COLLEGE STATION, TX — The No. 9 Texas A&M men's tennis team bested No. 25 Arkansas, 6-1, Friday evening at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center to win its 13th straight match and 20th consecutive regular season SEC match. The Aggies improved to 15-3 this spring and 6-0 in SEC with the victory, while the Razorbacks fell to 11-8 in dual matches and 2-3 in league play.
The Aggies earned the doubles point to open the match with 6-1 wins on courts one and two. A&M’s Carlos Aguilar and Barnaby Smith, ranked No. 23 nationally, were the first duo to earn a victory as they topped Arkansas’ Oscar Mesquida and Adam Sanjurjo on court one. The Aggie tandem of Hady Habib and Kevin Lam secured the point with a win on court two over the Razorback pair of Maxim Verboven and Enrique Paya.
The Maroon & White maintained the momentum into singles play, winning five of six first sets. A&M’s Vacherot, ranked No. 32, dominated on court three in a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Arkansas’ Josh Howard-Tripp to push the Aggies ahead 2-0. With the win, Vacherot earned his team-leading 65th win of his collegiate career. The junior improved to 15-6 this year and 9-4 in dual matches.
No. 76 Smith posted the third point of the match for A&M, defeating Arkansas’ Alex Reco 6-2, 6-3 on court three. The win was Smith’s sixth straight this spring to improve to 14-1 in dual matches and 21-4 overall, both win totals lead the Aggies this year.
No. 77 Aguilar clinched the win for the Aggies, putting the home team ahead 4-0, with a 6-2, 6-4 win on court one over Oscar Mesquida. Aguilar has now won three straight matches to improve to 15-8 this year.
The Razorbacks earned their only point of the night as Sanjurjo earned a win in a third-set super tiebreaker over A&M’s Habib on court two. The Aggies picked up the final two points of the match as freshmen Austin Abbrat and Noah Schachter made the final score 6-1 in A&M’s favor.
