Following the first round of play in the NCAA individual tournament there were only two Aggies left standing, Jeremy Efferding representing the Texas A&M men’s tennis team and Saska Gavrilovska from the women’s team. In addition to the two players competing individually, there was also one women’s doubles duo and two men’s doubles teams entering the tournament on Thursday.
Jeremy Efferding stepped foot on the court Thursday with hopes of keeping his senior season alive and advancing further in the individual tournament than he had so far in his time at Texas A&M. Standing in the senior’s way was Romain Bogaerts from Wake Forest.
After starting the match by holding serve for the first four games, Efferding took control when he broke his opponent’s serve in the first set and did not look back.  The Aggie team captain went on to win 10 consecutive games and defeat Bogaerts in straight sets, (6-2, 6-0).
The win for Efferding not only meant that he secured himself a place in the round of 16 on Friday, but also that, for the first time in his collegiate career, he was named as an ITA All-American. Jeremy will face the winner of the match between No. 8 Ryan Shane from Virginia and No. 46 Benjamin Lock of Florida State.
Efferding was not the only Aggie to earn All-American honors Thursday in Waco. Sophomore Saska Gavrilovska defeated her opponent in the round of 32 in straight sets, (6-4, 6-3) to secure her place in the sweet 16.
Gavrilovska made history with her performance in Waco, becoming the first Texas A&M underclassman to reach the round of 16 and earn the distinction of All-American.  The A&M sophomore will take on 11^th ranked Stephanie Wagner of Miami (FL) on Friday.
Also competing in Waco on Thursday were a trio of Aggie doubles teams. Taking the court first was the No. 10 ranked men’s pair of Shane Vinsant and Harrison Adams.
Heading into their match against the No. 8 ranked Baylor pair of Diego Galeano and Julian Lenz, the Aggie duo had put together a 12-4 record against ranked doubles teams including a 4-1 record versus top-5 opponents.
Unfortunately, the strong season of the A&M juniors came to an end Thursday when they were defeated by the hometown pair, (2-6, 6-2, 2-6).
Until early on Thursday afternoon the only Aggie doubles pair that was set to compete was that of Vinsant and Adams. However, a change in the bracket allowed for the A&M seniors, Jeremy Efferding and Jordan Szabo, to enter the tournament and face the pair of Gregurovic and Ostojic of Wichita State.
Two very tough fought matches from the Aggie seniors proved to not be enough Thursday afternoon, as they fell to the pair from Wichita State, (5-7, 4-6). The match marked the last time that Szabo and Efferding would ever compete for Texas A&M in doubles competition.
The women’s doubles pair of Eva Paalma and Rachel Pierson was Texas A&M’s last chance to muster up a win in the first round of the doubles tournament on Thursday. Dismally, the Aggie women were unable to survive and advance and fell to the tandem of Desirae Krawczyk and Stephanie Vlad from ASU, (2-6, 3-6).
Efferding and Gavrilovska will be returning to the courts Friday with hopes of continuing their post season runs and earning a spot in the round of eight.