The No. 9 Texas A&M men’s tennis team will go on the road this weekend for two matches against the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricanes and the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
The Aggies are coming off a strong performance in last weekend’s ITA kick-off weekend, finishing 4-0 against both South Alabama and Georgia Tech to qualify for the ITA Men’s Indoor Championship in Madison, Wisconsin, in three weeks.
The Aggies found success in the doubles format where the freshman pair of Stefan Storch and Pierce Rollins went undefeated, winning 6-1 and 6-2 in their respective matches. The standout performance in the singles format was No. 10 junior Hady Habib, who also went undefeated in his two matches as he won both in straight sets. The Houston native is off to quite a start to his spring campaign, winning four of his first five matches to start the year.
“Momentum in any sport is very important and has to be guarded by very hard work and a very healthy respect for your upcoming opponent,” men’s tennis coach Steve Denton said. “We are on the road for the first time and beginning our indoor season which is a major change in itself. Our guys are excited for this new opportunity and like any time you are on the road have to rely on internal motivation and inner belief in one another.”
Despite the success, improvements are still on players minds and this weekend gives them an opportunity to fine tune their game before the Indoor Championships in two weeks.
“This weekend I really want to be brave on the court and come up more to the net,” senior Valentin Vacherot said.
The change from outdoor to indoor courts is also factoring into the players goals.
“I want to improve my serve,” said No. 27 junior Carlos Aguilar. “Getting free points on my serve will be important now since we’re heading into the indoor season.”
The Aggies bring the momentum to a two-part road trip that begins in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where they square off against the Golden Hurricanes on Friday night. The Aggies will be the second straight top 10 opponent that Tulsa will face, as the team lost to No. 6 Ohio State in the ITA Indoor Championship qualifier. The toughest out the Aggies will see all weekend will probably be is Tulsa’s Koby Pearson, who was named American Athletic Conference Men’s Tennis Player of the Week last week and has gone 3-1 in his singles matches this spring.
The action does not stop for the Aggies on Friday, as they travel to Dallas for an early Sunday match against in-state competition Texas Tech. The Red Raiders are coming off back-to-back losses to No. 20 Michigan and No. 12 Illinois, and unfortunately for them it doesn’t get easier with a matchup against the No. 9 Aggies. The Aggies will be ready to avenge their defeat from last season when they lost 4-3 to Texas Tech last February.
A&M’s match against Tulsa will start at 6 p.m. on Friday, with Sunday’s match against Texas Tech coming at 1 p.m. Both matches will be streamed live on 12thman.com.