Just a week ago, No. 2 A&M women’s tennis underwent weather delays as dark clouds rolled into College Station and ultimately doubles play was cancelled — however, the Aggies brushed off the unforeseen circumstance and swept Georgia 4-0.
Fast forward to Friday, April 11, No. 14 A&M men’s tennis and its travel to Knoxville, Tennessee bore the same fruit as the match delayed its start due to weather conditions. Though the skies cleared momentarily, rain stamped yet another pause in the action. In parallel, the Aggies and Volunteers traded set wins back-and-forth. It all came down to a Court 4 showdown as senior Luke Casper snapped A&M’s two-game losing streak with a clutch 6-4 win over freshman Jose Garcia after close 5-7, 7-6 sets.
The Maroon and White opened up undeterred after the initial delay, securing the first victory of the match with redshirt freshman Ritesh Patil and senior Giulio Perego’s win on Court 3. They beat the freshmen duo of Jan Kobierski and Garcia, 6-1.
After back-and-forth action on Court 2, the No. 10 duo of first name alliteration freshman Theo Papamalamis and junior Togan Tokac tallied the advantage point for the Aggies on Court 1, upsetting No. 8 duo of junior Alejandro Moreno and graduate Alex Kotzen.
Though Tokac and Papamalamis won their first sets in singles play, No. 25 senior Shunsuke Mitsui put Tennessee on the board with its first point as he edged out senior Alan Magadan 6-4, 6-4 on Court 2. Tokac rallied back after losing his second set to put A&M back on top with a 6-3 set win over senior Alan Jesudason for his eleventh straight win.
Over on Court 1, Kotzen got a measure of revenge against Papamalamis as he tied the points for the Volunteers winning after 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 sets. Sophomore Tiago Pieres battled it out against Moreno as they each traded the first two sets 2-6, 6-3. However, Pieres dominated the final set 6-2 to put the Aggies within a match win’s reach of a crucial ranked win.
Senior Ian Cruz kept Tennessee in the game on Court 6 as he pulled out a win over Perego, battling out 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 sets for a winner-takes-all duel on Court 4 where Casper etched his singles win — and the match — for the Aggies.
In a short window, the Maroon and White continue their road trip as they face off against Georgia on Sunday, April 13.
