After only its second loss of the season, Texas A&M equestrian regroups this week to take on the No. 3 ranked Baylor Bears.
This Friday, No. 4 A&M (6-2) welcomes Baylor (7-2) for the Aggies’ second meet of the spring season at the Hildebrand Equine Center in College Station. Both teams suffered a loss last weekend to start out the latter of half of the 2015-16 National Collegiate Equestrian Association campaign and are looking for a way to bounce back.
Last Saturday, the No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs, who were the only team to defeat the Aggies in the fall portion of competition, were able to find a way out of an A&M upset. Halfway through competition, the Aggies led 6-4, but after a few slips in the reining and equitation on the flat competitions, A&M found itself defeated again at the hands of Georgia, 10-9.
“Our loss was a little bit of a setback,” senior rider Logan Pluhar said. “We’re going to build off of it. We lost the meet, both teams were throwing up really high-quality rides on both sides, a championship-caliber type matchup was going on. We were just the first ones to crack toward the end. I feel like we can recover and fix these mistakes really quickly.”
On the same day, the Baylor Bears traveled to Auburn, Alabama to take on the No. 1 Auburn Tigers. After a tremendous showing by Auburn freshmen who garnered MOP honors in three of the four events, the Tigers ultimately defeated the Bears 15-5.
“I think just having the first meet — get those jitters out,” Texas A&M head coach Tana McKay said. “…I think we’ve got a lot of video to review, some details to take care of, and do it in a short amount of time.”
With both the Bears and Aggies handed their second losses of the season, the No. 4 Aggies seem to be more prepared for the heavy competition. Compared to the Tigers’ rout over Baylor, the Aggies managed to hold off Georgia until the final few rides of the match.
“[Last] Saturday everyone rode well,” junior rider Haley Webster said. “But I think we just need to make sure to not let our guard down. No matter what school, we need to have no mistakes. I think this will make everyone hungry to not let it happen again, and I think it will give us a good drive going into post-season.”
Individual performance could be an area where the Aggies can improve for Friday’s match against Baylor. Equine action begins at the Hildebrand Equine Center at 9 a.m. to see which team will fall to its third loss of the season.
