COLLEGE STATION – Texas A&M's 8th-ranked men's tennis team is set to host Auburn for their final regular season match at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center at 1p.m. Friday. Prior to the match A&M will honor Jeremy Efferding, Max Montague, Jordan Szabo and Jackson Withrow, the four seniors on this year's roster.
Setting the Scene
The Aggies (15-3, 8-1) look stay hot as they put a seven-match winning streak on the line, winning in the midweek 4-0 over Rice. The Tigers (14-8, 2-6) come to College Station having dropped their most recent match to Florida 4-1 in Auburn. The maroon and white look to remain in second-place in the league standings, half a match behind first-place Georgia and a 1.5 matches ahead of Mississippi State in third, in advance of the 2015 SEC Tennis Tournament hosted in College Station in just under two weeks' time.
Players in the ITA Rankings
The maroon and white are one of just seven teams to boast four or more ranked singles players, joining No. 2 Baylor, No. 3 Illinois, No. 6 Southern Cal, No. 8 Virginia, No. 11 Ohio State and No. 14 North Carolina. Junior Harrison Adams continues to pace the Aggie attack, ranking No. 51 in the latest ITA ranking. Rounding out the Aggie contingent are senior Jeremy Efferding, junior Shane Vinsant and freshman AJ Catanzariti at 59th, 67th and 79th respectively.
In addition to the four ranked singles players, the Aggies enlist a pair of ranked doubles teams in this week's poll. No. 13 Adams and Vinsant have been ranked within the top-25 every poll this season. Efferding partners with fellow Senior Jordan Szabo to rank 33rd, matching Adams and Vinsant with a team-high seven wins over ranked duos.
Auburn counter with No. 78 Lukas Ollert in the ITA singles rankings; the senior from Munich, Germany, has played in the No. 1 singles position for the Tigers the past two seasons, and has a record of 11-5 this spring in dual match play.
Last Time Out
The 8th-ranked Texas A&M men's tennis team swept No. 48 Rice 4-0 at the brand-new George R. Brown Tennis Center Wednesday evening in Houston. The Aggies won their seventh straight match and improved to 15-3 on the year; the Owls saw their four-match winning streak end, falling to 11-12 this spring.
The maroon and white opened the match winning the doubles point for the fifth straight match and 15th time this spring. The remarkable freshman duo of AJ Catanzariti and Arthur Rinderknech claimed the first match off the court winning 6-4 over Adam Gustafsson and Gustavo Gonzalez on doubles court three. The first year duo improved to a team-best 12-2 this spring. A&M's junior duo of Harrison Adams and Shane Vinsant were toppled on court one, 6-4 by Max Andrews and David Warren.
With the match's first point in the balance the senior tandem of Jeremy Efferding and Jordan Szabo prevailed in a tie-breaker to defeat Zach Yablon and Jamie Malik on court two. The nation's 33rd-ranked duo matched Catanzariti and Rinderknech's team-high 12 dual wins against just four losses.
After a brief intermission, the Aggies remained on the attack winning the first-set on all six singles courts. The race was on to claim the final three points of the evening as play was set to be halted once the team victory was secured.
No. 79 Catanzariti, back-to-back SEC Freshman of the week, stayed hot for the Aggies, winning his ninth straight match. The Pittsburgh native defeated Gustafsson 6-4, 6-0 on court three to put A&M ahead 2-0. The right hander paces the team with 13 dual victories and an impressive 30-8 record on the year.
No. 51 Adams returned to the A&M lineup and claimed his first win of the spring, besting Andrews on court three 6-3, 6-2. Just a few minutes later sophomore Max Lunkin clinched the match, defeating Gonzalez on court six, 7-6(7), 6-1. The clinch was the second in under a week for the Russian, securing the win over No. 13 Ole Miss Sunday afternoon.
History Against Auburn
The Aggies and Tigers have met on the courts six times, with each team coming away the victors three times. Last season the maroon and white swept Auburn 4-0 at the Mitchell Tennis Center, Max Lunkin, Frankie Colunga and Jordan Szabo registered singles victories in last season's match-up after the home team claimed the doubles point to open the match.
Up Next
The Aggies will hit the road for their final three regular season matches, facing No. 16 Florida in Gainesville Sunday at 11 a.m. (CT). Next week, the College Station crew will take on No. 25 LSU in Baton Rouge Thursday at 3 p.m. followed a trip to Fort Worth to take on No. 10 TCU Saturday at 1 p.m.
Keep Up With the Aggies
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.