After beating No. 16 Kentucky a few days ago, No. 10 Texas A&M has kept the team’s momentum going.
As the rain settled down in College Station on Friday, the Aggies got prepared to take on another ranked SEC rival, No. 18 South Carolina. In the end, the Aggies continued their streak of success as they prevailed in a 6-1 victory, securing their fifth straight win.
The first win of the day came at the hands of a South Carolina duo. The Aggies didn’t let it affect them, as it was followed by two A&M doubles wins. Carlos Aguilar and Bjorn Thomson, No. 48 in duos nationally, earned A&M’s first victory on court 1. They were followed up by Valentin Vacherot and Pierce Rollins, who secured the doubles point for the Aggies, to lead South Carolina 1-0.
The duo of Aguilar and Thomson earned the first A&M win against a ranked duo so far in SEC play, No. 44 Daniel Rodrigues and Connor Thomson. A&M’s Vacherot and Rollins, after their last two matches went unfinished in doubles play, completed their first doubles match in SEC play this year. The Aggies have now earned the lone doubles point in all eight matches so far this year.
A&M then carried their dominance into singles play, going 5-1 as a unit. Additionally, they won the first set on all six courts. Raphael Perot earned the first point on court 6, his third singles win in a row, followed by No. 13 Hady Habib on court 1. Habib earned his highest ranked win, and the highest by any Aggie, so far in SEC play, beating South Carolina’s No. 32 Rodrigues. He won by a score of 6-1, 6-4. Guido Marson won his match on court 5, securing the Aggies’ win in the process.
Rounding out singles play, two more ranked Aggies padded the score board. A&M’s No. 33 Aguilar won on court 3, taking down South Carolina’s No. 118 Thomson with a score of 6-4, 6-2. Now down 5-0, South Carolina earned their sole point of the match on court 4. The match was then concluded with No. 4 Valentin Vacherot’s win against South Carolina’s No. 81 Raphael Lambling in three sets. The Aggies have now won 15 of their 18 team singles matches in SEC play.
“After that doubles point I felt like after that our guys relaxed and played well,” A&M coach Steve Denton told 12thman.com. “Honestly, that was our best complete match that we played thus far this season.”
The Aggies have extended their win streak to five and moved to 7-1 overall and 3-0 in SEC play. Equally impressive, the A&M men’s tennis team has faced ranked opponents in six of their eight matches, going 5-1 in the process, the lone loss to No. 4 Baylor.
The team has a quick turn around as they enter a home doubleheader on Sunday, Feb. 28. At 1 p.m. they face No. 11 Florida, their third straight ranked SEC opponent and their highest ranked opponent since Baylor on Feb. 7. They then play UTRGV at 6 p.m. to conclude the day.