Texas A&M men’s tennis hosted its season opener against the UTSA Roadrunners at the Mitchell Tennis Center Saturday. The Aggies opened their season as the No. 14 team in the country in the ITA preseason poll and had seven Aggies individually ranked.
The Maroon and White are coming off their preseason tournament, where they finished with a 29-15 record.
“I am excited to get the season going this weekend,” coach Steve Denton said before the match. “We will face a very tough and experienced team in UTSA for our opener. We will need to hit the ground running.”
The day started off with doubles action as graduate student Matthis Ross and sophomore Tiago Pires took down UTSA freshman Ben Chetewy Ungar and redshirt freshman Santiago Flyckt 6-3. The Maroon and White continued to dominate in doubles action led by senior Giulio Perego and freshman Theo Papamalamis and secured the second doubles point as they defeated senior Danijal Muminovic and freshman Oskar Grzegorzewski.
Singles was soon underway as junior Togan Tokac, who earned a preseason ranking of No. 117, swept Flyckt in a quick 6-2 6-3 match. Tokac had winning records in both singles and doubles last year.
Tokac’s win was quickly followed by an outstanding performance from senior Luke Casper as he kept momentum rolling by defeating Muminovic 6-2 6-1. Casper came into the season ranked just ahead of Tokac at No. 113.
Papamalamis headed over to singles to secure his first collegiate win as he took down senior Tiago Torres in a 6-4 6-2 sweep.
The fifth point for the Maroon and White came from redshirt freshman Ritesh Patil who also earned his first collegiate point after a 6-3 6-4 win over Chetewy Ungar.
“I am very happy to see Theo and Ritesh both get their first wins as Aggies,” Denton said. “It is always a special time to share these moments with their teammates.”
The last Aggie point of the day was claimed by Pires taking down senior Miguel Alanso in a heated battle, 7-5 6-2. The Roadrunners took the final point of the evening in a tiebreaker match between Perego and Grzegorzewski, with Grzegorzewski ultimately securing it.
“It is always great to get started on the right foot,” Denton said. “UTSA is a tricky first opponent. I thought our guys played pretty well in the windy conditions today. We will need to elevate our level as a team but excited to see these guys grow together.”
The Maroon and White will continue their season as they travel up to Cambridge, Massachusetts to take on No. 20 UCLA at the ITA Kickoff Weekend on Jan. 25-26.
