The No. 6 Texas A&M men’s tennis team was edged out in a toilsome match Friday evening by the No. 2 Ohio State, at the OSU Varsity Tennis Center in Columbus. This 4-1 loss was the first of the year for the Aggies, as the Buckeyes remain on track and converting to 7-0 on the season.
The Aggies were just nearing a comeback, as they needed to redeem four victories from the six singles matches in order to secure the Top-10 matchup victory. Although, they were only able to claim wins from No. 67 Jordi Arconada, No. 35 Valentin Vacherot and Juan Carlos Aguilar.
Ohio State was capable of setting up a 1-0 advantage for themselves, once they had maintained the doubles point after No. 25 Mikael Torpeggard and Martin Joyce downed seniors Arthur Rinderknech and AJ Catanzariti on court one, 6-2. Soon after, No. 43 Hunter Tubert and Matt Mendez topped Patrick Kypson and Valentin Vacherot, 6-3, on court three.
The Texas A&M Aggies were able to level the match at one moment once freshman Juan Carlos Aguilar acquired his 6-4, 6-4 match victory, on court five, over Joyce. The Buckeyes, however, were able to regain their upper hand soon after when No. 30 Kyle Seelig overcame Barnaby Smith in a 6-1, 7-6(7) victory on court six. Vacherot evened the match, for the second time of the evening, as he was able to ride out a 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 struggle against Tim Seibert on court four.
No. 84 Kypson was dealt the first loss of his collegiate career when No. 44 JJ Wolf took a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory on court one. Arconada was able to equal the match for the moment, once again, when he was able to get the best of No. 56 John McNally 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 on court three. The Buckeyes finalized their hard-fought win over the Aggies once No. 5 Torpegaard derailed No. 52 Rinderknech 7-5, 6-7, 6-2 on court three.
Texas A&M will look ahead as they continue their road-trip while they will next meet against No. 24 Texas Tech on Sunday at 1 p.m., on a neutral site match, the Downtown Club at the Met in Houston.