Aggie Men’s Tennis Sweeps Day Night Doubleheader

Friday, February 5

College Station

12:00 PM

Texas A&M

UTRGV

Feb 05, 2016 | Men's Tennis

By: Texas A&M Media Relations

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 3 Texas A&M men's tennis team defeated No. 28 Florida State, 4-3, and UTRGV, 5-2, at the George P Mitchell Tennis Center Friday. The Aggies improved to 7-0 on the season, while the Seminoles fell to 6-2 and the Vaqueros slipped to 2-3.

The Aggies opened the day capturing the doubles point for the sixth straight match, staking themselves to a 1-0 lead over UTRGV. Sophomore AJ Catanzariti and freshman Sam Giammalva picked up a 6-4 victory on doubles court two over Koby Jansen and Elliott Johnstone. Moments later the point was clinched through a 7-5 win on doubles court three by junior James Martell and freshman Henry Gordon over Cosme Jubera and Harry Wells.

Despite the early hole the Vaqueros put up a fight, splitting first sets on the six singles courts. The maroon and white took a 2-0 lead as Jansen was forced to retire due to injury against Martell on court two. Martell, a native of Tyler, was ahead 6-4, 1-0 when the match was conceded. The left-hander moved to 2-0 this spring and 14-7 on the season. UTRGV claimed their first point of the day on court six, Johnstone defeated freshman Kevin Lam.

Junior Frankie Colunga pushed the Aggies' lead back out to two with a 6-2, 6-1 win, besting Ethan Ammon on court four. The College Station native improved to 2-0 this spring and 12-9 on the year. Gordon clinched the win for A&M, winning 7-5, 6-1 on court five over Jubera. The New Braunfels freshman is now 2-0 this season, both victories have come in dual matches.

With the result clinched, the two matches still being played were decided via a third-set super tie-breaker. Freshman Oscar Janglin bounced back from dropping the first set to win A&M's fifth point of the day. The Swede won a second-set tiebreaker 7-5 and the third set, 10-4, over Yehonatan Kaufman. Freshman Aleksandre Bakshi dropped his first match in the maroon and white, Juan Cruz Soria defeated Bakshi 7-6(7), 3-6, 1-0(7) on court one.

Following a brief break in the action the Aggies and Seminoles squared off under the lights in front of a boisterous Mitchell Tennis Center crowd. As play commenced the Aggies were in jeopardy of dropping the doubles point for the first time this season, as seniors Harrison Adams and Shane Vinsant dropped a 6-2 decision to Benjamin Lock and Marco Nunez.

No. 29 Jordi Arconada and Max Lunkin picked up a pair of breaks and claimed a 6-3 victory over Aziz Dougaz and Michael Rinaldi on doubles court three. The newly formed pair of senior Jackson Withrow and sophomore Arthur Rinderknech claimed their biggest win to date, defeating No. 55 Terrell and Terrance Whitehurst and securing the match's first point for the home team.

Just like the day's first match, teams split first sets across the six singles courts. Lunkin continued his strong play following up his doubles' win with an impressive 6-1, 6-2 victory over Terrance Whitehurst on court six. The junior's victory pushed A&M ahead 2-0 as the Moscow, Russia native improved to 2-0 in dual matches and 8-6 on the season.

Catanzariti picked up point number three for the Aggies, topping Terrell Whitehurst 6-4, 6-3 on court five. The Pittsburgh, Pa. native remains perfect this spring at 4-0. Despite the Aggie momentum, Florida State did not go quietly tying the team score at 3-all as Dougaz defeated Adams (6-4, 6-4), Rinaldi topped Arconada (6-4, 6-4) and No. 77 Nunez inched past No. 29 Vinsant (6-4, 3-6, 6-3).

With the team result hanging in the balance, attention shifted to the highly-competitive match on court one. No. 5 Rinderknech bounced back from his first loss this spring on Wednesday at Baylor to defeat No. 15 Lock 7-5, 7-5. The Paris native broke Lock's serve while leading 6-5 in each set to claim his team-leading 16^th win this season.

The Aggies will host another double header at the Mitchell Tennis Center Sunday afternoon. The maroon and white will take on No. 13 South Florida at noon before concluding their four-match home stand against St. Edward's at 4:30 p.m.

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.

Post-Match Quotes
Steve Denton, Texas A&M Head Coach
On the Florida State match…
"Florida State is a very tough team, from the top to the bottom of their lineup there are not any holes. They are really good in doubles and I thought we were fortunate to win the doubles point and after that we had a really battle on our hands, all of the matches were really close. I give a lot of credit to Florida State for coming here and really testing our team tonight. It is important for us to be able to rise up and play well when we have big matches and tough opponents. A match like tonight is great for the guy's confidence moving forward."

On the day's first match…
"It was complicated, again we were fortunate to win the doubles point and then we had a couple sets that we had to come back and win. UTRGV played well, we had some guys out that there that have not played as many matches and it was big to give them some experience in dealing with the pressure of playing college matches. College tennis is so different from junior tennis that we need some of our younger players to really learn to play team tennis. I thought they did that and played pretty well as a whole."

Looking ahead to Sunday's matches…
"This is a tough week from a scheduling stand point, we have some tough matches on the schedule and add in that we had a double-header today and another one on Sunday. I knew that after the Baylor match on Wednesday night being such an emotional match for the team, I was proud that our guys had enough fuel in the tank to overcome a really good Florida State team. I know we will have another big battle on our hands Sunday against South Florida, I'm confident that our guys will play well."

#3 Texas A&M 4, #28 Florida State 3
Feb 05, 2016 at College Station, Texas
George P Mitchell Tennis Center

Singles competition
1. #5 Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) def. #15 Benjamin Lock (FS) 7-5, 7-5
2. #77 Marco Nunez (FS) def. #29 Shane Vinsant (TAMU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
3. Michael Rinaldi (FS) def. Jordi Arconada (TAMU) 6-4, 6-4
4. Aziz Dougaz (FS) def. Harrison Adams (TAMU) 6-4, 6-4
5. AJ Catanzariti (TAMU) def. Terrell Whitehurst (FS) 6-4, 6-3
6. Max Lunkin (TAMU) def. Terrance Whitehurst (FS) 6-1, 6-2

Doubles competition
1. Benjamin Lock/Marco Nunez (FS) def. Harrison Adams/Shane Vinsant (TAMU) 6-2
2. Arthur Rinderknech/Jackson Withrow (TAMU) def. #55 Terrell Whitehurst/Terrance Whitehurst (FS) 6-3
3. #29 Jordi Arconada/Max Lunkin (TAMU) def. Aziz Dougaz/Michael Rinaldi (FS) 6-3

Match Notes:
Florida State 6-2; National ranking #28
Texas A&M 7-0; National ranking #3
Order of finish: Doubles (1, 3, 2); Singles (6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1)

#3 Texas A&M 5, UT Rio Grande Valley 2
Feb 05, 2016 at College Station, Texas
George P Mitchell Tennis Center

Singles competition
1. Juan Cruz Soria (UTRGV) def. Aleksandre Bakshi (TAMU) 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 1-0 (10-7)
2. James Martell (TAMU) def. Koby Jansen (UTRGV) 6-4, 1-0, retired
3. Oscar Janglin (TAMU) def. Yehonatan Kaufman (UTRGV) 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 1-0 (10-4)
4. Frankie Colunga (TAMU) def. Ethan Ammon (UTRGV) 6-2, 6-1
5. Henry Gordon (TAMU) def. Cosme Jubera (UTRGV) 7-5, 6-1
6. Elliot Johnstone (UTRGV) def. Kevin Lam (TAMU) 6-3, 6-3

Doubles competition
1. Jackson Withrow/Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) vs. Juan Cruz Soria/Yehonatan Kaufman (UTRGV) 5-6, unfinished
2. AJ Catanzariti/Sam Giammalva (TAMU) def. Koby Jansen/Elliot Johnstone (UTRGV) 6-4
3. James Martell/Henry Gordon (TAMU) def. Cosme Jubera/Harry Wells (UTRGV) 7-5

Match Notes:
UT Rio Grande Valley 2-3
Texas A&M 6-0; National ranking #3
Order of finish: Doubles (2, 3); Singles (2, 6, 4, 5, 3, 1)