Following its brutal loss at Oklahoma on Thursday, Florida (8-7, 3-3 SEC) headed south to the Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas, on Saturday afternoon to test its luck against No. 15 Texas A&M (10-5, 4-1 SEC).
After defeating Oklahoma in Norman 4-3 (something Florida couldn’t accomplish) and dominating a powerful Auburn team 5-2, the Aggies entered their home match with confidence, prepared to battle for another high-stakes win.
What ensued began as another electrifying top 25 SEC showdown, but quickly turned ugly as Texas A&M pulled away and emerged victorious 7-0.
UF sophomores Henry Jefferson and Jeremy Jin dropped three straight games to senior JC Roddick and sophomore Tiago Pires, as they quickly found themselves trailing 5-2. The Gators couldn’t secure the break they needed to comeback against the strong Aggie pair, as they lost 6-3.
UF senior JanMagnus Johnson and sophomore Kevin Edengren struggled early in their doubles match against TAMU seniors Luke Casper and Giulio Perego, quickly falling behind 3-1. From there, Texas A&M was in control, taking the match 6-2 and winning the doubles point.
Florida junior Tanapatt Nirundorn and sophomore Adhithya Ganesan, the No. 68 ranked doubles pair, went unfinished against No. 52 freshman Theo Papamalamis and junior Togan Tokac. The match was tied 4-4 as the Aggies secured the doubles point.
Looking to continue their recent dominance in singles, the Aggies stayed relentless and kept the pressure coming.
No. 95 Ganesan fell to No. 38 Papamalamis in straight sets on court one as Texas A&M took a commanding 2-0 lead. After losing a hard-fought first set 7-5, Ganesan couldn’t battle back in set two, losing the match 7-5, 6-3.
Edengren didn’t put up much of a fight against A&M’s Tokac, as the junior Aggie bested the Gator in straight sets. After a quick first set loss 6-2, Edengren fell 6-4 in a tough second set, as the Aggies leapfrogged to a 3-0 advantage.
Nirundorn couldn’t break Casper in his match on court five, giving the junior his sixth singles loss of the spring season. The TAMU senior pushed himself to take a 6-4 win in the first set and pull A&M one set from victory. The Gator tried to bounce back in set two, but to no avail, as he fell 7-5 and the Aggies clinched the match 4-0.
No. 62 Jin also fell in straight sets, falling to No. 45 Roddick on court two. After losing set one 6-2, Jin tried to flip the script in the second, but was bested by his ranked opponent 7-5. Jin’s loss put Texas A&M ahead 5-0 with only two matches left in progress.
No. 90 Jefferson was one of the only Gators to win a set in Saturday’s conference match. Jefferson bested Pires 6-4 in set one, but the Frenchman fought back to win set two 6-3, splitting the match. The all-deciding third set went to Pires, as Florida ran out of gas and he bested Jefferson again, 6-3.
Johnson also went into three sets before he ultimately fell to A&M senior Alan Magadan on court three. Despite a commanding 6-3 win in set one, Johnson lost the second set 7-6 due to a miraculous comeback effort by Magadan that led the Aggie to a tiebreaker victory.
The ensuing super tiebreaker was won by Magadan 10-6, and the Aggies completed the 7-0 sweep of Florida as A&M’s fight song echoed across the courts.
Following Saturday’s stinging loss, Florida will return home to host the Arkansas Razorbacks next weekend, March 15, at noon.
Contact Curan Ahern at cahern@alligator.com and follow him on X at @CuranAhern
Curan is the men's tennis beat reporter and a second-year journalism sports & media major. He enjoys spending his free time with pets, at the beach and fishing.
