COLLEGE STATION – The Texas A&M men's tennis team continues the fall season at the prestigious SEC Fall Classic in Gainesville, Florida and at the Rice Fall invitational in Houston, Texas.
No. 15 Shane Vinsant posted a trio of wins on the day defeating Robin Haden of Mississippi State 6-1, 6-1 in singles play. Vinsant partnered with highly-touted freshman AJ Catanzariti for doubles wins over duos from Vanderbilt and Auburn. The pair will face Josh Wardell and Oliver Landert of Florida Saturday in the third round. Catanzariti will join Vinsant in the second round of singles play after defeating Luis Valero of Tennessee.
“The highlight of day I was seeing AJ Catanzariti play so well,” Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. “AJ showed a lot fight in his comeback win in Aggie debut. Especially after he served for the first set and lost a very tough first set tiebreaker. The last 30 minutes of his match was at a very high level. What a great way to start his college career. The tournament doesn't get any easier as the guys play two singles and a doubles tomorrow.”
Jordan Szabo was the third Aggie to advance in singles play, defeating Suresh Eswaran of Vanderbilt in straight sets. No. 46 Jeremy Efferding fell to Stefan Lindmark of Ole Miss on the other side of the bracket. The 37th-ranked doubles tandem were the only A&M doubles team to fail to advance to the second round losing in a tiebreaker to Thomas Maryonne and Harrison O'Keefe of South Carolina.
Frankie Colunga and Max Lunkin advanced to the second round after defeating Lukas Ollert and Dante Salah of Auburn before bowing out of the double bracket to Elliott Orkin and Maxx Lipman of the Gators. Singles play was no kinder to the pair as Colunga fell to Chase Perez-Blanco of Florida while Lunkin was bounced by Johan Den Toom of Arkansas.
The Bayou City was less kind to the maroon and white, with Max Montague falling in three sets to Andrew Dzulnsky of Nebraska in a third set super tie breaker. Freshman Jett Cash was bested by Jamie Malik of Rice.
The pair was slated to face the Owl duo of Adam Gustafsson and Max Andrews, but the match was postponed until Saturday at 8:30 a.m. due to weather. Cash will face Jonathan Gonzalez of UTA and Montague will face Eric Fritz-Randolph of SMU in the consolation bracket beginning Saturday afternoon.
To see full-draws for both the SEC Fall Classic and the Rice Fall Invitational visit 12thMan.com and follow @AggieMTEN on twitter.
SEC Fall Classic
Gainesville, Florida
Doubles
First Round
Shane Vinsant & AJ Catanzariti, Texas A&M def. Suresh Eswaran & Daniel Valent, Vanderbilt. 8-4
Frankie Colunga & Max Lunkin, Texas A&M def. Lukas Ollert & Dante Saleh, Auburn. 8-6
Thomas Maryonne & Harrison O'Keefe, South Carolina def. No. 37 Jeremy Efferding & Jordan Szabo, Texas A&M 8-7(4)
Second Round
Shane Vinsant & AJ Catanzariti, Texas A&M def. Marko Krickovic & Maxime Hennisdaels, Auburn. 8-5
Elliott Orkin & Maxx Lipman, Florida def. Frankie Colunga & Max Lunkin, Texas A&M. 8-4
Third Round
Shane Vinsant & AJ Catanzariti, Texas A&M vs. Josh Wardell & Oliver Landert, Florida
Singles
First Round
No. 15 Shane Vinsant, Texas A&M def. Robin Haden, Mississippi State. 6-1, 6-1
Stefan Lindmark, Ole Miss def. No. 46 Jeremy Efferding, Texas A&M. 7-5, 6-1
AJ Catanziriti, Texas A&M def. Luis Valero, Tennessee. 6-7(5), 6-3 (3)
Chase Perez-Blanco, Florida def. Frankie Colunga, Texas A&M. 2-6, 6-2 (5)
Johan Den Toom, Arkansas def. Max Lunkin, Texas A&M. 6-4, 7-6 (8)
Jordan Szabo, Texas A&M def. Suresh Eswaran, Vanderbilt. 7-5, 6-4
Second Round
AJ Catanzariti, Texas A&M vs. William Kallberg, Ole Miss
Jordan Szabo, Texas A&M vs. Kyle Koch, South Carolina
No. 15 Shane Vinsant, Texas A&M vs. Andrew Schafer, South Carolina
Consolation
No. 46 Jeremy Efferding, Texas A&M vs. Juan Marino, Arkansas
Max Lunkin, Texas A&M vs. Rich Brej, Florida
Frankie Colunga, Texas A&M vs. Baker Newman, Vanderbilt
Rice Fall Invitational
Houston, TX
Singles First Round
Jamie Malik, Rice def. Jett Cash, Texas A&M vs. 6-2, 6-2
Andrew Dzulnsky, Nebraska def. Max Montague, Texas A&M. 2-6, 6-4 (8)
Doubles First Round
Jett Cash & Max Montague, Texas A&M vs. Adam Gustafsson & Max Andrews, Rice.