After an initial match delay, No. 6 Texas A&M men’s tennis took control early en route to a strong 7-0 win over the unranked LSU Tigers.
The match started off with a weather delay, as the rain pushed the initial start time back two hours. After everything settled and the courts were good to go, A&M started off hot and never looked back, snagging the team’s third sweep this season.
A&M improves to 14-5 on the season and 6-3 in conference play. This marks the Aggies’ ninth straight win against the Tigers, the last loss dating back to 2013. Two matches left in the regular season, the Aggies are in good shape. LSU falls to 11-9 on the year.
Getting ahead early has been a vital cog to the Aggies’ success this year. They started off hot with a win on court 2. Redshirt freshman Kenner Taylor and graduate student Bjorn Thomson started the Aggies off with a 6-4 win; the duo are now 2-0 on the season. The doubles point was clinched soon after as juniors Pranav Kumar and Noah Schachter earned a 6-4 win of their own. The junior duo have won their last four doubles matches.
As court 1 went unfinished and A&M led 1-0, the two teams moved on to singles competition. Keeping the momentum going, five of the six courts saw A&M leads at the end of the first set. Court 1 was the first domino to fall as No. 5 senior Valentin Vacherot handled LSU’s No. 54 Ronnie Hohmann in a 6-3, 6-2 win. A couple minutes later, A&M’s No. 77 Schachter followed suit on court 2. A solid 7-5, 6-1 victory extended the lead to a comfortable 3-0.
With the match in hand and victory in sight, Raphael Perot delivered for the Aggies. The true freshman from Octeville-sur-Mer, France took over with a 6-1, 6-1 win on court 5. A&M kept the foot on the gas pedal. No. 78 sophomore Pierce Rollins on court 3, Thomson on court 6 and junior Guido Marson on court 4 all won, completing the sweep.
“The further ahead we were able to get, the more relaxed our team played, and it looked like they were really having fun out there,” A&M coach Steve Denton told 12thman.com. “LSU is a good team, and we were able to raise our level of play when we needed to.”
With a fantastic outing under their belts, the Aggies look ahead to some tough matchups. They face off with the No. 11 Georgia Bulldogs on Friday, April 9 and the No. 3 Tennessee Volunteers on Sunday, April 11. The SEC Tournament will follow a week later.