College Station, Texas – Georgia Tech’s run at the ITA Kickoff Weekend came to an end on Sunday with a hard-fought loss to No. 9 Texas A&M in College Station, Texas.
“Credit to A&M for playing a good doubles point,” said head coach Kenny Thorne. “They were solid at all three, got on top early and played well. We had plenty of opportunities in some deuce games to break back and they came up with some big serves, which set the tone.”
The Aggies took the first match in doubles, while Marcus McDaniel and Pablo Schelcher held Habib/Aguilar close, but Schachter/Vacherot clinched the doubles point with a 6-2 win over Keshav Chopra and Andres Martin.
“They played really well in singles off the bat, but a lot of credit to our guys for not going away,” Thorne continued. “A&M was loose and playing all out and really well at the beginning and we got back in, and four of the matches got to the third set and made it a battle. Having guys like this, that’s what you want. You want to never go away.”
Two of the four matches the Jackets pushed to a third set came against ranked opponents. Cole Gromley bounced back after dropping the first set to win the second against No. 27 Juan Carlos Aguilar, while McDaniel evened things up in his second set, and was in a competitive third before the match went unfinished. Chris Yun and Chopra also took their matches to tough third sets.
“Toward the end we had opportunities to pull an upset and didn’t quite get it,” said Thorne. “They are a tough, veteran team. I was proud of our guys. They believe they can do it and showed they can hang in there. We’re going to get better and better this season.”
Tech will play its next four matches at home, beginning with No. 19 Georgia on February 2.
#9 Texas A&M 4, Georgia Tech 0
Singles competition
- #3 Valentin Vacherot (TAMU) def. Andres Martin (GT) 7-6 (11-9), 6-2
- #27 Juan Carlos Aguilar (TAMU) def. Cole Gromley (GT) 6-2, 2-6, 6-1
- #10 Hady Habib (TAMU) def. Pablo Schelcher (GT) 7-5, 6-2
- #105 Noah Schachter (TAMU) vs. Marcus McDaniel (GT) 2-6, 6-4, 5-6, unfinished
- Stefan Storch (TAMU) vs. Chris Yun (GT) 6-0, 5-7, 4-4, unfinished
- Guido Marson (TAMU) vs. Keshav Chopra (GT) 7-5, 2-6, 2-1, unfinished
Doubles competition
- Hady Habib/Juan Carlos Aguilar (TAMU) vs. Pablo Schelcher/Marcus McDaniel (GT) 5-4, unfinished
- Noah Schachter/Valentin Vacherot (TAMU) def. Keshav Chopra/Andres Martin (GT) 6-2
- Pierce Rollins/Stefan Storch (TAMU) def. Carlos Divar/Chris Yun (GT) 6-1
Match Notes:
Georgia Tech 3-1
Texas A&M 2-0; National ranking #9
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (3,2,1)
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