On Thursday, April 20, the Texas A&M men’s tennis team traveled to Auburn, Alabama, with the first serve at 6 p.m. at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
The Aggies ended their regular season 12-3 after an impressive win over No. 17 Auburn and Incarnate Word. After being knocked out in the second round of the SEC Tournament last season, the Aggies were determined to go farther.
The first match for No. 21 A&M was against No. 71 Vanderbilt. The Aggies started out strong in doubles play, with junior duo Matthis Ross and Pierce Rollins winning 6-3 on Court 1. The Aggies took a nice lead with another 6-3 victory from another junior duo, Raphael Perot and Kenner Taylor on Court 3.
On Court 6, Vanderbilt was able to even the score during singles play. Perot faced Commodore freshman Nathan Cox, who continued to trade games until Perot turned on the heat and claimed the victory match 6-2, 6-2. This put the Aggies at a 2-1 lead.
Singles play continued on Court 6 with Aggie sophomore JC Roddick versus Commodore fifth-year Macsen Sisam. Roddick battled for the win after starting the opening set slowly. He came back with a 6-3 win and claimed the point for the Aggies with a 7-5 victory in the second set.
The final point came down to singles play between Aggie sophomore Giulio Perego and Commodore senior Joubert Klopper. The opening set was won 6-2 by Klopper putting the pressure on Perego for the second set. Perego did not disappoint the Aggies as he claimed a 6-4 victory. This meant a tiebreaker set would have to take place in order to see who can take their team to the quarterfinals. Perego made up for his loss in the first set and was able to claim the match over Klopper 6-1.
The Aggies earned a 4-3 win over Vanderbilt and advanced to the quarterfinals on Friday versus No. 6 South Carolina.
A&M did not have an ideal start after the Gamecocks came out strong in doubles play. The Aggies turned the game around once Roddick claimed back to back 6-1 victories against graduate student Jake Beasley.
On Court 4, Aggie senior Trey Hilderbrand continued the singles play momentum with another match point for A&M. Ross put up a fight on Court 5 and claimed another win for Aggies.
A&M senior Guido Marson won the final match for the Aggies (4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1). This locked in the victory for A&M 4-2 and sent them into Saturday for the SEC Semifinals against No. 1 Georgia.
Saturday consisted of a constant battle for the Aggies at their attempt to defeat the Bulldogs.
In doubles play, Hilderbrand and Roddick were getting their momentum up until the game was left unfinished 3-4.
Rollins and Bulldogs senior Philip Henning went back and forth and ultimately tied in the second set but the match was left unfinished.
Marson lost an opening set but came back strong in the second match 4-1 before it was left unfinished.
The A&M men’s tennis team will play on May 5-6 at the NCAA 1st and 2nd Rounds in hopes of redeeming their SEC title loss.