For the second time in a week, the Texas A&M Men’s Tennis team was looking to upset a Top 5 team. But after the upset-minded Aggies defeated No. 4 Baylor on Wednesday, No. 2 Pepperdine came to College Station prepared and held off No. 18 A&M for a 4-3 victory.
A confidence boost for the Aggies came early as the newly paired Jerry Makowski and Brett Joelson knocked off the No. 1 doubles team in the country, giving Pepperdine’s Scott Doerner and Andre Begemann their second loss in two days. But the Aggies lost the deciding doubles match in a tiebreaker.
“We put ourselves in a position to win, and that’s what we talked about doing, because they’re very good in doubles,” A&M head coach Tim Cass said. “I think they had two of the top six or seven teams in the country.”
In singles, Pepperdine was able to clinch the match 4-0 before A&M could put a point on the board. No. 8 Makowski knocked off No. 6 Doerner, but by that time the Aggies were not playing for much more than pride.
Still, Pepperdine head coach Adam Steinberg said his team was fortunate to escape College Station with a win.
“It could have been 4-3 for them, without a doubt,” Steinberg said. “The doubles was so close, and we were lucky to get out of it.”
For Pepperdine, the victory puts them back in the win column after their Friday night loss to the No. 3 Texas Longhorns.
“I’m proud of the guys,” Steinberg said. “They took tonight as a challenge and had a little bit of a chip on their shoulder, and wanted to finish this weekend on a high note.”