Texas A&M punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament semifinals when Israeli tennis star Nicole Khirin closed out a three-set win over Texas on Saturday. She immediately trolled her former team with a vicious ‘Horns Down‘ as soon as the match went final.
It was ruthless!
Khirin, 24, hails from Rishon LeZion, Israel. The 5-foot-6 junior often represented her home country as an amateur and reached a career-high WTA singles ranking of world No. 419 in 2022. Not long thereafter, she committed to play college tennis for the Longhorns. Yes, the Longhorns. Not the Aggies.
Khirin joined the University of Texas program as a freshman in the fall of that year. She went 16-6 in singles and 8-4 in doubles which led her to be named as the Big 12 Player of the Year and the Big 12 Individual Champion for No. 1 Singles— among other things.
Even though Khirin immediately became a breakout star in Austin, she shocked the tennis world by entering the transfer portal. It was an even bigger surprise when she committed to play at Texas A&M— the biggest in-state rival of her former program.
With that being said, the grass was indeed greener. Khirin secured a national championship for the Aggies during her sophomore season. She closed things out with the last singles match.
Now, eight months later, Texas A&M is two wins away from an ITA Women’s Indoor Championship. Nicole Khirin punched the Aggies’ ticket to the semifinals on Saturday with a win over the Longhorns.
THE FORMER LONGHORN SAWS EM OFF!!
— Ben Peck – ALL IN AGGIES 🤠👍 (@TheBenPeck) February 9, 2025
Nicole Khirin, who had the clincher in @AggieWTEN’s national championship last year, seals the win over Texas!! 🤘⬇️ pic.twitter.com/OZHndTrdke
If the win against Texas was not cold enough, she threw the ‘Horns Down’ hand signal directly in the face of her opponent as soon as the match went final. Savage.
Nicole Khirin closed out a win against her former school, now her biggest rival, and hit them where it hurt. Texas A&M will play Oklahoma in the semifinal. A win on Monday will put Khirin and the Aggies in position to win a college tennis national title for the second time in less than 12 months!