Before 11-seed Texas A&M men’s tennis found out which teams it would be welcoming to the Mitchell Tennis Center for this year’s edition of the NCAA Championship, a few Aggie players took turns guessing which teams the Maroon and White might face in the first weekend.
Few, if any, guessed 17-time national champions Stanford would be one of them.
“Stanford is probably the most storied program in college tennis and in athletics,” head coach Steve Denton said. “Paul Goldstein has done a great job there. He’s getting that team back to that level again. I think Stanford needs to be up there for college tennis to flourish.”
Before a potential matchup with the Cardinal, though, the Aggies need to get past Northeast Conference champions Wagner in the first round on Saturday. Meanwhile, Stanford faces Penn out of the Ivy League.
“We need to take care of Wagner and be prepared, because, as I said to the guys before, you know, the whole season comes down to now you’re in and or you’re out,” Denton said. “It’s sudden death at this point. And our guys have to be prepared to play against anybody and not really look ahead. And we’ve just got to take these the proverbial one match at a time, and I think our guys will do that.”
The Aggies are led by sophomore Theo Papamalamis, the nation’s No. 12-ranked singles player. He says the Aggies aren’t taking the Seahawks for granted.
“If they made the NCAA Tournament, that means that they’re a good team,” Papamalamis said. “So we’re gonna have to take care of business and focus on the first round, rather than looking at Sanford right now.”
That doesn’t mean the thought of facing the Cardinal isn’t on the Frenchman’s mind, but he says he and the Aggies are focused on themselves.
“I think nobody expected Stanford to come here,” Papamalamis said. “I kind of feel like we’re ready. So I mean, we’re just gonna have a good week of practice, and I feel like whoever is coming, I think we’re ready for them. So let’s try to focus on us and not really think about the teams that are coming.”
With the Maroon and White ranked No. 10 in the latest ITA rankings, the Aggies have a goal to make it past last year’s run to the second weekend, where they fell to top-seeded Wake Forest.
“I only played the tournament once last year, and it was like a great experience,” Papamalamis said. “ … But I feel like I won more than the Sweet 16 this year.”
Fellow sophomore Alex Frusina said he feels confident in the Aggies’ preparation for the tournament coming off of a run to the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals at home at Mitchell.
“I think we’ve been just having really good trainings all year as a group,” Frusina said. “I think we’ve had great locker room talks. I think the coaches kept us in a good place, and I think we’re ready for any team that’s coming here.”
Denton believes that having the opportunity to host the tournament will give his team a similar advantage that helped them while hosting the SEC Tournament.
“I always look forward to this, because I want to see how our guys can handle the pressure, and see if they can come through,” Denton said. “And certainly with a large 12th Man atmosphere here, like we had, for example, the other night when we played Oklahoma. We have an atmosphere like that. I think we’re going to be a tough team to beat.”
