With its ninth doubles point of the season, No. 11 Texas A&M took a 6-1 win over No. 23 Mississippi State on Friday.
The Aggies improve to 9-2 overall, 4-1 in the SEC. The Bulldogs fall to 9-4, 0-3 in the SEC.
“The score was 6-1, but that was not indicative of the battles we had today,” A&M coach Steve Denton told 12thman.com.
A&M’s duo of sophomore Pierce Rollins and senior Valentin Vacherot won the first match of the day with a 6-3 win on court 3. The duo of senior Hady Habib and junior Noah Schachter clinched doubles for the Aggies on court 2 with a 6-4 win. Senior Carlos Aguilar and grad transfer Bjorn Thomson, who are ranked No. 48 nationally, had their match go unfinished.
The Aggies showed no sign of stopping in singles play going 5-1. A&M’s No. 13 Habib took the first A&M singles win over MSU’s No. 36 Giovanni Oradini on court 1. He was followed by No. 33 Aguilar, who won on court 3 to push the Aggies’ lead to 3-1.
Mississippi State barked back with a win against Rollins on court 5, but the comeback attempt was quickly silenced. No. 4 Vacherot secured an Aggie victory with a third set win against No. 87 Florian Broska. Singles play was rounded out with a pair of three-set wins by No. 116 Schachter and freshman Raphael Perot.
“We are very happy for our team as they stayed resilient and gritty today,” Denton told 12thman.com. “Time to rest up and get over to Oxford to prepare for another fight on Sunday.”
The Aggies will stay in Mississippi as they prepare for Ole Miss. A&M has taken the last four matches against the Rebels, winning by an average score of 6-1. The two teams will face off in Oxford at 10:30 a.m.