Texas A&M men’s tennis headed into Tuesday’s match against No. 16 Kentucky riding a three-game win streak. The Aggies were put to the test once more as they hosted the Wildcats on Feb. 23.
The No. 10 Aggies, coming in with a 5-1 overall record, were not the only team in College Station with only one loss. Kentucky came in at 11-1, having won their last two matches. One team had to win, and A&M came out on top with a score of 6-1. The Aggies are now 2-0 in SEC play.
On a windy day in College Station, A&M’s Carlos Aguilar and Bjorn Thomson, the 48th ranked doubles team, opened the match up with the first victory of the day on court 1. Their 6-2 win was followed by Noah Schachter and Hady Habib’s 6-3 win on court 2. Valentin Vacherot and Pierce Rollins, on court 3, went unfinished. Aggies led 1-0 as the event transitioned to singles matches.
Starting off singles play, Kentucky’s Cesar Bourgois beat A&M’s No. 33 ranked Aguilar on court 3 to even the score at one. However, the Aggies got their heads back in the game quickly and went on a 5-0 run, the first three coming from a trio of ranked A&M players.
A&M’s first point in singles play came at the hands of No. 14 Habib, who won 6-3, 6-3 on court 2. On court 4, No. 116 Schachter followed with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 win over Kentucky’s No. 123 Joshua Lapadat. Then, back on court 1, the Aggies’ and Wildcats’ top-ranked players faced off. No. 4 Vacherot won 7-6, 6-3 over Kentucky’s No. 45 Liam Draxl. This clinched the Aggies’ victory, giving them a 4-1 lead.
Wins on courts 5 and 6 rounded out singles play for A&M. After losing his first set, Raphael Perot won off a third set super tie breaker. Lastly, Guido Marson played his first singles match in SEC play this year, winning 7-6, 7-5.
“This was a very good home win because I thought the conditions were really difficult today,” A&M coach Steve Denton told 12thman.com. “The wind was kind of swirly and I thought we did a good job jumping on them in the doubles to give us the lead … Our guys did a good, solid job handling the conditions well and facing adversity.”
The Aggies, currently 6-1, are 2-0 in SEC play and have recorded four straight victories, three of which came with 6-plus points and two of which were over top-20 ranked teams. A&M’s men’s tennis looks forward to a tough and busy schedule at home. No. 20 South Carolina travels down to College Station for a match on Friday followed by a Sunday doubleheader at home against No. 11 South Carolina and UTRGV.