NCAA Update: Branstine Returns to Lead Texas A&M to Title

Photo : Texas A&M Women’s Tennis

Carson Branstine and Mia Kupres wrapped up the NCAA season as national champions with Texas A&M taking home the title in the team tournament. The Aggies defeated Georgia 4-1 in the final.

Texas A&M was seeded 13^th but managed to upset three Top 10 teams in a row to claim the title.

Branstine put a point on the board in the final for her school, teaming up with Lucciana Perez to win the No. 2 doubles match. The Canadian also was leading 5-0 in the third set of the No. 2 singles match when it was abandoned.

The 23-year-old senior returned to the Aggies late in the season, only playing her first match on April 21. Branstine has been playing more frequently on the ITF women’s tour and has won several titles over the last few months.

Back in the NCAA, she played lights out, going 5-1 overall in singles and winning all of her matches during the NCAA tournament, including two in the No. 1 position. She also clashed with fellow Canadian Annabelle Xu in the quarter-finals, but the match was abandoned.

Read also: Kupres the Leader Among Canadians

After a slow start to her season in doubles, Branstine and Perez came up clutch late in the NCAA tournament, winning each of their last three matches to help their school lift the trophy.

Kupres’ biggest contribution to the title run came in doubles, where she and partner Mary Stoiana went 4-1 as the No. 1 pair (with their match in the final being abandoned).

In the final against the seventh-seeded Bulldogs, Kupres and Stoiana were trailing 4-5 when the match was abandoned. The Aggies did not need that point, however, as they took the matchup 4-1.

Kupres also played some singles during the NCAA tournament but not all of them reached their conclusion. She was 2-1 in completed matches, although she lost to Anastasiia Lopata in the final against Georgia and had three other matches abandoned.

Chan Helps TCU to Championship

The men’s final pitted not only two schools with Canadian players against each other, but actually saw two Canadians clash as Duncan Chan of TCU battled Cleeve Harper of the University of Texas, Austin in the No. 3 doubles match in the final.

However, the Clash of Canadians was anticlimactic as it was abandoned with Harper’s pair leading 5-4.

Harper also played singles, winning the No. 6 singles match but in the end it was the No. 4 seeds TCU taking down Texas, seeded second, to claim the national title.

Chan only played doubles during the NCAA tournament but participated in every round. He won three, lost one, and had two abandoned matches including the final.

TCU caused a lot of pain to the top Canadians in the men’s tournament. In the semifinals, Justin Boulais’ Ohio State lost a 4-2 decision with Boulais winning the No. 2 doubles match but falling in the No. 1 singles.

A round earlier, TCU swept aside the Canadian-heavy Kentucky Wildcats, led by Canadian No. 1 Taha Baadi. Baadi, Joshua Lapadat, and Jaden Weeks, all of whom played singles and doubles for Kentucky but none were victorious. Baadi was beaten in both his singles and doubles matches, while Lapadat and Weeks each had one loss and one match abandoned.

Weeks lost to Chan in the No. 3 doubles match.

Flying Solo(ish)

The NCAA singles and doubles championships got underway this week.

Kupres is the only Canadian competing in both singles and doubles, teaming up with Stoiana in the women’s doubles.

Ariana Arseneault of Auburn and Melodie Collard of Virginia are also both competing in the women’s doubles.

Baadi and Boulais qualified for the men’s singles tournament, while Lapadat is playing in the doubles.

Click here to view all the Canadian rankings in the NCAA.

Written By

Pete Borkowski