The No. 7 Texas A&M men’s tennis team snapped its four-match win streak with a 4-1 loss to the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes at the Varsity Indoor Tennis Center on Tuesday.
The win streak started at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend on Jan. 25, with wins over South Alabama (4-0), Georgia Tech (4-0), Tulsa (6-1), and Texas Tech (6-1).
Senior Valentin Vacherot led a solo victory as he defeated Justin Boulais 6-2,6-3 on court three. Vacherot scored his 61st collegiate dual victory and is now within five wins of making A&M’s top-dual wins list.
Ohio State sought a 2-0 advantage after Kyle Seelig defeated A&M’s Noah Schachter 6-2,6-2 on court four, according to 12thman.com.
“On the road you need to make your opponent uncomfortable and we just weren’t able to do that tonight,” A&M coach Steve Denton told 12thman.com.
The Buckeyes earned their final points to victory on courts one and four. In singles, James Trotter defeated A&M’s Barnaby Smith 6-4,6-4, while John McNally overcame A&M’s Hady Habib 6-3,6-4.
“They do a good job of front running,” Denton told 12thman.com. “I thought we needed better starts in a few of the single matches.”
In doubles, Juan Carlos Aguilar and Barnaby Smith fall short to OSU’s John McNally and Robert Cash with a final set of 6-4. While, Valentin Vacherot and Noah Schachter faced a 6-6 set and unfinished set.
“We let the doubles point slip away,” Denton told 12thman.com.
Ohio State remains undefeated with a season record of 11-0, while A&M is now 4-1 after the loss.
“Plain and simple they were better than us tonight,” Denton told 12thman.com. “We didn’t take care of our serve like we had done in previous matches. Give Ohio State credit; they made us work harder in our service games and we’re able to level both those matches but we didn’t win the key points.”
The Aggies will next face No.13 Michigan in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships on Friday at 9 a.m. and will take on either No. 4 Texas or No. 16 UCLA on Saturday at 9 a.m.