No. 5 senior Valentin Vacherot set the school record for career singles wins as the No. 8 Texas A&M Aggies beat New Mexico and Oklahoma, advancing to the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
On Saturday May 8, Valentin Vacherot earned the 86th dual match singles win of his career. With a record of 86-20, Vacherot surpasses Kimmio Alkio and Greg Hill for the title. The win came over Oklahoma’s No. 86 Jake Van Emburgh. He put the Aggies up 3-1 as the team advanced to the Round of 16, beating Oklahoma 4-1.
A&M hosted New Mexico, Denver and Oklahoma in Bryan-College Station as the four teams participated in the First and Second Rounds of the NCAA Tournament. The winner would move on to the top 16 in Florida in a week and a half.
A 4-1 win on Friday over New Mexico advanced the team past the First Round. The Aggies won the double point and wins by No. 3 senior Hady Habib, No. 122 sophomore Pierce Rollins, and junior Guido Marson put them through to the second round.
In the second round, the Aggies faced No. 24 Oklahoma, who had just won against Denver. A&M would once more win by a score of 4-1. The Aggies cruised to the doubles point and earned singles wins from Habib, Vacherot and No. 100 junior Noah Schachter. This advanced the Aggies to the next round.
The team will travel to Orlando for the Sweet 16 on Monday, May 17. The rest of the NCAA Tournament, as well as the individual and doubles tournaments, will be held there. The Aggies will face the winner of the matchup between No. 10 Central Florida and No. 16 Mississippi State in the Round of 16.
In the individual tournaments, A&M had three qualifiers: No. 3 Habib, No. 5 Vacherot and No. 30 senior Juan Carlos Aguilar. Habib and Vacherot will be the third and fourth seeds, respectively, in the 64-person tournament.
In the doubles tournament, A&M had one qualifier. The No. 8 duo of Aguilar and graduate student Bjorn Thomson were one of the 32 doubles teams to make it.