Apr 05, 2019
COLLEGE STATION – The No. 8 Texas A&M men's tennis team won the final three matches of the night to defeat Vanderbilt, 4-3, Friday night at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center. The Aggies (19-4, 9-1 SEC) trailed the Commodores (14-8, 4-6), 3-1, before getting wins from Guido Marson, Carlos Aguilar and Valentin Vacherot to maintain a tie for second-place in the SEC standings.
"That was a hard fought SEC match if I have ever seen one," Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. "Give credit to Vanderbilt, they came and really took care of business in doubles and took it to us in singles. Every SEC match, if you allow a team to jump out to an advantage you will be in for a big fight. Our guys were able to hang around long enough and got a couple really big tie breakers at the end of the night that helped us get that win."
Facing defeat, A&M posted back-to-back-back wins over a 10 minute stretch to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Marson, a freshman from Pordenone, Italy, posted a 6-3, 7-6(4) win on court six over Vandy's Marcus Ferreira. Moments later, No. 56 Aguilar outlasted Cameron Klinger, ranked No. 77 nationally, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 on court one to pull the Aggies within 3-2.
A&M junior, Vacherot, earned his first career last-match standing victory to secure A&M's 17th straight home SEC win. Vacherot bested Vandy's Billy Rowe 6-1, 2-6, 7-6(3) to secure the final point of the night and improve to 10-0 in league play.
After dropping the doubles point to open the match, the Aggies were able to even the score at one-all as No. 75 Hady Habib posted an impressive 6-1, 6-1 triumph over George Harwell on court two. After Habib's victory the Commodores picked up points on courts four and five to push the A&M deficit to 3-1.
With the win, A&M holds an 8-2 mark all-time against Vanderbilt, including winning each of the last three matchups. The Maroon & White played on back-to-back days over 1,300 miles apart after topping Kentucky Thursday afternoon in Lexington.
The Aggies have posted a 9-1 record in the league, trailing Florida (10-0) and tied with No. 6 Mississippi State (9-1) in the SEC standings. A&M has secured a top-four seed in the upcoming SEC Tournament for the sixth straight year and have beat or equaled their pre-season prediction by the league coaches for the seventh straight season.