Texas A&M University Team Page
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 5 Texas A&M men’s tennis team delighted the 12th Man in attendance with a thrilling 4-2 victory over Oklahoma State Saturday evening at the George P Mitchell Tennis Center. The Aggies advanced to the Round of 16 for the third time in the last six seasons, Thursday’s match will be against Ohio State at 5 p.m. at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas.
“I am really proud of this team and what they have been able to accomplish already this season,” Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. “After doubles and the first sets were out of the way it turned into a real dogfight for the rest of the match. The match went back and forth all day, looked like we had it, then they looked like they had it. That’s how college tennis is and that is what makes team tennis so much fun to come out and watch.”
The Aggies opened play dropping the doubles point for just the fifth time this season, heading into Saturday’s match the maroon and white were 2-2 in matches in which they did not begin singles play with the 1-0 lead. A&M’s number one doubles team, No. 10 Harrison Adams and Shane Vinsant, dropped serve early in the match and could not recover falling 8-5 to No. 25 Jakob Sude and Arjun Kadhe. Lukas Finzelberg and Jurence Mendoza clinched the point for the Cowboys with an 8-5 win over the Aggies freshman pair of AJ Catanzariti and Arthur Rinderknech.
The Aggies did not stay down for long bouncing back to take the first set on four of six singles courts, splitting a pair of tiebreakers in the process. No. 78 Adams knotted the team score up at one apiece with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Tristan Meraut on court four. The A&M junior claimed his fifth win this spring and 60th of his A&M career.
“We worked our way back into the match winning a couple first set tiebreakers,” Denton added. “Jordi dropping his tiebreaker in the first set was tough, but it set up for him to really grind out the match and come through for us. The tiebreakers allowed us to gain some momentum back from Oklahoma State after that doubles point.”
The maroon and white took their first lead of the day as No. 92 Catanzariti bounced back from the doubles defeat to put the Aggies second point on the board. The Pittsburgh native defeated Nicolai Ferrigno 6-3, 6-4 on court five, claiming his 37th win in his freshman campaign including his 20th dual victory of the spring.
A&M pushed the Cowboys to the brink of elimination as No. 80 Vinsant defeated No. 115 Lucas Gerch in straight sets on court two. The Keller native prevailed 7-3 in the first set tiebreaker before dispatching of the Poke 6-1 in the second set. The win was the sixth this season for Vinsant over a ranked player and 16th overall.
The Cowboys staved off elimination with a win on court three, No. 122 Kadhe defeated No. 84 Rinderknech. The A&M French freshman suffered a heartbreaking 13-11 tiebreaker setback in the first set before bowing out 6-1 in set number two. The loss was just the fourth on the season for Rinderknech.
With the result still in the balance both No. 47 Jeremy Efferding and Jordi Arconada fought back from match-points on courts one and six, respectively. The A&M senior was down a break late in the third set to No. 37 Sude, but rebounded to take a 6-5 advantage as Arconada clinched the A&M win. Arconada watched as a return from Nicolai Ferrigno hung on the top of the net before bouncing back towards the Cowboy. The Puerto Rico native rallied to win his serve and force a third-set tiebreaker.
“It looked we had momentum, but then Jordi fell behind 5-4 after being up 4-2 in the third set and Jeremy was down a break on one,” Denton said. “Jordi had match point against him and Jeremy was not making the shots that we all know he can make. After Jordi and Jeremy made a couple shots to get back on the right side of things. Even with the law of averages saying we were going to get one of the two points, as a coach I was not 100 percent sure the match was over until I saw the final score on the board.
The freshman took five of the final nine points to win 7-4 in the breaker and punch the Aggies ticket to the Round of 16. The right-hander captured his 10th win on the season in just his 14th appearance.
With the win the Aggies advanced to the Round of 16 for the 13th time in program history. Thursday’s match-up will be a rematch of the thrilling 4-3 upset by the Aggies over then No. 5 Ohio State back on Jan. 31 at the Mitchell Tennis Center. The two teams will face off 90 miles up the road at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco at 5 p.m. on May 14.
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M men’s tennis. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M men’s tennis team on Twitter by following @AggieMTEN or on Facebook at Facebook.com/AggieMensTennis.
#5 Texas A&M 4, #31 Oklahoma State 2
Singles competition
1. #47 Jeremy Efferding (TAMU) vs. #37 Jakob Sude (OKST) 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-5, unfinished
2. #80 Shane Vinsant (TAMU) def. #115 Lucas Gerch (OKST) 7-6 (7-3), 6-1
3. #122 Arjun Kadhe (OKST) def. #84 Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) 7-6 (13-11), 6-1
4. #78 Harrison Adams (TAMU) def. Tristan Meraut (OKST) 6-1, 6-1
5. #92 AJ Catanzariti (TAMU) def. Lukas Finzelberg (OKST) 6-3, 6-4
6. Jordi Arconada (TAMU) def. Nicolai Ferrigno (OKST) 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 7-6 (7-4)
Doubles competition
1. #24 Jakob Sude/Arjun Kadhe (OKST) def. #10 Harrison Adams/Shane Vinsant (TAMU) 8-5
2. #56 Jeremy Efferding/Jordan Szabo (TAMU) vs. Nicolai Ferrigno/Leonard Gerch (OKST) 5-7, unfinished
3. Lukas Finzelberg/Jurence Mendoza (OKST) def. AJ Catanzariti/Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) 8-5
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (4,5,2,3,6)
