No. 11 Men’s Tennis Takes on No. 23 Mississippi State and No. 24 Ole Miss this Weekend

Friday, March 5

Starkville, Miss.

3:00 PM

Texas A&M

Mississippi State

Vacherot and Rollins - 20210226_MTEN_GAME_USC_0057.jpg

Photo by: Craig Bisacre

Mar 04, 2021 | Men's Tennis

By: Matt Callaway, Texas A&M Athletics Communications

STARKVILLE, Miss – The No. 11 Texas A&M men's tennis team travels to the Magnolia State for Friday night match against No. 23 Mississippi State before a Sunday showdown against No. 24 Ole Miss.
The Aggies (8-2, 3-1 SEC) and Bulldogs (9-3, 0-2) will face off at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre at 3 p.m. (CT) Friday. A&M is set to take on the Rebels (3-5, 2-1) at 10:30 a.m. Sunday at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center.

"This is where we were in the schedule last year when we had to come home," Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. "While we are two weeks earlier this year, it is strange to think we are at the same place in the schedule. Last year we were 4-0 riding high, this time around we are 3-1 in the conference after our loss to Florida on Sunday. This weekend is important to get back on track and regain some momentum. Always tough on the road to play the Mississippi schools. They are talented and tough-minded teams with rich tradition in winning tennis matches. We will have a battle on our hands against both these teams."

The Aggies entered the spring season with five student-athletes ranked in the singles poll and a single ranked doubles team. No. 4 Valentin Vacherot leads the charge for the Maroon & White with No. 13 Habib, No. 33 Carlos Aguilar, No. 110 Barnaby Smith and No. 116 Schachter rounding out the ranked Aggies. Aguilar and Bjorn Thomson open the season at No. 48 in the doubles rankings, Thomson is in his first season in Aggieland after graduating from Texas Tech last season.

LAST TIME OUT
Texas A&M men's tennis team dropped a 5-2 match to Florida before defeating UTRGV 7-0 at the Mitchell Tennis Center Sunday.

Florida claimed the doubles point to open the day with wins on courts two and three. Ben Shelton and Andy Andrade topped Valentin Vacherot and Pierce Rollins 6-0 on court three. No. 48 Carlos Aguilar and Bjorn Thompson posted a 6-2 triumph over No. 45 Sam Riffice and Duarte Vale on court one, but the team point was won through a 7-5 results on court two by Johannes Ingildsen and Will Grant over A&M's Hady Habib and Noah Schachter.

The visitors maintained the momentum in singles action as they claimed first sets on four of six courts. The Gators mounted a 3-0 advantage as No. 68 Blaise Bicknell topped No. 116 Schachter on court four before No. 8 Riffice bested No. 33 Aguilar 6-4, 6-2 on court three. Needing to win every court still playing the Aggies forced a couple third sets before No. 13 Habib picked up a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win over No. 12 Vale on the top court.

Florida clinched the win with a three-set win on court five followed by squeaking out a win on court two. A&M freshman, Raphael Perot, outlasted No. 96 Lukas Greif 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-3 on court six to earn his first ranked win of his collegiate career and make the final score 5-2 in Florida's favor.

In the night cap, the Aggies rattled off doubles wins on courts two and three to take a 1-0 lead on the Vaqueros. A&M's Aguilar and Schachter topped Mateo Schmit and Te Kani Williams 6-1 on court three followed by Kenner Taylor and Pranav Kumar clinching the point with a 6-0 win on court two over Carlo Izurieta and Samuel de Felipe Garcia.

In singles action A&M claimed six straight two-set victories. Taylor got the scoring started with a 6-1, 6-1 win on court six over Mateo Schmit followed by Kumar's 6-2, 6-2 victory over Zane Kohrs on court five. Thomson picked up a 6-1, 6-2 triumph on court two over Carlo Izurieta to secure the team win on court two. A&M's Rollins, Aguilar and Schachter wrapped up the shutout with victories on courts one, three and four respectively.

RANKED FOES
Mississippi State enlists a pair of ranked singles players and two ranked doubles teams. Headlined by No. 36 Giovanni Oradini, 5-4 this season and 1-1 in league matches, the Bulldogs also boast No. 87 Florian Broska, who holds a 9-2 singles record but is 0-2 in SEC play. Broska and Nicolas Ocana are ranked No. 28 in the doubles poll, the pair as 2-3 this spring and 4-6 overall. No. 47 Alberto Colas and Gregoe Ramskogler bring a 4-2 dual match record but have not appeared together in an SEC match.

Ole Miss is represented in the singles rankings by No. 62 Tim Sandkaulen, the senior is 2-6 in dual matches, but has posted a 2-1 mark in SEC play. A&M's Vacherot topped Sandkaulen in straight sets on Jan. 19. Sandkaulen is ranked No. 7 alongside Finn Reynolds in the doubles poll, the duo are 5-1 this spring with their lone loss coming to A&M's Aguilar and Thomson on Jan. 19.

UP NEXT
The Aggies return to the Mitchell Tennis Center for a rematch against No. 2 Baylor at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 11. The Aggies dropped a 4-1 result to the Bears at the SMU Tennis Complex at the end of January.

FOLLOW THE AGGIES
Visit 12thman.com for more information on Texas A&M men's tennis. Fans can keep up to date with the A&M men's tennis team on Facebook, Instagram, and on Twitter by following @AggieMTEN.