It’s safe to say No. 21 Texas A&M men’s tennis didn’t have the best Easter Sunday.
In addition to having a two hour rain delay in its road matchup against No. 3 Florida, A&M also lost the final game of its regular season.
A&M started off the match losing a closely contested doubles point that came down to sophomore Raphael Perot and freshman Giulio Perego losing 6-1 to Florida’s freshman Nate Bonetto and senior Duarte Vale.
The aforementioned weather delay happened just after singles play began, forcing the remainder of the match to be played on indoor courts. Unfortunately for the Aggies, the change of venue didn’t help much.
Florida quickly picked up another two points to increase its lead to 3-0 after junior Noah Schachter and Perot each lost in straight sets. Schachter especially got a tough draw having to face the No. 1 singles player in the country in sophomore Ben Shelton.
Freshman Luke Casper picked up the Aggies first point of the match after he won a third-set tiebreaker over senior Josh Goodger. For the Gators, this was just a blip to what seemed like an inevitable victory.
A victory from senior Andy Andrade over Perego clinched the victory for the Gators. In the remaining two matches, the Aggies did manage to win one of the matches to make the final scoreline seem more respectable. The final match score was 5-2 in favor of the Gators.
A&M coach Steve Denton said he thought A&M played well, but it still wasn’t enough to beat one of the best teams in the country.
“I thought this was a really good tennis match between two teams very familiar with each other,” Denton said. “We have had great battles with Florida over the years, and this one was no different. We have a tremendous amount of respect for their team, and we love to compete against them. I thought our team competed hard today, and the Gators were just the better team on the day. We are competing and getting better, and as coaches, that is what we are looking for going into [the] postseason.”
Next up for the Aggies is an SEC Tournament matchup against Arkansas on Thursday, April 21 in Athens, Ga. First serve is set for 10 a.m.