No. 24 Texas A&M men’s tennis entered March sitting only one game over .500, but the third month of the year proved fruitful as it won 11 of 15 matches. Looking to keep its great play rolling with the calendar turning to April, the Aggies were not fooling around in T-Town.
A&M hit the road in SEC play to face the Crimson Tide at Alabama Tennis Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Friday, April 1. Despite Alabama opening and closing the match with points, the maroon and white won convincingly 5-2 for their third-consecutive victory.
Alabama won the point in doubles 2-1. The duo of senior Patrick Kaukovalta and freshman Filip Planinsek won their set 6-3 for ‘Bama. The Aggies responded by knotting it up at 1-1 with a 6-2 set win for the duo of sophomores Pierce Rollins and Raphael Perot. With the match’s first point on the line, the Crimson Tide duo of freshman German Samofalov and sophomore Joao Ferreira earned the decisive set win 7-5.
As the match turned to singles, A&M quickly took a 3-1 lead behind straight set wins by junior Guido Marson (6-3, 6-2), freshman Luke Casper (6-4, 6-4) and Perot (6-3, 7-5).
Needing one more point to clinch the match, No. 56 junior Noah Schachter came through for the Aggies with a win on Court 1 over No. 112 Planinsek. Schachter took the first set 7-5, was shutout 0-6 in the second set and then responded with a gutsy 6-4 third set win.
A&M tacked on a fifth-straight point thanks to a hard-fought win by freshman Giulio Perego 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 over Alabama’s Samofalov.
The Crimson Tide avoided a sweep in singles thanks to a close 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 win by graduate Juan Martin over A&M’s Rollins.
The Aggies’ 5-2 match win gives them back-to-back victories in conference play; they are now 18-9 overall and 5-2 in the SEC. Alabama is now 6-15 overall and winless in SEC play at 0-7.
A&M will now set its sights on a sweep in the state of Alabama, as the Aggies head to Auburn to take on the No. 29 Tigers at Yarbrough Tennis Center on Sunday, April 3 at noon.