The Branstine Effect: Bringing a National Championship to Aggieland

STILLWATER, Oklahoma (KBTX) - The Texas A&M women’s tennis team finally broke through and won a national championship, thanks in no small part to senior Carson Branstine.

”Everything played out just like a storybook,” Texas A&M head coach Mark Weaver explained. “She’s a huge reason why we won the national championship,” Weaver added.

In early April, Branstine was competing on the pro circuit, but with eligibility left, the senior rejoined the team in time for postseason play.

“I came back to College Station just to visit the girls cause I missed them so much and immediately when I landed I was like what am I doing? I need to come back to my team,” Branstine said. “I told Coach Weaver I want to come back and let’s win a championship. We finally did it and it feels amazing,” Branstine added.

“We already had such a great lineup of girls before she came, but then she came and it kind of just gave us that extra boost,” A&M women’s tennis junior Mary Stoiana said. “She’s such a great player and brought a lot of great energy to the team and great fire power. I can definitely see how the addition of her helped us get over the finish line,” Stoiana added.

“We probably would have had a shot to win it all last year,” Weaver said. “I know that hurt Carson. She took that hard,” Weaver added.

Over the past couple of years, Branstine competed as the Aggies’ number one and eventually number two player, but her career has been riddled with injuries.

“For her to go through the surgery, she used that to make her stronger,” explained Weaver. “She’s playing the best tennis of her career. Once she decided she wanted to come back and do this, she wanted more, she wanted to rewrite the story,” Weaver added.

“Last year my season was cut short,” recalled Branstine. “I wasn’t able to finish because of hip surgery. I felt like my job wasn’t finished here. I knew we had the talent. I said, you know what? I’m going back. I’ve got to finish the job. And we did it,” Branstine added.

Branstine will finish her time in Aggieland knowing she completed the comeback.

“I want to celebrate this one with my teammates, with my family, with everyone in Aggieland, so I’m going to embrace this moment as long as I can,” Branstine exclaimed. “You’ll see my back on the professional tennis tour,” Branstine added.

Branstine and Lucciana Perez clinched the doubles point over Georgia in the national title match. She led in her singles match, 6-2, 5-7, 5-0 when the Aggies won.