No. 2 seed Auburn will meet No. 4 seed Texas A&M in the NCAA women’s tennis final after both teams survived tense semifinal rounds at the final site. Auburn beat No. 3 seed Ohio State 4-1, while Texas A&M edged No. 5 seed North Carolina 4-3 and then knocked off host team No. 1 seed Georgia 4-3 to reach the championship match.
The title match brings together two teams that arrived in different ways but with the same result. Auburn is ranked No. 1 in the ITA rankings and has looked like the more complete team through the bracket, built around two top 10 doubles teams and a pattern of taking the doubles point. Texas A&M, by contrast, has spent much of the season fighting from behind in doubles and usually drops that point, which has made every singles line matter even more. The Aggies still found a way to keep winning, and they did it with Lucciana Perez leading the way. The top player in the country is undefeated this season, and her 28-0 record includes the clinching win over Georgia’s Anastasiia Lopata in the semifinals. Perez also beat NCAA champion Reese Brantmeier before that decisive match, underscoring why Texas A&M has stayed alive in the biggest moments.
Auburn’s path has had its own pressure points. Senior Angella Okutoyi has not lost a match since February, giving the Tigers a steady presence in the middle of the lineup. Merna Refaat was benched in the quarterfinal against LSU because of matchup strategy, then returned to clinch the semifinal against Ohio State against one of the Buckeyes’ most consistent players. That kind of flexibility has helped Auburn stay on course for another piece of program history, even after D.J. Bennett fell 6-1, 6-0 to Ohio State’s Teah Chavez in the semifinals.
Texas A&M’s road has been just as revealing. Mia Kupres lost to North Carolina before bouncing back with a straight-set win against Georgia, while Ilinca Amariei dropped the first set in a tiebreak and the second set 6-1 against Georgia before the Aggies finished the job. The score lines show how thin the margin has been, but they also show the resilience behind Texas A&M’s run. Auburn has the stronger doubles profile. Texas A&M has proven it can survive a match even when it starts behind. That contrast should shape the final, and it leaves the championship hinging on whether Auburn’s depth and doubles edge can finally blunt Perez and the Aggies’ singles surge.
