Texas A&M Men's Tennis to host first two rounds of NCAA Tournament
Texas A&M Men's Tennis faces off against Wagner in the first round of the NCAA Tournament this weekend.
The 11th-ranked Texas A&M men's tennis team has officially made the NCAA Tournament and was given the rights to host the first two rounds after Monday's televised selection event. The Aggies will play Wagner in the first round on Friday, May 1st, at 1:00 CST. If the squad advances, they will face the winner of Penn (18-9) and Stanford (17-8) on Saturday, May 2nd.
This Texas A&M side is led by three first-team All-SEC honorees. Theo Papamalamis, a sophomore from France, is the 11th-ranked singles player in the country and won his second consecutive first-team All-SEC honor this year. He and Togan Tokac, a Turkish senior who won his first first-team selection this season, form the #2 doubles duo in the country.
Rounding out the big three is junior Kholo Montsi, who also earned All-SEC Tournament honors for his perfect singles performance over the Aggies' conference tournament play. Texas A&M enters the tournament with a 19-9 record, but just a 6-8 record against top-25 teams, including an 0-3 record against #2 Texas. Their most impressive victory came over an LSU side ranked 7th nationally by the International Tennis Association (ITA), which uses a different ranking system than the NCAA.
Looking ahead, if the Aggies indeed make it out of this weekend, they are projected to face TCU in the Sweet 16 the following weekend. While the NCAA ranks TCU sixth nationally, the ITA ranks the Horned Frogs second-best. Texas A&M @AggieMTEN will host Wagner, Penn and Stanford this weekend for the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament.