The Texas A&M Aggies defeated University of the Incarnate Word 7-0 in a dominant performance in a late match on Saturday.
Despite it being their second match of the day, the Aggies showed no signs of fatigue, starting off with a strong performance in the doubles matches. No. 120 ranked Habib Hady and Kevin Lam earned a shutout victory in their doubles match. Redshirt freshman Pranav Kuman and freshman Alex Vedri clinched the doubles point for the Aggies in a dynamic game, taking their match 6-3.
The Aggies continued to build their momentum moving into the singles matches. No. 58 ranked sophomore Barnaby Smith struck first, earning a point for A&M with a 6-0, 6-2 victory. The victory extends Smith’s winning streak to an impressive eleven of his last twelve matches.
Vedri, whose tremendous performance earlier in the day ensured victory for the Aggies versus No. 25 Tennessee, extended his dominance in a win over UIW’s Paco Bednana 6-2, 6-2. Jack Pulliam clinched the match for the Aggies with a 6-2-, 6-4 victory. To ensure a shutout victory for the Aggies, Kevin Lam earned the final point 7-5, 7-6(6) in a hard fought match.
Texas A&M head coach Steven Denton was pleased with the teams’ effort in Saturday’s victory.
“We are a third of the way through the season and we have got a lot of good tough tennis ahead of us, but I really like the way our team is playing,” Denton told 12thman.com. “When you have a young team, how are they going to react on the road and how are they going to handle adversity [is important] and we’ve done that pretty well so far against two real good teams this weekend. We have had different guys step up and it’s been a complete team effort to get us to where we are right now.”
A&M’s victory brings the team to 11-3 on the season and improves the Aggie’s all-time record versus UIW to 3-0. The match versus UIW is the midpoint of a grueling stretch of five matches in five days for the Aggies.
The Aggies will return to action with a double header against Prairie View A&M and No. 1 ranked Ohio State on Monday, March 1 at Mitchell Tennis Center.