Saturday, 04/13/2013

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – After dropping an earlier contest to the Bulldogs, the 14th-ranked Texas A&M men’s tennis team started quickly and never looked back on its way to a 4-0 upset over 11th-ranked Mississippi State Friday night at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station in front of 323 fans. The Aggies improve to 15-11 on the season and 6-5 in SEC play while the Bulldogs fall to 16-8 and 6-6 in conference action.

“I thought we started out quickly in the doubles. We did a really good job there,” Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. “We were really fired up to play tonight. We wanted it really badly. We knew the importance of this match. Our guys were really aggressive and played big-points well. That was as convincing of a win as we’ve had this season against a quality team. The matches were a lot closer than the score indicated because those guys on Mississippi State’s squad are great competitors.”

The Aggies were able to secure the doubles point for the second time in their past six matches. The tandem of Jeremy Efferding and Jordan Szabo fell to the pair of Ethan Wilkinson and Pedro Dumont, 8-5, at the No. 3 doubles line. Needing to win on the remaining two courts, the 26th-ranked duo of Harry Adams and Shane Vinsant downed the pair of Romain Bogaerts and Zach White, 8-4, at the No. 2 line. Minutes later, the ninth-ranked team of Junior Ore and Jackson Withrow ousted the 12th-ranked pair of Jordan Angus and Malte Stropp, 8-5, at the No. 1 line to clinch the crucial doubles point.

Texas A&M continued its hot start into singles play, winning five-of-six first sets. Szabo bounced back from dropping his doubles match and pushed the Aggies lead to 2-0 when he bested White, 6-2, 6-3, at the No. 5 line. Ore pushed A&M’s lead to 3-0 when he upset 58th-ranked Stropp in straight-sets, 6-3, 6-3, at the No. 2 position. Vinsant, ranked 78th-nationally, would clinch the match over Angus, 7-5, 6-1, at the No. 4 line. Mississippi State’s Jordan Angus is the younger brother of Texas A&M’s senior, Niall Angus.

Texas A&M will close out the regular season on Sunday with a match against the University of Mississippi. First serve is slated for 1 p.m. and the lone Aggie senior, Niall Angus, will be honored prior to the match. To learn more about the men’s tennis team, visit AggieAthletics.com and follow @AggieMTEN on Twitter.

No. 14 Texas A&M def. No. 11 Mississippi State, 4-0

Singles

No. 1 – No. 40 Jeremy Efferding, A&M vs. No. 12 Romain Bogaerts, MSU 4-6, 6-2 (unfinished)

No. 2 – Junior Ore, A&M vs. No. 58 Malte Stropp, MSU 6-3, 6-3

No. 3 – No. 119 Harry Adams, A&M vs. James Chaudry, MSU 7-5, 5-4 (unfinished)

*No. 4 – No. 78 Shane Vinsant, A&M vs. Jordan Angus, MSU 7-5, 6-1

No. 5 – Jordan Szabo, A&M vs. Zach White, MSU 6-2, 6-3

No. 6 – Behzad Minavi, A&M vs. Pedro Dumont, MSU 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (unfinished)

Doubles

No. 1 – No. 9 Withrow/Ore, A&M vs. No. 12 Angus/Stropp, MSU 8-5

No. 2 – No. 26 Adams/Vinsant, A&M def. Bogaerts/White, MSU 8-4

No. 3 – Wilkinson/Dumont, MSU def. Efferding/Szabo, A&M 8-5

Order of finish: Doubles 3, 2, 1; Singles 5, 2, 4*

*clinched the match

Texas A&M (14-11, 5-5 SEC); Mississippi State (16-7, 6-5 SEC)