TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- No. 5 Alabama beat No. 10 Texas A&M 4-1 on Friday night at the Alabama Tennis Stadium. With the win, the Crimson Tide improves to 17-3 overall and 9-1 in Southeastern Conference play, while the loss drops the Aggies to 14-5 on the season and 7-3 in league play.
Playing with a new doubles lineup, Alabama took a 1-0 lead heading into singles with wins on court Nos. 2 and 3. Erin Routliffe and Luicelena Perez had the most dominant win in doubles at No. 2 as they took down Anna Mamalat and Rutuja Bhosale 8-3. Texas A&M then evened the count as No. 39 Cristina Stancu and Stefania Hristov edged out Mary Anne Daines and Maya Jansen 8-6 at the top spot. Emily Zabor and Danielle Spielmann returned the favor with an 8-6 victory of their own on court No. 3, beating the Aggies' Jana McCord and Saska Gavrilovska.
In singles, Alabama jumped out to a 3-0 lead after wins from Routliffe and Perez. On court No. 3, No. 57 Routliffe dominated Hristov, 6-3, 6-3, while No. 80 Perez outlasted McCord, 6-3, 7-5. Texas A&M then collected its lone point of the match on court No. 2 two as Gavrilovska posted a 6-4, 6-3 victory against Spielmann. No. 82 Jansen then closed out the match for the Tide as she beat Bhosale, 7-6(3), 6-3 from the No. 3 spot.
