The No. 11 Texas A&M men’s tennis team has had an up-and-down season, filled with both winning and losing streaks. After a three-game losing streak, A&M continued on the road on Sunday, April 14, and fell short, 4-3 to No. 22 Alabama.
The Aggies hit the court in Tuscaloosa, Alabama prepared for their last regular season SEC matchup. In doubles, the Aggies had a blazing start and won two of the three matchups.
Junior Giulio Perego and sophomore Togan Tokac gave the Aggies a spark on Court 1, defeating junior Filip Planinsek and freshman Andrii Zimnokh. The No. 15 duo clinched a 6-3 victory to give A&M an early lead.
Freshman Tiago Pires and senior Raphael Perot added to the momentum from Court 3 with a set-clinching win against graduate student Matic Dimic and sophomore Roan Jones. Off to a hot start, the 6-3 stunner marked the second point for the Maroon and White.
In singles play, the Aggies battled it out across all six courts but could not secure enough wins to edge the Crimson Tide out.
On Court 2, junior JC Roddick battled through three sets, 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 to defeat Zimnokh.
The second and final Aggie point in singles came from Court 4 as Tokac controlled two sets, 6-0, 7-5 against junior Enzo Aguiard.
The Tide dominated in singles and defended its home court with wins on Courts 1, 3, 5 and 6. Junior Filip Planinsek defeated Perot in three tough sets 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 to give Alabama a spark after falling short in doubles.
Sophomore Matias Ponce De Leon mirrored six points in both rounds of singles to edge out Perego, who scored four points in the first round and two in the second round.
On Court 5, sophomore Roan Jones defeated junior Luke Casper after two very close sets, 7-6, 8-6.
Sealing the deal for the Crimson Tide was junior Zach Foster knocking off Pires in just two sets, 7-6, 6-1 on Court 6.
“It was a tough loss for our team today,” head coach Steve Denton said. “It’s been a difficult stretch for us in the last couple of weeks and adversity only makes you stronger if you embrace it.”
The Aggies are back in action Thursday, April 18, as they continue on the road to Baton Rouge for the SEC Tournament and will play the winner of the LSU-Ole Miss matchup on Thursday.
“We will find out what we are made of next week in the SEC Tournament,” Denton said. “There are a lot of fighters in that locker room, we will need to figure it out and we all have to do a better job.”
