The No. 19 Texas A&M men’s tennis’s victory over No. 23 UCLA set up an early-season test against a talented No. 12 Arizona team in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend Championship on Sunday, Jan. 30.

The victory moved A&M to 2-0 in its 2022 season.

A&M coach Steve Denton said it meant more to beat such a talented and storied UCLA program. 

“UCLA is one of the most storied programs [in] college tennis and [UCLA coach] Billy [Martin] has won national championships,” Denton said. “They always have a very talented roster, and we were fortunate to get [to] see them out in California a couple weeks ago at the tournament at Sherwood [Intercollegiate].” 

While the final result of a sweep gave the illusion of smooth sailing for the Aggies, they would be mistaken. The Bruins were competitive throughout the match and made the maroon and white work for every singles and doubles victory.

A&M picked up the doubles point after juniors Noah Schachter and Austin Abbrat, as well as freshman Giulio Perego and sophomore Raphael Perot each defeated their Bruins counterparts 6-3.

With a 1-0 lead, A&M moved into singles play.

Schacter picked up his second victory of the day with a two-set win. Another victory from junior Matthis Ross in three sets put A&M a point away from moving to the ITA Kick-Off Weekend Championship.

Junior Guido Marson defeated Stefan Leustian 7-5, 6-4 to clinch the victory for the Aggies and a spot in Jan. 30 against the Wildcats. 

Denton said the Aggies cannot get complacent if they hope to beat Arizona.

“As I said earlier this week, I think that all four of these teams are very even and it really comes down to who plays the big points better, and we did that today,” Denton said. “We will have to do it again [on Jan. 30] if we’re going to give ourselves a chance to win against a very good Arizona team.”

In addition to their championship match on Jan. 30 at 2 p.m against Arizona in the Mitchell Tennis Center, A&M also faces A&M-Corpus Christi later in the day at 6 p.m to complete a home doubleheader.