NASHVILLE, Tenn. – No. 35 Vanderbilt men’s tennis came close to earning the upset over top-10 ranked Texas A&M, but ultimately fell short in College Station, 4-3.
Opening up strong for the Commodores, veteran Dore pair No. 75 Cam Klinger and Billy Rowe stormed the court to earn the upset over No. 16 Texas A&M duo, Juan Carlos Aguilar and Barnaby Smith, 6-1.
Clinching the doubles point for the Dores, sophomore George Harwell and Christiaan Worst stepped up on Court 3, outplaying Aggie pair Valentin Vacherot and Noah Schachter, 6-4.
The Aggies quickly rebounded in singles with No. 75 Hady Habib taking down Harwell, 6-1, 6-1 to tie the match.
Pushing Vanderbilt back into the lead, junior Panu Virtanen held strong against Texas A&M’s Noah Schachter to defeat the Aggie in the tiebreaker, 6-3, 7-6 (2).
Macsen Sisam enhanced his stellar freshman debut, upsetting Texas A&M’s No. 92 Smith, 7-6 (4), 6-2 to extend the Dores’ lead to 3-1.
With three courts remaining, freshman Marcus Ferreira entered into a tiebreaker against Aggie Guido Marson. Ferreira fought hard but Marson secured the match, 6-3, 7-6 (4) to cut Texas A&M’s deficit to 3-2.
Tying the match for the Aggies, No. 56 Juan Carlos Aguilar bounced back after a 6-4 defeat by Klinger to win the match, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
With the match coming down to Rowe on Court 3, the junior split sets with Texas A&M’s No. 40 Valentin Vacherot. The deciding point came down to the tiebreaker with Vacherot clinching the match for the Aggies, 4-3.
The Dores return home to the Currey Tennis Center on Friday to face rival, Tennessee.
Follow along as the Commodores prepare to host the Vols by following @VandyMTennis on Twitter and Instagram.
