Junior Kevin Lam clinched an impressive shorthanded victory for No. 6 Texas A&M over No. 24 Texas Tech Sunday afternoon at the Downtown Club at the Met in Houston. Lam secured the 4-3 win with a three-set triumph over Jackson Cobb on court six.
Lam, from Irvine, Calif., was not among the original starters for the Maroon & White, but was pushed into action due to an injury at the top of the A&M lineup. The right hander bounced back from dropping the first set 6-3 to Cobb to win sets two and three, 6-3, 6-3, to claim his first clinch victory of his collegiate career.
No. 35 Valentin Vacherot got the scoring started for the Aggies, evening the match at 1-1 after the Aggies dropped the doubles point for the second straight match. Vacherot ousted Connor Curry 6-3, 6-2 on court two to win his fourth straight match.
Freshman Barnaby Smith provided the second point of the day for Texas A&M, topping Artem Kapshuk 6-2, 6-3 on court five. Shortly thereafter the Aggies took their first advantage of the day at 3-2 as No. 67 Jordi Arconada defeated Tommy Mylnikov 6-0, 7-5 on court one.
Texas Tech captured the doubles point with a 6-4 win by Curry and Mylnikov over No. 6 Arconada and Juan Carlos Aguilar on court one followed by a 7-5 win by Kapshuk and Ilgiz Valiev over Smith and AJ Catanzariti on court three.
The Red Raiders also found points from Alex Sendegeya over Aguilar, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, on court three and Valiev over No. 97 Catanzariti, 6-4, 6-3, on court four.
The Aggies remain on the road next weekend, traveling to Seattle, Wash. to take on the ITA National Team Indoor Championship field Feb. 16-19 at the Nordstrom Tennis Center. Texas A&M will find out its seed and first opponent in the Pacific Northwest later this week.
