BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M men’s tennis team dropped a pair of tight matches with No. 5 Kentucky (4-3) and No. 47 UTSA (4-3), Saturday, at the Mitchell Tennis Center.
Opening the day versus No. 5 Kentucky (13-2, 1-1 SEC) in doubles play, the Aggies (4-6, 1-1 SEC) started strong through Trey Hilderbrand/Noah Schachter, the pair bested Taha Baadi/Alafia Ayeni on court 1 (6-4). The Wildcats responded on court 3 through Liam Draxl/Jaden Weekes as the pair snatched victory from Raphael Perot/Giulio Perego (7-5). Continuing its momentum was Kentucky, as No. 43 JJ Mercer/Joshua Lapadat sealed the doubles point for the Wildcats as they outlasted Pierce Rollins/Kenner Taylor on court 2 (6-4).
With the Wildcats leading after doubles, the Maroon & White needed a spark, and Luke Casper did just that. He dominated No. 102 Charlelie Cosnet on court 6 (6-1, 6-1) knotting the teams at one point each. Kentucky struck back with a victory on court 2 from No. 31 Ayeni, he out battled No. 57 Perot (7-6(3), 6-4). The Aggies turned the tables on the Wildcats through wins on both courts 1 and 5. No. 105 Rollins leveled A&M in a three-set thriller on court 5 over Weeks (2-6, 6-4, 6-3), while No. 63 Schachter secured his second top-30 ranked win in three days over childhood best friend No. 27 Draxl on court 1 (6-3, 7-6(10)) as A&M led, 3-2. Kentucky responded as it closed out wins on the remaining courts to snatch the match, 4-3.
Wasting no time against the Roadrunners (8-4) Rollins/Taylor made quick work of Sebastian Rodriguez/Garrett Skelly on court 2 (6-1). UTSA responded with a victory on court 1 from Alan Magadan/Tiago Torres over Hilderbrand/Perego (6-3). The Aggies pulled the momentum back and secured the doubles point through Casper/Ross on court 3, as the pair bested Tomas Pinho/Miguel Alonso (6-4).
The Roadrunners countered A&M’s early punch with four straight singles wins on courts 2, 3, 4 and 5, clinching the match for UTSA. Ross claimed a straight-set win on court 6 for the Aggies, when he overcame Danijal Muminovic (7-5, 6-2). No. 57 Perot secured A&M’s third point, as he outlasted Torres on court 1 in a third set tiebreaker (7-6(4), 3-6, 1-0(4)).
COACHES QUOTES
Head coach Steve Denton on the today’s dual match with Kentucky…
“I thought we competed our tails off…
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