In one of its final matchups of the regular season, No. 10 Texas A&M men’s tennis travelled east to Auburn, Alabama, to take on No. 18 Auburn at Yarbrough Tennis Center on Thursday, April 2. The Aggies narrowly prevailed in the ranked Southeastern Conference clash, taking down the Tigers, 4-3.

The Maroon and White kicked off the day with the No. 12 duo of sophomore Theo Papamalamis and senior Togan Tokac facing the No. 10 family duo, senior Billy Blaydes and his younger brother, junior Freddy Blaydes. The Aggies took over Court 1 in a showdown, with the slight upset over the Tiger pairing 6-3.

Shortly after, Court 3 finished, with freshman Markus Molder and junior Lathan Skrobarcek bested by redshirt sophomore Jake Kennedy and sophomore Hamza Nasridinov, 6-3. 

Finally, for the tiebreaker, sophomore Alex Frusina and junior Kholo Montsi took on redshirt junior Nicholas Heng and freshman Alan Bojarski. The Aggies failed to take care of business, losing momentum and the doubles point, 7-6 (5).

With the doubles point going to the Tigers, the Aggies had a hill to climb if they wanted to leave Auburn victorious, but the Tigers wouldn’t go down without a fight.

There was a noticeable difference in the singles play for the Navy Blue and Burnt Orange. No. 26 sophomore phenom Amirkhamza Nasridinov was left out of the lineup for the singles matches. Having lost its best player against the No. 10 Aggies would make the Tigers day on the court that much more difficult. 

Skrobarcek took care of business on Court 6, overtaking freshman Manel Lazaro 6-1 in the first set, finishing the match with a 6-2 win in the second. Over on Court 5, the match between Tokac and Bojarski was underway. Tokac was ultimately bested in straight sets, with Bojarski taking the first set 6-4 and the second 6-2.  

After reigniting the Aggies’ deficit, the Tigers led 2-1, and No. 94 Frusina looked to begin the comeback. He competed against Heng on Court 3, winning the first set 6-2, as well as the second set 6-4, tying the score at 2-2. 

Either team had to make a move, with both squads equipped with lethally ranked weapons, ready to fire at each other for a victory. No. 19 Papamalamis decided it was his turn to finish a match. He and Nasridinov duked it out on Court 1, but the Tiger could not rise to the occasion. Papamalamis took the first set in a dominant win, 6-2, and followed it up in similar fashion, winning 6-3.

With one point remaining for the Aggies to take home the victory, the Tigers were in deep trouble. If they continued to let matches go in two sets, they could not complete the upset. On Court 4, Molder held off junior Freddy Blaydes the best that he could, winning the first set by a mere two points. Following his 6-4 win in the first set, he managed to pull through and pull off the win with a second set score of 6-3. 

Despite the Maroon and White securing the victory 4-2, the teams agreed to let the last match play out. In the final match, No. 32 Montsi challenged No. 78 senior Billy Blaydes in a ranked battle. Montsi took the first set 6-2, but ultimately Blaydes had the final say, winning the second 6-2 and the final set 6-4.

Following the ranked victory, A&M will stay put in Alabama on Saturday, April 4, as it will look to take home a win in its second-to-last match of the regular season against No. 46 Alabama.