The No. 10 Texas A&M men’s tennis team conquered its doubleheader of the Ole Miss Rebels and the Lamar Cardinals on Sunday, March 10 at the Mitchell Tennis Center.
The Aggies and Rebels have quite the history, but A&M holds the crown with 10 wins to Ole Miss’ six. The Aggies were up and at ’em early in their first match of the day.
The first victorious duo from the Maroon and White was juniors Luke Casper and JC Roddick, who took down the Rebels’ combo of freshman Carson Baker and senior John Hallquist Lithen, 6-3.
Roddick and Casper have built a good amount of chemistry throughout the season as the two hoist a doubles record of 6-2.
The unfamiliar Aggie combination of freshman Tiago Pires and graduate Kenner Taylor secured the point for A&M, defeating the Ole Miss duo of sophomores Noah Schlagenhauf and Isac Stromberg, 6-4.
A&M took the momentum it built in doubles right into singles play, winning the first three matches to guarantee the conference victory. No. 118 sophomore Togan Tokac kicked off the singles victories as he defeated Stromberg, 6-3, 6-2.
To make it 3-0 for the Fightin’ Farmers, No. 116 junior Giulio Perego took down senior Lukas Engelhardt, 6-3, 6-3. Perego earned his 11th singles win of the season, which leads all other Aggies.
Next, with the match on the line, Casper got the win for A&M, beating Baker, 6-2, 6-2. With the score reading 4-0 in favor of the home team, the remaining games played out.
To finally get on the board for Ole Miss, Schlagenhauf defeated Pires 3-6, 5-2 WR. Then, No. 64 Roddick took down Hallquist Lithen, 6-3, 6-3.
The final faceoff of the first match on the day saw the Rebels’ senior Nikola Slavic upset the Aggies’ No. 36 senior Raphael Perot in three sets, 3-6, 7-5, 10-8.
The win gives A&M a SEC record of three wins and one loss, putting it in third place in the conference standings.
The next match of the day against Lamar saw the Aggies bring out the brooms, not letting the Cardinals earn a single point on their visit to College Station.
Sophomore Ethan Silva and sophomore Lathan Skrobarcek kicked things off in the win column for the Aggies as they took down the Cardinals’ sophomore Joan Crespo and junior Martin Garcia-Ripoll, 6-2.
Earning the point for A&M was the freshman duo of Grant Lothringer and Brayden Michna, who defeated Lamar’s junior Haruki Omori-Cowie and senior Brandon Do, 6-2.
This gave the Aggies a 1-0 lead entering singles play, where the momentum stayed on the side of the Maroon and White. The first victorious Aggie was Silva over Crespo in two quick lopsided sets, 6-0, 6-2.
Next, Taylor defeated Do in two rapid sets, 6-1, 6-2. Securing the victory in the second leg of Sunday’s doubleheader, Casper defeated junior Max Amling, 6-2, 6-1.
The remaining matches saw all Aggies earn a plus-one in the win column. Michna defeated Garcia-Ripoll in just two sets, 6-4, 6-4. Then, Skrobarcek took down Omori-Cowie in two highly competitive sets, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-1).
Finally securing the sweep for A&M, Lothringer defeated freshman Leon Nickel, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 10-6.
After securing two wins on the day, A&M now holds a record of 13 wins and three losses with a four-match winning streak. The Aggies also moved to 7-0 at home, proving that the 12th Man comes up big even on the tennis courts when opponents come to town.
A&M is back at it on Wednesday, March 13 when it hosts another doubleheader at the Mitchell Tennis Center. The first match against the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros tips off at 12 p.m. Next, the highly anticipated matchup with the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes has an expected start at 6 p.m.
