No. 1 Bulldogs Fall to No. 4 Texas A&M in NCAA Semifinal

Saturday, May 16

Athens, Ga.

7 p.m.

University of Georgia

Texas A&M

No. 1 Bulldogs Fall to No. 4 Texas A&M in NCAA Semifinal

May 17, 2026 | Women's Tennis

ATHENS, Ga. — The No. 1 Georgia women's tennis team (22-6, 12-3 SEC) fell in the NCAA Semifinal to No. 4 Texas A&M (27-5, 13-2 SEC) 4-3 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on Saturday night.

Fast Facts

Georgia started strong in the doubles session as No. 19 Anastasiia Lopata and Patricija Paukstyte defeated the nation's No. 11 doubles pair of Lucciana Perez and Mia Kupres, 6-2, on court one.
No. 4 Deniz Dilek and Aysegul Mert clinched the Bulldogs fifth consecutive doubles point with a 6-3 victory over Violeta Martinez and Ilinca Amariei on court two.
No. 64 Dilek gave Georgia a 2-0 lead with a 7-6(3), 6-1 victory over No. 71 Amariei on court three.
Texas A&M earned its first point on court two as No. 50 Kupres defeated No. 7 Mert, 6-4, 6-2.
No. 93 Emma Dong put the Bulldogs back in front with a 7-6(1), 6-1 victory over No. 106 Lexington Reed on court four.
Texas A&M defeated Georgia in three sets on courts five and six to even the score at 3-3.
The match came down to a deciding third set on court one in which No. 1 Perez took down No. 19 Lopata 6-1, 6(5)-7, 6-3 to clinch the match for the Aggies and send Texas A&M to the NCAA Championship Finals tomorrow.

Results
Doubles:
1. #19 Anastasiia Lopata/Patricija Paukstyte (UGA) def. #11 Lucciana Perez/Mia Kupres (TAMU): 6-2
2. #4 Deniz Dilek/Aysegul Mert (UGA) def. #35 Violeta Martinez/Ilinca Amariei (TAMU): 6-3
3. Emma Dong/Anastasiia Gureva (UGA) vs. Daria Smetannikov/Lexington Reed (TAMU): 4-5, unfinished

Singles:
1. #1 Lucciana Perez (TAMU) def. #19 Anastasiia Lopata (UGA): 6-1, (5)6-7, 6-3
2. #50 Mia Kupres (TAMU) def. #7 Aysegul Mert (UGA): 6-4, 6-2
3. #64 Deniz Dilek (UGA) def. #71 Ilinca Amariei (TAMU): 7-6(4), 6-1
4. #93 Emma Dong (UGA) def. #106 Lexington Reed (TAMU): 7-6(1), 6-1
5. Violeta Martinez (TAMU) def. #81 Sofia Rojas (UGA): 6-1, 5-7, 3-6
6. Daria Smetannikov (TAMU) def. Patricija Paukstyte (UGA): 6-3, 2-6, 7-5

Order of finish: Doubles (1, 2) ; Singles (3, 2, 4, 5, 1).

Key Quotes:
Head Coach Drake Bernstein

Opening Statement
"Huge thanks to Athens and UGA and this entire tennis community for making this one of the most special weekends of these ladies' lives. I couldn't begin to say how proud I am of this team and the way that they competed, start to finish. Heart breaks for [Anastasiia Lopata] there. Saving match points in the second, fighting all the way through and giving herself a chance there in the third. Doing whatever she could to stay alive against what's really the best player in the country. Really proud of this team. Really proud of the fight that we showed tonight."

On the team's progress this year...
"I think you saw out there tonight how far this team has come. The competitiveness and composure down the stretch. It's a big stage and we did everything we could to give ourselves a chance to play one more day in front of the greatest fans in the country and on the greatest stage in the country. Again, really proud of these ladies. I know that this one's going to sting all of us for a bit, but I hope that in due time we're all able to look back and smile at these memories and the effort that we laid out there tonight."

On what he wants his team to know...
"That I love them. That this tennis community loves them. It's evident that there's something special in the air here in Athens around these courts and this facility. I like to think of that as love of some sort of capacity. You can't really define it, but I hope that everybody that was a part of this Georgia experience this weekend felt that sort of love in some kind of way."

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