COLLEGE STATION – Junior Shane Vinsant and the 37nd ranked duo of Jeremy Efferding and Jordan Szabo of Texas A&M men's tennis advanced to the second round of the 2014 Saint Francis Health System ITA Men's All-American Championships in Tulsa Thursday afternoon. The Aggies advanced through the first round of the first men's national title of the fall season hosted by the ITA and the University of Tulsa.
No. 15 Vinsant bested fellow SEC competitor Andrew Adams of South Carolina in three sets Thursday. The Keller native dropped the middle set to the 25th ranked Gamecock, but prevailed with a 6-3 result in the deciding set. Vinsant will face No. 40 Andrew Harris of Oklahoma Friday at 9 a.m.
The No. 37 ranked doubles pair Jeremy Efferding and Jordan Szabo took advantage the 'lucky loser' opportunity defeating No. 6 Gregory Bayane and Chase Melton of Cal. The Team split the first two sets resulting in a super tiebreaker third set that the maroon and white emerged victorious in. The maroon two will face No. 14 Eric Perez and Tam Trinh of Louisiana State at 1:30 p.m.
Freshman AJ Catanzariti saw his magical run come to an end at the hands of No. 80 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski in straight sets. The Pittsburgh native pushed the first set to a tiebreaker, but was unable to breakthrough. Catanzariti finished the week in the Sooner State at 7-1 in singles play, advancing to the main draw winning four matches in pre-qualifying and a trio of matches in qualifying.
No. 11 Harrison Adams struggled to get started against No. 39 Jonny Wang of Southern Cal. Adams fell 6-3 in both sets as Wang advanced to face Felipe Soares of Texas Tech.
For the 10th straight year, the University of Tulsa will host the Saint Francis Health System ITA Men's All-American Championships at the state-of-the-art Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Down the road at the Ron Westbrooks Invitational, hosted by Lamar, sophomore Frankie Colunga was placed in Flight One Singles Pool A including Nikita Lis of Lamar, Matthew Rossouw of Tyler JC and Hector Ramirez. Max Montague will face members of Flight Two Singles Pool B, Ciro Lampasas of Tyler JC, Koby Jansen of UTPA and Mikko Rajamaki of Lamar. Each athlete will face the other members of his pool; pool winners from Pool A and Pool B will face off for the championship. Second place, third and fourth place pool players will face off for third, fifth and seventh place.
Freshman Jett Cash will face Alejandro Sankoja (OF) in the flight three singles bracket Friday afternoon and 3 p.m.
Cash will partner with Nikola Crvelin of UTPA Firday at 2 p.m. to take on Ciro Lampasas and Zach Northey of Tyler JC. Colunga and Montague face Josip Smoljan and Ryan Hoverson of UIW
To see the full draw of the ITA All-American and the Ron Westbrooks Invitational log on to 12thMan.com. Follow @AggieMTEN on twitter to stay up to date with the Aggies.
ITA All-American Singles
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Oct 2-6
First Round
No. 80 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, Virginia def. AJ Catanzariti, Texas A&M. 7-6(5), 6-4
No. 15 Shane Vinsant, Texas A&M def. No. 25 Andrew Adams, USC. 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
No. 39 Jonny Wang, USC def. No. 11Harrison Adams, Texas A&M. 6-3, 6-3
Second Round
No. 15 Shane Vinsant, Texas A&M vs. No. 40 Andrew Harris, Oklahoma
ITA All-American Doubles
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Oct 2-6
First Round
No. 37 Jeremy Efferding & Jordan Szabo, Texas A&M def. No. 6 Gregory Bayane & Chase Melton, Cal. 4-6, 6-3, 1-0(8)
No. 27 Alex Lawson & Billy Pecor, Notre Dame def. AJ Catanzariti & Max Lunkin, Texas A&M. 6-4, 6-4
Second Round
No. 37 Jeremy Efferding & Jordan Szabo, Texas A&M vs. No. 14 Eric Perez & Tam Trinh, LSU.