The passionate Aggie crowds cheering on the 11 players on the gridiron at Texas A&M football games are known as the 12th man – a term the school has embraced as a label for its fan base.

And on Friday afternoon in College Station, Texas, the 12th man became the soundtrack to the end of the Bruins’ season.

“The fans are tough, and the players are tough,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster. “We were prepared. We just couldn’t execute as much as we needed to to win this match.”

UCLA women’s tennis (18-9, 10-3 Big Ten) fell 4-2 to No. 2 seed Texas A&M (28-3, 14-1 SEC) on Friday afternoon at the Mitchell Tennis Center, ending the Bruins’ 2025 campaign while sending the Aggies to the quarterfinals and preserving their 16-0 home record this year.

The Aggies started doubles with Nicole Khirin and Lucciana Perez’s 6-3 win over sophomore Ahmani Guichard and junior Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer, and they clinched the point with Mary Stoiana and Mia Kupres’s upset 6-3 win over No. 14 seniors Kimmi Hance and Elise Wagle.

Texas A&M has opted for Friday’s pairs over the No. 25 tandem of Stoiana and Perez in recent matches – a roster change that has earned the team the double point in all its tournament games thus far.

“It’s always tough not getting the doubles point and starting from being down 1-0, because it really does make such a big difference,” Hance said. “We haven’t lost that many double points this year, so just taking it and bringing the energy from the first point of the singles to show them that we’re still fighting in it was our biggest thing.”

But the Bruins entered Friday 0-4 in matches where they dropped the doubles point, and securing four singles wins over a Texas A&M squad boasting some of the nation’s best singles talent proved difficult.

No. 31 Lutkemeyer – who has led UCLA on court one for most of the season – suffered a 6-0, 6-2 loss to No. 1 Maria Stoiana, who upheld her 47-0 record at home in her final College Station appearance.

Sophomore Bianca Fernandez made her 2025 tournament debut Friday and put the Bruins on the scoreboard with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Reed.

“I’ve done everything that I can do to prepare myself for the time that they choose to put me on court,” said Fernandez, who took Center’s typical spot on court six. “Not once did I feel nervous, not once did I feel, ‘Oh, I’m not ready to work.’ So I came in with a positive mindset that honestly, nerves or no nerves, I didn’t feel it. I just came in hungry.”

But with No. 62 Wagle dropping her match 6-1, 6-4 to No. 67 Kupres, the Aggies were on victory’s doorstep.

With No. 93 Hance’s 6-2, 7-5 win over No. 13 Khirin, the Bruins’ chances of a quarterfinals appearance rested in the hands of freshman Kate Fakih and Guichard.

Despite taking Perez to a 7-6(3) tiebreaker set in the first, Fakih lost the second 6-1 as the Aggies clinched the 4-2 victory.

“It was great for our freshmen to kind of be part of it, and just to see how intense it is and how tough it is to get to the final eight,” Sampras Webster said. “But I’m just proud of everyone, especially our seniors – they’ve really led us so much this season.”

While UCLA was unable to deter Texas A&M from its path to Waco, Texas, it still stands as one of four unseeded teams to reach the round of 16.

“I give UCLA a lot of credit,” said Aggies coach Mark Weaver to Texas A&M Athletics. “I knew it was going to be a tough match, and it ended up being a little tougher than I had imagined. They played really well today.”