Four is a disappointment, I think it says a lot about the program and where it’s at. I don’t view tonight as a disappointment. I look back with pride.”
Read the full article on the original site
