The No. 12 Texas A&M men’s tennis team came into its doubleheader facing off against the No. 68 Pepperdine Waves in the first match of the day. The Aggies returned from the ITA Indoor Championships in New York, which saw them exit in the quarterfinals.

The Aggies got handed their first two losses of the season in the Big Apple but managed to get back in the winning business with a 4-3 win against Pepperdine at the Mitchell Tennis Center on Sunday, Feb. 25.

The Waves’ duo of senior Pietro Fellin and freshman Edward Winter surfed right over the Aggies’ only ranked doubles team of No. 57 senior Raphael Perot and freshman Tiago Pires, 6-3.

The Aggies meant business from there on in doubles play, as the victorious duo of the Italian and the Turk won its fifth match together this season. A&M junior Giulio Perego and sophomore Togan Tokac defeated Pepperdine sophomore Maxi Homberg and graduate Christopher Papa, 6-4.

With the point on the line, the Maroon and White came up clutch as the Aggie team of junior Luke Casper and graduate Kenner Taylor shut down the Waves’ team of graduate George Davis and sophomore Linus Halldin, 7-5.

It was back and forth from there on out between both programs. The Aggies got off on the strong foot though, as No. 86 Perego soundly squashed Papa in two lopsided sets, 6-4, 6-2.

Pepperdine responded right back as freshman Zach Stephens defeated A&M freshman Brayden Michna, 6-4, 6-1. This was Michna’s first loss of the year as he now boasts a singles record of two wins and one loss.

A&M refused to let Pepperdine equalize as a ranked upset of the Waves’ No. 34 Winter by the Aggies’ No. 69 Perot, 6-4, 6-2, extended A&M’s lead to 3-1.

With the match on the line, Pepperdine created a tidal wave of momentum, winning two straight matches to equalize at 3 all.

Halldin got the win versus Pires in three tight sets 7(8)-6, 6-2. Pires has lost two straight singles matches and needs to pick up the pace if he wants to join the ranked club of Aggies. The next winning Wave, Homberg, beat Casper in three sets, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2.

With everything up for grabs and the chance to end its two-game losing streak, A&M showed why it deserves to be ranked so highly this early in the season. No. 87 Tokac beat Fellin in three highly competitive sets, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3).

This secured the 4-3 win for the Aggies as they got one back in the win column to move to 8-2 on the season.

After winning the match against Pepperdine, A&M’s dominant wave washed away Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, finishing its doubleheader on Sunday, Feb 25.

The Islanders were 8-2 and 2-2 on the road. In their previous matchup against the Islanders, the Aggies won 7-0 during the 2021-22 season.

The first team to take the lead in doubles by the end of the first set was the Maroon and White thanks to Perot and Pires. Together, the duo has gone 5-3 in doubles. It scored 6-1 against senior Avery Zavala and sophomore Etienne Marty.

By the end of the first five minutes, all three doubles teams were in the lead by 2 points. Freshman Grant Lothringer and graduate Kenner Taylor took a 6-2 victory on Court 3 to secure the doubles point.

A&M stayed ahead after back-to-back wins in the singles matches. Pires clutched up the first victory against Marty, 6-0, 6-1. The team kept its lead as sophomore Ethan Silva won Court 6, leading A&M to a 3-0 edge. Silva went up against freshman Nicolas Trebuchet and was ahead for both sets, 6-4, 6-1.

Unfortunately, three was not a magic number as Taylor lost at Court 5. Taylor was already falling behind by the end of the first set, falling 4-6, 3-6 against senior Antoine Vicaire.

Perego clinched the game for the Aggies with his 7-5, 6-3 win against Zavala. Court 3 and Court 6 kept going and were cheered on by their fellow teammates from across the courts.

Freshman Lathan Skrobarcek played his first singles match with freshman Iannis Fernandes. The back-and-forth between the players grew intense before Skrobarcek captured a 7-6(2), 6-4 win.

Court 3 took the Aggies home thanks to a win by Lothringer against sophomore Lucas Schurdevin, 7-6(2), 6-2.

A&M men’s tennis is now 9-2 and set to play Florida on March 1 at 4 p.m. at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville, Florida.