COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The No. 6 Texas A&M men’s tennis hosts LSU Saturday at 2 p.m. (CT) at the Mitchell Tennis Center. The Aggies enter the match at 13-5 this season and 5-3 against SEC foes while the Tigers carry an 11-8 record overall and a 3-5 mark in league play.
AGGIES IN THE RANKINGS
The Aggies moved up a couple spots in the latest edition of the team rankings to No. 6 after collecting top-10 wins against then-No. 2 Baylor and No. 6 TCU in the last month. In the singles poll, the Aggie’s Hady Habib fell one spot to No. 2 after spending a week atop the rankings. Following closely behind is Valentin Vacherot at No. 5, the senior ranks third on A&M’s all-time singles wins list. Rounding out the ranked Aggies singles players are No. 64 Carlos Aguilar, No. 77 Noah Schachter, No. 78 Pierce Rollins and No. 85 Barnaby Smith. In the doubles poll Aguilar and Bjorn Thomson skyrocketed to the No. 8 spot after collecting six ranked wins this season including a pair over teams ranked in the top-10.
LAST TIME OUT
The No. 6 Texas A&M men’s tennis team dropped a 4-3 match at No. 7 Texas Wednesday evening at the Texas Tennis Center.
In what proved to be the decisive point of the night, the Aggies dropped the doubles point to open play in the state capital. A&M’s Pranav Kumar and Noah Schachter were the first duo to record a win, topping Micah Braswell and Jacob Bullard 6-4 on court three. No. 12 Eliot Spizzirri and Siem Woldeab tripped up A&M’s No. 8 Carlos Aguilar and Bjorn Thomson 7-5 on court one followed by a 7-6 clincher by Cleeve Harper and Chih Chi Huang over A&M’s Pierce Rollins and Valentin Vacherot.
The two teams split first sets on six singles courts as the Longhorns were able to convert all three first set wins to straight set points to record the team win. No. 99 Woldeab bested No. 77 Schachter on court three followed by Harper tripping up No. 76 Rollins on court four. Texas clinched the team win on court six as Evin McDonald squeaked by Thomson 7-6, 6-4 on court six.
A&M recorded straight set wins on the remaining courts as No. 64 Aguilar topped No. 16 Braswell on court two, Raphael Perot defeated Huang 6-4, 6-4 on court five and No. 5 Vacherot defeated No. 23 Spizzirri 6-4, 7-5 on court one.
UP NEXT
The Aggies round on their road schedule next weekend at No. 13 Georgia and No. 3 Tennessee. A&M will challenge the Bulldogs on Friday, April 9 and then takes on the Volunteers Sunday, April 11.
