Texas A&M opened up its 2022 season against a few West Coast foes at the Sherwood Intercollegiate.
After a rainout on day one, Saturday, Jan. 15, A&M men’s tennis went head-to-head against UCLA, Stanford and USC at the Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif., where A&M found success in singles matchups.
A&M coach Steve Denton said the intercollegiate was a great way to kick off A&M’s 2022 season, and the Aggies were also able to take away lessons for future tournaments.
“I thought the team really played with a lot of energy and was overall very pleased, especially on day one against UCLA and USC,” Denton said. “The lesson we learned collectively is this team will need to bring that energy and fight if we are to be successful this season. The event at Sherwood was just what we needed early in the season.”
The Aggies struggled in doubles on both days of the intercollegiate. Cumulatively, A&M went 6-7 in its doubles matchups. However, the Aggies made up for their deficiencies during singles play against their Pac-12 opponents.
No. 74 sophomore Raphael Perot notched the best win of his A&M career by defeating No. 40 Lodewijk Weststrate from USC. Junior Matthis Ross defeated No. 35 Peter Makk from USC in three sets, the highest ranked victory by any Aggie at the Sherwood Intercollegiate.
Finally, freshman Mathis Bondaz picked up two victories over Eric Hahn from UCLA and Ryder Jackson from USC in his first matches at A&M.
Up next for A&M is a dual match against Arizona State on Wednesday, Jan. 19. The match at Whiteman Tennis Center in Tempe, Ariz., is scheduled to start at 2 p.m.