Tony Vitello wasn't sure if his team understood the reference he made in the postgame huddle in right field at Lindsey Nelson Stadium Saturday night.

Moments after No. 1 Tennessee dropped its series to Texas A&M, losing both games of a doubleheader for its first series defeat in more than a year, Vitello referenced the strategy used by Muhammad Ali.

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"I said rope-a-dope," Vitello said following the Vols' 17-6 Game 3 loss in eight innings. "I don’t think they know what that was that Muhammad Ali used."

That strategy, "rope-a-dope," when Ali would famously bait an opponent into throwing punches while he leaned against the ropes, only to come back with a counterattack once the opponent had worn himself out, summed up what the Aggies did to Tennessee this past weekend.

The Vols (28-4, 9-3 SEC), who have steamrolled through the first half of league play, thumped Texas A&M in Game 1 on Friday in the usual way.

In the first meeting between the two teams since Tennessee beat the Aggies in the College World Series final 10 months ago, Liam Doyle and Dylan Loy combined for a no-hitter--the Vols' second this season--and Andrew Fischer mashed two home runs to headline a 10-0 triumph in seven innings.

Texas A&M (16-15, 3-9) was in a familiar spot: against the ropes. The Aggies, the consensus No. 1 team to begin the season, have been there a lot this season. This time they had a counterattack.

Tennessee lost Game 2 on Saturday, 9-3 and then 17-6 in the series finale later that day. Texas A&M combined for seven homers in the third game.

Whether or not the struggling Aggies were capable of taking two of three from the Vols in Knoxville was for the pundits and scribes to talk and write about. Vitello and his players knew they were more than capable.

Two losses in the span of six hours where everything that has worked for Tennessee this season was absent was more of indication of life in the rugged and unforgiving SEC than overlooking Texas A&M.

" I think there was a little bit of a funk in the air, whatever it was," Vitello said. "Whether it’s a hangover from last night and I don’t have anything that would sense that...I don’t think anyone disrespected those guys. But again, the nonsense of ‘are they capable of doing anything’ or ‘are they good or not?’

"All you got to do is look at the first three guys in the lineup is what I told the team. But I don’t think all that was the case. We just didn’t play very well."

MORE FROM VOLREPORT: Tennessee baseball drops Game 3, series vs. Texas A&M

"We just got out-played," infielder Dalton Bargo added. "There's nothing to it."

Tennessee's last series loss was March 17, 2024 after it dropped the second of three to Alabama on the road. That Vols team responded by winning every series left on its schedule, the SEC regular season and tournament titles, the Knoxville Regional and Super Regional and then the program's first national championship.

How this version of Tennessee responds remains to be seen. It has a few members from that run still around, including Bargo and CWS final hero Hunter Ensley. They've been here before.

"As a whole, just flush it and move on," Bargo said. "We've got a lot of baseball yet to play this year. This is just one day, one bump in the road. Every team has it. We're just going to move on and be ready for Tuesday."

The Vols host Alabama State in a midweek tilt on Tuesday (6 p.m. ET, SEC Network+) before going back on the road for the third time in four weeks at No. 9 Ole Miss (24-7, 8-4).

Series against No. 7 LSU, No. 16 Auburn, No. 23 Vanderbilt and No. 2 Arkansas over the next month and a half remain on the schedule, leaving Tennessee little time to sulk over one bad weekend.

Vitello has seen enough to believe that won't be the case.

“I think there’s a variety of leadership from guys," Vitello said. "Guys do it in different ways and you hear it. I mean, it’s not just vocal, but you hear it and overall it’s pretty good...I think there’s good leadership and there’s a bunch of guys when they’re kind of pushed and challenged, the best in them comes out. It’s a young team and that’s not an excuse, but it’s a young team around each other.

"We’re still growing, I think as a total group, but there’s young players within that team and some guys got their first SEC action, so as they pile up reps, I think they’ll get better.”

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