Aggies Advance to ITA All-American

Monday, September 29

Tulsa, Okla.

All Day

Texas A&M

ITA All-American Qualifying

Oct 01, 2014 | Men's Tennis

By: Texas A&M Athletics

COLLEGE STATION – Texas A&M men's tennis advanced singles and doubles teams to the 2014 Saint Francis Health System ITA Men's All-American Championships in Tulsa Wednesday afternoon. The Aggies advanced through the qualifying draws into the first men's national title of the fall season hosted by the ITA and the University of Tulsa.

Freshman AJ Catanzariti advanced with his third consecutive three-set win in the Sooner state. The Pittsburgh native bested Chris Diaz of Ohio State, winning the first and third sets in Wednesday's match. The blue-chip freshman will face off with Thai-Son Kwiatkowski of Virginia Thursday at 10:30 a.m.

“AJ gutted out a three set win in the last round of qualifying,” Texas A&M Head Coach Steve Denton said. “He just willed himself into the main draw with a lot of intestinal fortitude. I am really proud of his effort this week.”

Joining Catanzariti in the ITA Singles Championship Draw will be a pair of A&M juniors. Shane Vinsant will match up with Andrew Adams of South Carolina, while Harrison Adams faces off with Jonny Wang of Southern Cal at 10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m., respectively.

Catanzariti partnered with Max Lunkin to advance to the doubles main draw with a Wednesday win over Ben Lott and Alen Salibasic of Drake University. The A&M pair will face Alex Lawson and Billy Pecor of Notre Dame at 2 p.m. Thursday.

“Very proud of Max for his performance in doubles today with AJ who to say the least was pretty exhausted out there after his singles match, “Denton said. “They played with great energy and confidence.”

A&M's duo of Jeremy Efferding and Jordan Szabo advanced to the doubles draw via the ITA's Lucky Loser list despite a set back against Gonzales Austin and Rhys Johnson of Vanderbilt. The maroon and white clad duo faces Gregory Bayane and Chase Melton of Cal Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m.

“Texas A&M has a total of six players in the main draw, three singles entries and two doubles teams still alive with AJ playing both events,” Denton added. “Since Bob McKinley and I have been at A&M, this is the most number of players we have had make the main draw of this prestigious event.”

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.

To see the full draw of the ITA All-American log on to 12thMan.com. Follow @AggieMTEN on twitter to stay up to date with the Aggies.

ITA All-American Qualifying

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Sep. 29-Oct 1

First Round

Francisco Dias, George Washington def. No. 46 Jeremy Efferding, Texas A&M. 6-4, 6-1

AJ Catanzariti, Texas A&M def. Eric Johnson, USC. 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3

Second Round

AJ Catanzariti, Texas A&M def. David Biosca, East Tennessee State. 4-6, 6-4, 6-0

Third Round

AJ Catanzariti, Texas A&M def. Chris Diaz, Ohio State. 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3

ITA All-American Qualifying Doubles