No. 18 Men’s Tennis Advances to ITA Kickoff Weekend Finals


CLEMSON, S.C. – The No. 18 Texas A&M men’s tennis team took down the Auburn Tigers, 4-2, on Sunday at the Duckworth Family Indoor Tennis Facility, pulling one win closer to advancing to the 2024 ITA National Indoor Championship.

The Aggies will take on No. 19 Georgia on its home court on Monday at 1:30 p.m. to decide who will move on to indoor nationals Feb. 16-19 in New York.

“I really like the way we competed today,” head coach Steve Denton said. “We found out at bedtime last night that we had to drive to Clemson this morning to play. The resilience of the team to pivot to a completely different mindset in playing indoors is what I was most impressed with today. We had a positive no excuse attitude today which was great to see. We have a short turnaround before we play a tough Georgia team tomorrow outdoors in Athens after playing in completely different conditions. We have no choice if we want to advance to New York but to be tough minded tomorrow. It will be a great opportunity to test ourselves.”

Giulio Perego/Togan Tokac went to work on court 1 in doubles, dominating Raul Dobai/Finn Murgett, 6-0. Raphael Perot/Tiago Pires continued that hot streak and secured the doubles point on court 3, defeating Nicholas Heng/Tyler Stice (6-4).

Heading into singles play, No. 93 Luke Casper won in straight sets against Nicholas Heng on court 6, (6-1, 6-4). But Auburn responded with back-to-back wins on courts 3 and 4 to even the match at 2-2. The Aggies got their groove back with a huge upset win from Raphael Perot who defeated No. 53 Tyler Stice on court 1, 6-1, 7-6(4). No. 109 JC Roddick clinched the match for A&M with an upset win of his own, earning a victory over No. 78 Raul Dobai on court 2, 6-4, 7-7(5).

Fans can watch the match versus Georgia tomorrow and follow along with live stats here.

TEAM NOTES

  • Steve Denton secured his 350th career win.
  • The pair of Giulio Perego and Togan Tokac are 3-0 this season.

MATCH STATS

Singles

Perot Def. No. 53 Stice (6-1, 7-6(4))

No. 109 Roddick Def. No. 78 Dobai (6-4, 7-6(5))

Tokac – Murgett (2-6, 6(4)-7)

Perego – Blaydes (5-7, 3-6)

Pires vs. Nolan (4-6, 6-4, 1-0) UNF

Casper Def. Heng (6-1, 6-4)

Doubles

Perego/Tokac Def. Dobai/Murgett (6-0)

Casper/Roddick vs. Blaydes/Will Nolan (5-4) UNF

Perot/Pires Def. Heng/Stice (6-4)


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