The No. 11 Texas A&M men’s tennis team (4-0) successfully extended their home-match winning streak to 40 games as they beat No. 72 Purdue, 6-1, and won a nail-bitter against No. 14 Mississippi State, 4-3, as part of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Kick-Off Weekend at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
Texas A&M started the weekend off on Saturday facing the Purdue Boilermakers as they won convincingly in doubles as Aggie pairs from court two, senior Alexis Klegou and freshman Jordan Szabo, and court three, senior Colin Hoover and freshman Jeremy Efferding, took care of business and secured the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead against the Boilermakers. In singles, Klegou, Hoover, Efferding, sophomore Junior Ore, and senior John Lewis secured five points for the Aggies as they all won in two sets.
On Sunday, Texas A&M faced their first top-15 ranked opponent of the season as they played against the No. 14 Mississippi State Bulldogs. The match began in doubles where on court one, Aggie pair Junior Ore and freshman Jackson Withrow upset Mississippi State’s 12th-ranked duo of senior Louis Cant and sophomore Malte Stropp 8-5 after A&M fell behind early in the matchup. Despite winning the first doubles matchup, A&M couldn’t keep the momentum going as they lost the next two doubles matches in courts three, 8-4, and five, 8-4, as the Bulldogs took control and clinched the doubles point.
As singles play began, the Bulldogs’ 32nd-ranked senior George Coupland took care of business against A&M’s Jackson Withrow in dominant fashion 6-3 and 6-1 in two sets. Then the Aggies’ 19th-ranked Alexis Klegou had a strong performance against the Bulldogs’ senior Artem Ilyushin winning 6-4 and 6-2 in two sets. After A&M was on the scoreboard, thanks to Klegou’s win, the Aggies’ John Lewis edged out the Bulldogs’ Zack White 6-3 and 7-6 in two sets.
As singles play progressed, A&M rallied back from 2-0 and tied the match to two points apiece. The Aggies’ 104th-ranked Junior Ore had his hands full as he stepped toe-to-toe with the Bulldogs’ 45th-ranked Louis Cant. After starting off hot in the first set, Ore fell behind as Cant went on a 6-1 run to beat Ore in the first set. In the second set, Ore came back with a vengeance after falling behind again early as he defeated Cant in the second set 7-5. Taking the match into the third set, Cant developed a 2-0 lead as Ore tried to cut down the deficit as much as he could before falling to Cant in the final set 6-2.
After the intense matchup with Ore and Cant, Mississippi State was up 3-2 and all they needed was one more match point to upset No. 11 Texas A&M. However, Texas A&M wasn’t going to give up without a fight. In court four, the Aggies’ 73rd-ranked Jeremy Efferding fell behind early and lost the first set against the Bulldogs’ 90th-ranked Malte Stropp 6-1. Efferding then came back to win the second set in a 6-0 shutout. The third set was crucial for both teams as Efferding and Stropp went tooth and nail as Efferding came out on top, 7-6, in order to keep the Bulldogs from completing an upset.
The last match between A&M’s Colin Hoover and Mississippi State’s 79th-ranked junior James Chaudry came down to the wire in the third and final set. Hoover and Chaudry started off the set with one win apiece, but Hoover developed a 3-1 lead after winning the next two games. Chaudry responded by going on a 4-2 run, after Hoover failed to clinch the final game to win the match in the ninth game, and tying the set 5-5. Despite blowing his comfortable lead, Hoover retaliated by winning the next two games and defeated Chaudry to obtain the final point to defeat No. 14 Mississippi State in a thriller, 4-3.