On Friday, Texas A&M men’s tennis earned victories in all three matchups on a weather-affected opening day of the ITA Texas Regional Championships at the Hurd Tennis Center at Baylor University.
“Today was just a tough weather day that sent the Aggies indoors,” A&M coach Steve Denton told 12thman.com. “We are very happy to see our young guys get a match under their belt and pick up some wins. I thought they played very solid today. Big day tomorrow with a lot of opportunities in singles and doubles. I know the guys are excited to go out and compete.”
To start, A&M freshman Guido Marson earned a 6-2 and 6-0 drive against A&M-Prairie View’s Rodrigo Yoshikata. A&M freshman Stefan Storch added to the heat with a victory in straight sets against Xavier Lawrence of A&M-Prairie View.
In singles play, No. 45 Valentin Vacherot, No. 72 Barnaby Smith, Noah Schachter and Austin Abbrat all advanced.
On the second day of the tournament, Abbrat, Pierce Rollins, Schachter, and Vacherot advanced to the fourth round of singles play action.
Abbratt earned a 6-3 and 6-4 victory over Lamar’s Joshua Sundarem and then proceeded to earn a ranked win over No. 122 University of Texas’s Chih Chi Huang in the third round.
“I thought Austin [Abbrat] had a very good day, he is really starting to play at a very high level,” Denton told 12thman.com.
Rollins also earned a ranked win overNo. 102 Abilene Christian University’s Jonathan Sheehy. Rollins then outlasted a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Texas’s Evin McDonald.
Schachter added to the pressure, earning a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Southern Methodist University’s Huntley Allen then claiming a 0-6, 6-1, 6-0 win against Sebastian Rodrigues of University of Texas at San Antonio.
In Sunday’s play, Abbrat and Vacherot stole the show, earning two victories to push their way to the semifinals in singles action.
Abbrat earned a 6-3, 7-5 win over Angel Diaz Jalil of Texas-Arlington.
Vacherot kept the momentum with a 6-3, 6-4 victory against Texas Tech’s Ilgiz Valiev. Vacherot then sealed the deal by defeating Siem Woldeab of Texas, earning his way to the semifinals.
“Austin [Abbrat] backed up yesterday’s good tennis with another solid effort today, playing against a very dangerous and in-form player from UTA today,” Denton told 12thman.com. “After Val [Vacherot] was able to win comfortably in his morning match, he was pushed to the limit by his opponent. I thought both guys went for their shots in the important moments and that was the difference in their matches. It is great for our team to have two players in the semifinals tomorrow.”
In the closing day of the tournament, Vacherot came up in second place in singles play on Monday.
Vacherot came out on top against Reed Collier of Texas Tech, 4-6, 6-3, and 6-2, in the semifinals but fell short 3-6, 6-4, and 6-3 in the final matchup against No. 44 Sven Lah of Baylor University.
Abbrat fell short in the semifinals, falling 6-2, 6-3 to Lah.
The Aggies’ next play will be at the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships in Newport Beach, California Nov. 6-10.