Steve Denton's Aggies face arch rival Texas in Friday's Super Regional

A&M men's tennis took down Rice and San Diego in the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament last weekend, and now, the Aggies will face No. 2 seed Texas on Friday. During Tuesday's edition of TexAgs Radio, head coach Steve Denton spoke about the showdown.

Key notes from Steve Denton interview

• First of all, to get us back on track, Rice was a good match for us. They gave us some confidence to the guys moving forward. A couple of the guys who had been struggling played well. Giulio Perego had been struggling a bit. JC Roddick had been struggling a bit. Both of them played outstanding matches, and I think that propelled them to allow us to play as well as we did this weekend.
   
•  San Diego was a really good team. They had beaten Stanford and Arizona, who are both still in the NCAA Tournament. I knew we were going to have a fight on our hands, but our guys handled it really well.
   
• It was a low point of our season when we lost our final home match on senior day to Arkansas. Our guys got an opportunity to host at home, and our seniors, Raphael Perot and Kenner Taylor, got to experience something great: Winning the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament at home.
   
• Against San Diego, Roddick had lost the first set. He was even in the second. He got a second wind. Early in Roddick’s third set, when Perego had clinched his match to give us a 3-2 lead, I went over to Roddick’s match. He was down 40-love and was about to be down a break. He went boom-boom-boom to win the game. That gave him the energy he needed to win the match for us.
   
• Winning the way Roddick did gives you a lift, especially after the lull we had at the end of the season. We had a comfortable win against Rice and a hard match against San Diego. Now, we’ll face the ultimate test on Friday night.
   
• You can throw the records out the window when you face the rival school. Still, some of these players won’t remember the rivalry because we haven’t played it in quite a while. I remember it. Kevin O’Shea remembers it. When we play Tiddlywinks against Texas, there will be a big crowd and a lot of interest.
   
• This Texas team is very good. They have the No. 1 player in the country and the No. 2 player in the country. They are good throughout. They have five or six seniors on that team, so they’ll want to play their best in their last match at home. They have a lot of talent. They’re well-coached. They’re a good team. Still, there is a chance for us to win if we play our best tennis. I think Texas might be the best outdoor team. In order for us to get to Stillwater and the final eight, we have to go through Austin. It’ll be a challenge for us, but our guys are excited about it.
   
• We’re good in singles and doubles. Our guys compete very hard. We’re a confident team, and that makes us dangerous. We can go to Austin without a lot of expectations and be aggressive. I like the opportunity and the chance. It’s great that our guys are still dancing.
   
• Typically, a few Aggies show up in Austin, so I’m hopeful we’ll have a presence there to spur our guys on. I’m happy with the way things are going right now, and I just want to keep going.