On Monday, No. 18 Stanford men’s tennis (4-1, 0-0 Pac-12) took down Texas A&M (1-2, 0-0 SEC), securing their spot in the 2023 ITA Men’s National Team Indoor Championship, which will be held in Chicago, Ill. on Feb. 17-20.
To claim the Championship, Stanford will have to win four matches against some of the best schools in the country. Last year, the Cardinal were knocked out in the first round.
The afternoon of matches began with a loss in doubles. Only freshman Nishesh Basavareddy and senior Neel Rajesh overcame the Aggies, winning 6-3 in the third slot. Junior Arthur Fery and senior Filip Kolasinski were knocked out first, with a 6-1 loss against No. 33 Trey Hilderbrand and Noah Schachter of A&M. The Aggies also defeated freshman Samir Banerjee and sophomore Max Basing, 6-2.
Despite A&M’s lead, the Cardinal came back with four straight-set wins in the singles matches. First to finish was Kolasinski on court six, who beat A&M’s Luke Casper, 6-3, 6-1. No. 7 Basing won his match in the second slot 7-5, 6-3, while Banerjee continued the streak with a 6-4, 7-5 win on court three.
Junior Aryan Chaudhary clinched the defeat following a close first set that ended in a tiebreak. After two breaks in the second set, Chaudhary defeated No. 44 Pierce Rollins, 7-6, 6-2, securing the fourth and final point that Stanford needed to win.
The Cardinal will continue their spring campaign this weekend, when they face No. 16 Florida (3-1, 0-0 SEC) and No. 15 Georgia (2-2, 0-0 SEC) at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.
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