Texas A&M men’s tennis dropped in the rankings released March 3, but with eight games left in conference play, the Aggies are in a good position as they face the Mississippi State Bulldogs on the road Friday, March 5.
In the newly released ITA rankings, the Aggies fell from No. 10 to No. 11 behind Florida, who handed the team a decisive 5-2 defeat on Feb. 28 at home. Now with an 8-2 overall record, A&M heads into a pair of road matchups against No. 23 Mississippi State at 3 p.m. on Friday and No. 24 Ole Miss at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday.
Mississippi schools are always tough to play on the road, A&M coach Steve Denton said.
“This weekend is important to get back on track and regain some momentum,” Denton told 12thman.com.
Mississippi State sits at No. 23, but A&M is used to ranked competition. The Aggies are 5-2 against ranked opponents with losses to No. 2 Baylor and No. 10 Florida.
Currently 9-3, the Bulldogs are 0-2 in conference play, with both losses coming to teams in the top-15. They lost to Tennessee, who the Aggies have yet to face, and Georgia, who the Aggies have not seen since the Gamecock Shootout in October.
A&M has been strong in singles matches at 17-7 during SEC play, while the Bulldogs are 3-9. A&M holds the advantage in ranked players with five individuals: No. 4 senior Valentin Vacherot; No. 13 senior Hady Habib; No. 33 senior Carlos Aguilar; No. 110 senior Barnaby Smith; and No. 116 junior Noah Schachter. Ranked Bulldogs include No. 36 Giovanni Oradini and No. 87 Florian Broska.
However, A&M only has one ranked doubles team, No. 48 Aguilar and graduate student Bjorn Thomson, but has won the point in eight of their 10 matches. The Aggies have won every match where they have earned the doubles point and lost both matches when they did not win the doubles point.
Mississippi State boasts two ranked doubles teams — No. 28 Florian Broska and Nicolas Ocana and No. 47 Alberto Colas and Gregor Ramskogler — who have not yet played as partners in SEC play. Mississippi State has opted to run different doubles lineups than its ranked pairs and has lost the doubles point in both SEC matches.
Which team continues the pattern and which builds trajectory will be decided as they face off in Starkville, Miss., on Friday.