BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 25 Texas A&M men’s tennis team swept a pair of matches versus No. 19 Florida (4-3) and No. 66 Rice (4-2) Saturday at the Mitchell Tennis Center.
Florida (10-8, 5-3 SEC) was the early aggressor as it claimed the doubles point. The Gators took court 3 early which gave them the advantage. On court 1, No. 39 Noah Schachter/Trey Hilderbrand battled No. 70 Axel Nefve/Will Grant to the end, coming up just short (7-6(5)), which gave Florida the lead heading into singles.
The Aggies (13-8, 5-3 SEC) turned the momentum around securing three straight wins. On court 1, No. 38 Schachter tied the score with a dominant ranked win over No. 70 Nefve (6-2, 6-3). Following suit was No. 65 Raphael Perot, as he defeated No. 81 Grant on court 2 (7-5, 6-2), which gave the Maroon & White the lead. Immediately after, Guido Marson extended the advantage on court 4, as he bested Nate Bonetto (7-6(0), 6-3). The Gators answered back claiming courts 5 & 6 to knot the match at three, which left all the pressure on the back of Giulio Perego. He battled No. 97 Jonah Braswell back-and-forth on court 3, as the pair split two tiebreaker sets. Ultimately it was Perego who outlasted his opponent (6-7(4), 7-6(5), 7-6(2)), clinching the match for the Aggies, 4-3.
Following a quick turnaround to the second match of the day, Rice (11-8) won on both courts 1 and 2 in quick succession, securing the doubles point. Stefan Storch/Matthis Ross were locked into a battle on court 5 with Dylan Heap/Kabeer Kapasi (6-6), however the match was left unfinished due to the point being claimed.
Needing four wins to take the second match of the day, Marson evened the score on court 4 with a speedy (6-1, 6-1) victory over Campbell Salmon. Rice fired back with one of its own on court 3 regaining the lead. No. 65 Perot knotted the score once again with a win against Santiago Navarro on court 2 (6-4, 6-3). The Maroon & White took the lead after Rahul Dhokia bested Eduardo Morais (7-5, 6-3) on court 6. Sealing the deal on court 5 was Ross, as he outlasted Kapasi (6-4, 1-6, 6-3) which clinched the match, 4-2.
COACH’S QUOTES
Head coach Steve Denton on today’s match with Florida…
“I thought our guys did a great job and it was one of the most exciting matches I have seen since I took over as head coach at A&M. We were able to stay…
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