No. 9 Texas A&M men’s tennis team headed west to Malibu, California to take on Pepperdine at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center on Sunday. Coming off of several dominant performances last weekend at the ITA Kickoff, the Aggies were on a hot streak heading into this non-conference matchup before the Waves’ 6-1 win upset the Aggies.
The Maroon and White and the Waves have met six times dating back to 2008, and the Aggies hold a 4-3 winning record. Pepperdine has never given up a match to A&M at home in Malibu. The Waves were coming off of their first conference win with a sweep against Loyola Marymount, which had them focused on defeating the ranked Fightin’ Farmers.
The Maroon and White had a rough start to the day after losing two consecutive doubles matches, putting them down 0-1 early. Senior duo Luke Casper and JC Roddick started off strong against Pepperdine’s junior Linus Carlsson Halldin and junior Maxi Homberg before the duo took matters into their own hands, defeating Casper and Roddick, 6-2.
Shortly after, the Waves kept up their momentum as true freshman duo Aleksa Pisaric and Lasse Poertner made quick work of graduate Matthis Ross and sophomore Tiago Pires, beating them 6-2 to put the Waves up 1-0 in the match.
Singles action was soon underway as the Aggies searched for their first point of the match as Casper took the court to face Carlsson Halldin. Casper, who had a vital come-from-behind point last week, fell to Carlsson Halldin 6-2, 6-4, after a tough matchup.
With another loss for the Aggies, the Waves took a 2-0 advantage to give them some breathing room against A&M. Casper has had an incredible singles season to this point, with the loss to Halldin marking his first.
Looking to its star sophomore, A&M put its faith in Pires as he took on Poertner in a close battle, ultimately coming out on top, 6-3, 7-6. Pires earned the Maroon and White their first and only point of the day, while Pepperdine went on a rampage, securing the next four straight points to put away the match.
Continuing the Waves’ domination, freshman David Fix was next in line for singles as he took on senior Giulio Perego. The first set was extremely close as Fix squeezed by with a 7-6 win before playing a more comfortable 6-4 set to secure the win, putting the Waves up 3-1.
In order to claim victory, A&M would have had to win the next three points. But Pepperdine continued to play lights out. To close out the win for the Waves, Pisaric completed a comeback to beat junior Togan Tokac in a three-set battle, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
The Aggies dropped their first match of the season, falling to 3-1 as they stay on the road to take on No. 3 Ohio State at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center in Columbus, Ohio on Friday, Feb. 7, at 5:00 p.m.
