By Matt Callaway, Texas A&M Athletics Communications
ATHENS, Ga. – The No. 21 Texas A&M men’s tennis team dropped its opening match of the 2022 SEC Tournament to Arkansas, 4-1, Thursday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. The Aggies fall to 21-13 while the Razorbacks move to 15-13 this spring.
A&M’s 6-4 win by Stefan Storch and Austin Abbrat against Melvin Manuel and Adrien Burdet was sandwiched between a pair of Razorback victories to open tournament play. No. 83 Nico Rousset and Alex Reco bested A&M’s No. 14 Kenner Taylor and Noah Schachter, 6-3, on court one and was clinched by Jacob Sweeney and Hunter Harrison on court three, 6-4, against A&M’s Raphael Perot and Giulio Perego.
Arkansas’ lead increased to 2-0 through a 6-2, 6-3 win by Burdet over Perego on court four.
A&M’s Luke Casper continued his stellar freshman campaign with a 6-2, 6-3 triumph over Manuel on court five. The Santa Cruz, Cali. native improved to a team-best 18-3 in dual matches and has won 12-of-13 matches dating back to A&M’s SEC opener against Arkansas on March 4.
Following Casper’s win, Arkansas picked up the next two points to advance to Friday’s quarterfinal matchup against No. 10 Kentucky. No. 107 Aleksa Bucan tripped up Storch on court six followed by Oscar Pinto Sansano’s win against A&M’s Guido Marson on court three.
UP NEXT
Texas A&M will await its NCAA Tournament destination as the selection show is scheduled for May 2 at 5 p.m. (CT) on ncaa.com. Single and doubles selections will be made on May 3 and will be posted on the same site.
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Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M men’s tennis. Aggie fans can also keep up to date with the A&M men’s tennis team on Facebook or on Twitter by following @AggieMTEN.
QUOTES
Steve Denton, Texas A&M Head Coach
On the match…
“Just like in the first meeting, Arkansas won a contested doubles point and they appeared to be more physical than we were today which was a major difference in the match. This is not how we wanted to end the regular season, but we now have two weeks to get ready to make a NCAA run.”