No. 13 Texas A&M men’s tennis welcomed the No. 65 Rice Owls to Mitchell Tennis Center with the two teams heading in opposite directions: the Aggies on a three-match winning streak and the Owls hunting for their first away win of the season.
But despite Rice getting on the board first with a point in doubles, A&M swept singles play to secure a dominant 6-1 victory.
The Owls swooped in and quickly took control in doubles play, with a decisive win from senior duo Arthus de la Bassetiere and Eduardo Morais over senior Luke Casper and senior Giulio Perego putting Rice up 1-0.
A&M began to look like its red-hot self once singles play began, with senior Alan Magadan easily dispatching junior Santiago Navarro, 6-1, 6-1. Magadan has been undefeated in singles play since transferring from UTSA and being inserted into the middle of A&M’s lineup.
On Court 1, No. 38 freshman Theo Papamalamis took on his fellow countryman in de la Bassetiere in what was effectively the modern-day War in the Vendée. Papamalamis was the stand in for the French Republic, easily defeating de la Basstiere, 6-1, 6-0.
Junior Togan Tokac put the Aggies within one point of victory with a straightforward 6-3, 6-3 win over freshman Tommy Czaplinski. The 6-foot-4 Turk has leveled up his game this season, earning his eighth singles victory of the year and fourth in a row.
The Maroon and White officially secured victory with a Casper win. Casper cruised to a first set victory over senior Emir Sendogan but ran into resistance in the second set, eventually winning, 6-1, 6-4.
The match continued past the Aggies’ official victory as No. 45 senior JC Roddick got in on the fun, taking down sophomore Petro Kuzmenok, 7-5, 6-3. Roddick will look to build off this second-straight victory, which comes off a three-match skid that dropped him in the ITA rankings.
With this matchup against the underpowered Owls sandwiched between ranked conference matchups for the Maroon and White, coach Steve Denton elected to rely on experience with graduate Matthis Ross making a rare appearance to fill in for sophomore Tiago Pires.
Ross lit the victory cigars for the Aggies as he notched his third win in singles play of the season to wrap up the day. The Upper Cumberworth, England product needed a third set to finish the sweep, coming from behind to beat junior Kabeer Kapasi, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5.
A&M begins its next Southeastern Conference bout on Friday, March 14 with a battle against No. 21 Alabama.
