Apr 04, 2019
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 8 Texas A&M men's tennis team defeated Kentucky, 6-1, Thursday afternoon at the Boone Tennis Complex. The Aggies (18-4, 8-1 SEC) defeated the Wildcats (12-11, 4-5) in the commonwealth for the second straight season.
"Anytime you play at Kentucky it is a very difficult match, I thought our doubles was pretty good again and we obviously kept that pressure on by winning all six first sets in singles," Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. "I was especially proud of how our team responded with mental toughness after an emotional and disappointing result at Florida last week. We went right back to work today and that was great to see. I thought Val was exceptionally sharp today both in singles and doubles. We have a short turnaround before a talented Vanderbilt team comes to town on Saturday. We have to be ready to compete and defend our home court."
The Maroon & White have won 15 of their last 16 matches this spring to skyrocket to No. 8 in the national polls and maintain a tie for second-place in the league standing with No. 6 Mississippi State (16-3, 8-1). A&M holds an 8-3 mark all-time against Kentucky, winning each of the last three matchups.
The Aggies opened the day with the doubles point for the fifth straight match. A&M's 16th-ranked doubles tandem of Carlos Aguilar and Barnaby Smith earned an impressive 6-2 win on court one followed by the, 6-3, clinching victory by Valentin Vacherot and Noah Schachter on court three. The doubles clincher was the second of the season for Vacherot and Schachter as a team.
A&M maintained the scoreboard pressure after capturing the first set on six courts. No. 40 Vacherot doubled the A&M lead with a 6-3, 6-2 win on court three over Kentucky's Kento Yamada. The win improved Vacherot's record in SEC action to a league-leading 9-0 mark and was his 12th dual-match win of the spring.
The lead moved to 3-0 as A&M's Guido Marson defeated UK's Theo McDonald, 6-3, 6-2, on court six. Marson earned his third SEC victory and improved his dual record to 4-2 with the triumph.
A&M's Schachter clinched the team match with a 6-4. 6-2 win on court five of UK's Kevin Humphries. The clinch victory was the first of the season for Schachter and improved his league record to 6-3 and his dual match win total to 11 victories.
With the team match decided the remaining matches were played out, Kentucky earned their lone point of the day with a 10-point tiebreaker victory on court one before A&M's Hady Habib and Smith picked up third-set victories.
The win was the 18th of the season for the Aggies, A&M has won at least 20 matches in each of the last five seasons under Denton's instruction and seven times in his 12-year tenure. Five times during the last decade, Texas A&M has hit the 25-win mark, winning 25 in 2010, 29 in 2011, 25 in 2014, 27 in 2016 and 26 in 2018.