Texas A&M
Oklahoma
No. 13 Texas A&M Defeats No. 1 OU
Feb 20, 2015 | Men's Tennis
COLLEGE STATION – The No. 13 Texas A&M men's tennis team defeated the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners 4-3 at the George P Mitchell Tennis Center on a blustery Friday evening. The win was the first in the program's 38 year history over the number one ranked team in the country.
“Our guys really competed well and I really thought our guys believed that they had a chance to win tonight,” Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. “I have been telling the guys that I think we have a really good team. It was an unbelievable result for us. We are excited for the guys because they have been working really hard these last couple weeks. The windy conditions were an equalizer and our guys were up to the task tonight.”
For the third time in four spring matches the final result came down to freshman Arthur Rinderknech, the SEC Freshman of the Week two weeks ago did not disappoint for the second straight match, Rinderknech clinched the Aggies upset of then 5th-ranked Ohio State just two weeks ago. The Paris, France native bounced back from dropping a first-set tie breaker to win 6-3, 6-1 over Spencer Papa, in set two and three respectively.
“Arthur has done it now in three matches and has come through for us in a major way,” Denton added. “Spencer (Papa) has just gotten to Oklahoma this January and Arthur just started playing for us. I was interested to see how that match turned out. It was a really close contest and Arthur was able to pick his game up at the right time and clinch the match for us.”
The day's action began with a tightly contested doubles point as the sun was setting in College Station. The Aggies captured the doubles point in dramatic fashion with all three matches finishing within a minutes of each other. Texas A&M's 8th-ranked duo of Harrison Adams and Shane Vinsant drew first blood with a 6-4 win over the nation's 5th-ranked tandem of Dane Webb and Axel Alvarez Llamas. The win marked the second straight win over a top-10 opponent for Adams and Vinsant having dispatched of Ohio State's then No. 5 duo of Kevin Metka and Ralf Steinbach two weeks ago. The win moved the maroon and white pair to 3-0 this spring and 6-0 against ranked opponents this year, while Webb and Alvarez fell to 9-1 this spring.
No. 18 Jeremy Efferding and Jordan Szabo dropped their first match of the spring falling 6-3 to Andrew Harris and Alex Ghilea on the second doubles court. The doubles point came down to the third court and A&M's freshman duo were up to the task. AJ Catanzariti and Rinderknech took a commanding 5-2 lead with a pair of breaks before clinching the night's first point with a 7-5 result. The pair took down Papa and Florin Bragusi, moving to 2-0 this spring.
“I was excited to see AJ finish of the doubles point with a really big serve,” Denton added. “AJ and Arthur were up 5-2 and then lost their serve twice. That is one of the things those guys have done really well this year in holding their serve. They played a really good game to break back and go up 6-5 and then finish of the doubles point for us. Obviously winning that point was huge for our team, winning four singles matches against such a good Oklahoma line up was going to be tough.”
The Sooners proved their lofty ranking was worthy, claiming the next two points on courts one and two. No. 11 Alvarez defeated No. 45 Vinsant in straight sets followed by No. 26 Harris besting No. 43 Efferding.
The maroon and white wasted little time evening the match at two points apiece through a convincing win on court six from sophomore Max Lunkin. The Moscow, Russia native stormed through a two-set win over Jose Salazar, 6-4 and 6-2.
The Aggies retook the lead as No. 51 Catanzariti claimed a win over No. 63 Ghilea on court five. The A&M freshman moved to 19-7 on the year and 4-2 over ranked foes. The Sooners again bounced back to tie the match up at three as No. 31 Webb outlasted No. 36 Adams in three sets before Rinderknech clinched the win for the Aggies.
Texas A&M will continue their nine match home stand with a double header against No. 37 Tulsa and Incarnate Word on Sunday, at noon and 4 p.m. respectively.
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.
#13 Texas A&M 4, #1 Oklahoma 3
Feb 20, 2015 at College Station, TX
George P Mitchell Tennis Center
Singles competition
1. #11 Axel Alvarez (OU) def. #45 Shane Vinsant (TAMU) 6-4, 6-2
2. #26 Andrew Harris (OU) def. #43 Jeremy Efferding (TAMU) 6-4, 6-1
3. #31 Dane Webb (OU) def. #36 Harrison Adams (TAMU) 6-7 (4-7), 6-1, 7-5
*4. Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) def. Spencer Papa (OU) 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-1
5. #51 AJ Catanzariti (TAMU) def. #63 Alex Ghilea (OU) 7-6 (7-5), 6-1
6. Max Lunkin (TAMU) def. Jose Salazar (OU) 6-4, 6-2
Doubles competition
1. #8 Shane Vinsant/Harrison Adams (TAMU) def. #5 Dane Webb/Axel Alvarez (OU) 6-4
2. Andrew Harris/Alex Ghilea (OU) def. #13 Jeremy Efferding/Jordan Szabo (TAMU) 6-3
3. AJ Catanzariti/Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) def. Spencer Papa/Florin Bragusi (OU) 7-5
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (1,2,6,5,3,4)
*Clinched Match
Players Mentioned
