On Friday afternoon, the Texas A&M Men’s Tennis team defeated the South Carolina Gamecocks 5-2 in a road Top-25 matchup at the Carolina Tennis Center.
After the victory, the No. 7 Aggies improve their record on the season to 17-3, while extending their current winning streak to 14 straight games. No. 18 South Carolina, who entered the Top-25 this week, falls to 13-6 on the season.
“Tonight we got a really tough road win against a very good South Carolina team,” Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton told 12thman.com. “Our guys were very focused from the start and showed a lot of maturity. We are very proud of the whole team with how they competed in a tough environment. We are starting to become a pretty good team.”
To open the match, the Aggies capitalized early with strong performances in double play. Carlos Aguilar and Barney Smith, the 23 ranked duo nationally, struck first, besting SC’s Paul Jubb and Raphael Lambling 6-2. South Carolina’s Joseph Brailovsky and Jake Beasley evened double’s play with a 6-4 win over Kevin Lam and Hady Habib. With the point on the line, Noah Schachter and Valentin Vacherot defeated Beau Pelletier and Daniel Rodrigues 6-4 to give A&M a 1-0 lead.
After a strong performance in doubles, No. 76 Smith was able to replicate that performance into singles competition, defeating Brailovsky 6-1, 6-1 to extend A&M’s lead. Smith has now won seven consecutive matches, and is 15-1 on the season. No. 32 Vacherot scored the third point for the Aggies with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over SC’s Lambling, putting A&M within one point of the match.
With the match in hand, No. 62 Habib was able to clinch the match for A&M with a 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 93 Rodrigues. Since coming back this spring, Habib has gone 11-2 in dual matches.
After the team match was already decided, South Carolina was able to claim it’s first victory of the afternoon, with No. 5 Jubb defeating No.77 Aguilar 6-3, 7-5. This loss snaps Aguilar’s three match winning streak, and is now 15-9 on the season. Both teams split the last two matches of the afternoon, with Pelletier defeating Schachter 5-7, 6-2, 1-0 (10-2), and Guido Marson defeating Thomas Brown 6-7 (9-11), 6-4, 1-0 (10-8).
With the victory over South Carolina, A&M remains undefeated in the SEC this season, including 4 wins against ranked opponents. The Aggies extend their SEC winning streak to 21 consecutive matches.
A&M will look to continue their winning streak on Sunday, as they go to Gainesville to take on No. 2 Florida (16-2, 8-0). Last season, the Aggies defeated Florida in all three of their matches, including in the NCAA Tournament, which A&M won 4-3 to move on to the Final Four. With both teams being undefeated in conference play, Sunday’s match could decide the fate of the SEC.
First serve against the Gators will begin at 11 a.m. at Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.