The No. 29 Texas A&M mens tennis team will conclude their regular season, deciding if the Aggies will finish above .500 or below .500, against Big 12 opponent No. 27 Baylor Wednesday at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
The Aggies (12-12, 1-3 Big 12) are currently riding a three game winning streak, coming from a 4-3 crucial loss to in-state rival No. 15 Texas. Although Texas A&M was behind through doubles competition and two matches in singles competition, they managed to rally back in three straight single match victories to tie things up. As tensions were flaring, coming down to the last court, junior Niall Angus couldnt come through in the third set and lost to junior Ben Chen to give the Longhorns the regular season victory.
Senior Alexis Klegou, 33rd overall in the ITA singles rankings, has recently found his groove back due to the coaching staff moving him to court two in the Rice and Texas games all resulting in wins. He has gone 3-1 in his past four singles matches, defeating Texas No. 99 ranked junior Daniel Whitehead in two sets on Saturday.
Senior John Lewis bounced back from losing two straight singles matches against Texas Tech and Notre Dame by ousting freshman Lloyd Glasspool in three sets after losing the first set.
Although senior Colin Hoovers record in singles play is 12-10 with two unfinished games, hes been playing great tennis in court three holding a 5-1 record in that position in the SMU, OSU, OU, Rice, and Texas games.
The Aggies top ranked duo, sophomore Junior Ore and freshman Jackson Withrow at 46th overall in the ITA doubles rankings, has lost three of their last four matches all against ranked pairs. After Ore and Withrow didnt play together in the Notre Dame game, they played again on Saturday against Texass top ranked duo and lost 7-9.
The Baylor Bears (14-10, 2-2 Big 12) recently came from a weekend series in Oklahoma where they traveled to Norman on Friday, losing to Oklahoma 4-3, and then to Stillwater on Sunday, beating Oklahoma State 4-3.
The Bears have two individuals ranked in the ITA: No. 16 freshman Mate Zsiga and No. 98 junior Roberto Maytin. Zsiga is 18-2 this season in singles play, winning 14 of his matches in two sets. Maytin is 11-8 this season in singles play where he holds an 8-7 record when playing in court two.
Baylor has two ranked pairs in doubles competition, where Zsiga is in both of those teams one with Maytin ranked 87th and the other with freshman Diego Galeano at 68th. Zsiga and Maytin are 11-5 overall this season while Zisga and Galeano are 5-2.
Both teams met up earlier this season during the ITA National Mens Indoor Championship Tournament where the Aggies defeated the Bears, 4-0, in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Aggies won doubles competition by winning two out of three, including Ore and Withrow defeating Zsiga and Maytin 9-7 back when Zsiga and Maytin werent ranked. The Aggies would go on to win three straight singles matches in order to shut out the Bears. The three wins were propelled by Hoovers performance over Maytin, ranked 100th individually at the time, in three sets.
After the Baylor game, the Aggies wont play again until they host the Big 12 Tournament from April 27-29 at George P. Mitchell Tennis Center. This will be their final Big 12 Tournament before A&M heads to the SEC next year.
The first serve is set for 6:00 p.m.