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COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The No. 14 Texas A&M men's tennis team welcomes No. 8 Oklahoma to the College Station on Sunday. The former Big 12 foes will battle it out at 1 p.m. at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station. The Aggies look to build on their 8-3 record while the Sooners come to town with a 7-2 record of their own.
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"They're a very good team," men's tennis head coach Steve Denton said. "They won the Big 12 last year and they've got a lot of experienced players. If we play at the type of level that we're capable of, like we played against Ohio State, then I feel we'll be in great shape. I know we're going to have a battle on our hands but I believe our guys are looking forward to the challenge."
The Aggies come into the match riding the momentum they garnered from defeating 17th ranked Tulsa, 5-2, on Friday evening. Texas A&M is led by its pair of freshmen in 67th ranked Shane Vinsant (7-3) and 124th ranked Harry Adams (7-2) who are tied for the team lead in singles wins with seven. Following the freshmen are sophomores Jordan Szabo (6-3), Jeremy Efferding (6-2), No. 100 Jackson Withrow (5-2) and Behzad Minavi (4-0). Rounding out the projected lineup for A&M is junior Junior Ore with a 4-5 record in singles play.
Texas A&M boasts a talented doubles lineup, having won all but two of the doubles points this season. The 40th ranked pair of Ore and Withrow leads the team in doubles with an 8-1 record. Closely behind is the No. 7 tandem of Adams and Vinsant (6-2) as well as the duo of Efferding and Szabo (6-3).
Oklahoma enters the matchup with a strong lineup of its own. No. 68 Costin Paval leads the team with a 7-0 record overall and a 6-0 record from the No. 1 line. No. 65 Guillermo Alcorta is 5-1 with all of his decisions coming from the No. 2 line. 119th ranked Dane Webb brings in a 5-3 record with all verdicts coming from the No. 3 position. Axel Alvarez Llamas (5-2), Peerakit Siributwong (3-3) and Leonard Stakhovsky (3-4) round out the projected singles lineup for the Sooners.
In doubles, Oklahoma brings in the No. 19 tandem of Webb and Paval with a 4-3 record. The pair of Alcorta and Llamas (3-3) along with Siributwong and Stakhovsky (5-3) finish off the projected doubles squad for the Sooners.
The Aggies will be back in action again on Friday, March 1 when they travel to Columbia to begin conference play with South Carolina. To learn more about the Texas A&M men's tennis team, visit AggieAthletics.com and follow @AggieMTEN on Twitter.