Struggles against ranked opponents continued for the No. 22 Texas A&M men’s tennis team as they fell to No. 12 Kentucky in a 6-1 blow out. The Sunday, March 20 game broke a six-match winning streak against Kentucky dating back to April 8, 2016.
Starting with doubles, the Wildcats immediately controlled the pace, winning on courts 1 and 2, as well as leading on an unfinished Court 3, to secure an early 1-0 lead. Poor performances in doubles play contributed highly to the Aggies’ March 15 loss against No. 2 Ohio State as well, where they were also swept.
A&M freshman Luke Casper was able to briefly bring momentum back to the Aggies by defeating junior Jonathan Sorbo to tie the score at 1-1. This was a short-lived victory, as Kentucky would go on to win the remaining five points behind victories from sophomore Joshua Lapadat, graduates Millen Hurrion and Francois Musitelli and juniors Liam Draxl and Gabriel Diallo. With the exception of Casper on Court 6, the Aggies lost every first set in singles play.
A key component for the Wildcats was the impressive performance from Hurrion. After defeating A&M junior Noah Schachter and sophomore Kenner Taylor in doubles, Hurrion would rally back against sophomore Raphael Perot in the second set to gather another point for Kentucky in singles.
Despite a hard-fought match, the Aggies couldn’t seem to find their footing.
“I thought we came out very tentative today, and a very good team like Kentucky will sense that and take full advantage,” coach Steve Denton told 12thman.com. “Give Kentucky credit, they outplayed us today, starting with the doubles. We need to go back to work on Tuesday and build some confidence on the practice court before another great opportunity next weekend.”
With the loss, A&M is now 2-7 against ranked opponents this season, its lone victories coming against No. 23 UCLA and No. 12 Arizona during ITA Kickoff Weekend in late January. With two top-10 matchups looming in the upcoming week, No. 4 Tennessee and No. 8 Georgia, the Aggies will be looking to regain confidence.
The Aggies return to action on Friday, March 25 for a rematch against Prairie View A&M. This will be the first of four-straight matches at the Mitchell Tennis Center for the Aggies.