Following a comfortable 5-2 win over the Crimson Tide on Friday night in Tuscaloosa, Ala., No. 24 Texas A&M still had another box to check in the state of Alabama. However, after the last ball of the weekend had been served, it was No. 29 Auburn that protected its home court in a Sunday matinee.
The Aggies faced off against the Tigers in a top-30 clash at Yarbrough Tennis Center in Auburn, Ala., on Sunday, April 3. With the maroon and white looking for their fourth consecutive match win, and third-straight in SEC play, they never had the lead in a 4-2 loss.
Auburn secured the match’s first point with a win in doubles. The Tiger duo of juniors Jan Galka and Tyler Stice won their set 6-3. A&M evened it up with a 6-4 set win courtesy of the duo of freshman Stefan Storch and junior Austin Abbrat. The Tigers answered in a highly competitive set with a 7-6 win by the No. 60 duo of senior Tad Maclean and junior Finn Murgett over the Aggie duo of sophomore Kenner Taylor and junior Noah Schachter.
The action then turned to singles, and A&M swiftly tied the match at 1-1 behind a win in straight sets by freshman Giulio Perego, 6-3, 6-4.
Auburn recaptured the lead 2-1 thanks to a win in straight sets by freshman Will Nolan, 7-6, 6-3. The Aggies responded yet again by knotting it up at 2-2, as sophomore Raphael Perot took down No. 115 Galka in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4.
In a ranked matchup between No. 56 Schachter and No. 91 Stice, the latter earned a hard-fought win in straight sets, 7-6, 6-3, to regain the lead for Auburn at 3-2.
Court 6 provided the decisive drama, as Murgett delivered the goods for the Tigers with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 win over A&M freshman Luke Casper to give Auburn the match victory.
The duel between A&M junior Guido Marson and No. 111 Maclean was unfinished.
“Today was a very tough match,” A&M coach Steve Denton told 12thman.com. “I thought the difference was the big points, especially in the tiebreakers, where we lost the doubles point and lost three first sets in tiebreakers in singles. That certainly could have swung the pendulum in our direction. We have to give Auburn credit, they were tougher than we were in those key moments today. We will be back to work on Tuesday. The best news of the weekend was that we got Raphael [Perot] back going again by winning both of his singles matches.”
The Aggies’ loss drops them to 18-10 on the season and 5-3 in SEC play. Auburn is 16-5 on the season following the win and 5-3 in conference play.
A&M will stay on the road while attempting to get back in the win column as the Aggies now prepare for a matchup with No. 38 LSU at the LSU Tennis Complex in Baton Rouge, La., on Friday, April 8 at 5 p.m.
