Texas A&M University Team Page

Texas A&M's Cristina Stancu and Stefania Hristov concluded the fall season over the weekend, competing in the talent-laden USTA/ITA National Indoor Collegiate Championships at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Texas A&M’s Cristina Stancu and Stefania Hristov concluded the fall season over the weekend, competing in the talent-laden USTA/ITA National Indoor Collegiate Championships at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.
“Obviously anytime we play in an event, the object of the exercise is to challenge to win it,” A&M head coach Howard Joffe said. “In that respect, this wasn’t our best tournament. However, substantively, Stancu in singles and Stancu and Hristov in doubles played pretty good tennis and competed very hard. On that basis I am very pleased with what we got out of the event.”

Stancu, an automatic qualifier in singles after winning the ITA Texas Regional in Fort Worth last month, suffered a first-round loss in singles, falling to freshman Rachel Pierson of Virginia, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. A senior from Romania and listed 48th in the ITA preseason rankings, Stancu picked up a 6-3, 7-6 (1) victory over 104th-ranked Bianca Sanon of Columbia in the consolation round of 16 but was eliminated in the quarterfinals after falling to 18th-ranked Pluen Burgmans of Auburn, 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-1.

No. 8 in the preseason doubles rankings, Stancu and Hristov received an at-large entry into the doubles field and were issued a first-round bye. The Aggie tandem then fell to 46th-ranked Sarah Lee and Ronit Yurovsky of Michigan in the round of 16.

The Aggie tandem also fell to Hayley Cater and Jamie Loeb of North Carolina, 8-6, in the consolation bracket to conclude the tournament.

The tournament was the final competition of the fall season for Texas A&M, which resumes play January 17 at a tournament in Palm Springs, Calif. The Aggies then open dual match play January 25 as the 2013 NCAA runners-up play host to Mississippi State in the first round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend.

“Our fall has been superb in so far as winning tournaments and matches are concerned,” Joffe said. “However, the bigger storyline for me has been the frustrating injuries that have held us back from having any sense of ‘team’. We have the opportunity to get healthy and strong over the break and if we can organize ourselves in such a way that we accomplish this, I fully expect the 2014 edition of the Aggie women’s tennis team to be the upstart team that our competitors have grown to detest.”