Heading into another road matchup, No. 13 Texas A&M men’s tennis traveled to Starkville, Mississippi to face No. 12 Mississippi State. Although the Aggies won eight of their last nine, the Bulldogs cruised past the Fightin’ Farmers, delivering an embarrassing 6-1 loss.
Double trouble
The Aggies started off the competition outmatched against the Bulldogs in the doubles matches. On Court 1, No. 2 duo of junior Petar Jovanovic and junior Benito Sanchez Martinez outperformed No. 21 duo freshman Theo Papamalamis and junior Togan Tokac, 6-1. But it got worse for the Aggies on Court 3 as freshman Bryan Hernandez Cortes and junior Mario Martinez Serrano defeated sophomore Lathan Skrobarcek and redshirt freshman Ritesh Patil, 7-6. The Bulldogs took the first point of the competition with the win
Outdueled in singles play
Despite A&M’s best efforts to regain some confidence, it was outplayed in single matchups as Mississippi State carried their momentum from double matchups as they secured the next five points..
On Court 4, No. 50 Sanchez Martinez outdueled No. 33 Papamalamis, 7-6, 6-2. This was Papamalamis’ first loss in single matches since encountering Florida State back in February. On Court 1, No. 67 Jovanovic and senior Alan Magadan battled for three sets, with Jovanovic winning the first set, 6-2 and Magadan stealing the second set, 6-3. However, Jovanovic came through in the third set, winning on a score of 6-3.
On Court 2, No. 102 Martinez Serrano secured another point for the Bulldogs, winning against sophomore Tiago Pires, 7-6, 6-2. The results secured three points for Mississippi State as it retained momentum over the Fightin’ Farmers.
The losing streak in singles play continued for the Aggies on Court 3 after senior Luke Casper was outmatched against senior Dusan Milanovic, 6-2, 6-3. Lastly on Court 5, Cortes fought against graduate Matthis Ross in a highly-anticipated bout. Both sides stole one set each, but Cortes came out on top in the third set, 7-5, to secure the Bulldogs’ fifth point of the match.
The only point the Aggies were able to claim was from Tokac, who tussled with sophomore Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes in another three sets on Court 6. Despite Guimaraes taking the first set 6-4, Tokac came storming back to win the next two sets, 6-1, 6-4 to give the Aggies the only point of the match. This was Tokac’s 15th match without losing in single matches, a streak he has held since early February.
A&M will return to College Station to face off against rival No. 5 Texas in the Lone Star Showdown matchup at Mitchell Tennis Center at 2 p.m on April 5.
