Texas A&M Men’s Tennis Travels to Face Arkansas and Ole Miss

Friday, March 11

Fayetteville, Ark.

3:00 PM

Texas A&M

Arkansas

Mar 10, 2016 | Men's Tennis

By: Texas A&M Media Relations

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 7 Texas A&M men's tennis team (14-3) takes to the road to face No. 32 Arkansas (11-3) Friday at 3 p.m. in Fayetteville before travelling to Oxford to face No. 22 Ole Miss (6-3) Sunday at 1 p.m. The Aggies currently pace the SEC with a 2-0 mark alongside Georgia and Kentucky, while the Razorbacks and Rebels are among a group of six teams a match back at 1-1 in league play.

Aggies in the ITA Rankings
Texas A&M enters the match with a trio of ranked singles players, led by No. 14 Arthur Rinderknech. Rinderknech earned the highest initial spring ranking for an Aggie on record back in January. Additionally, the Paris, France native has been the highest-ranked SEC player in each ranking this spring. The Frenchman stands at 19-6 this year, including a team-high seven wins over ranked opponents.

Senior Shane Vinsant brings a No. 34 ranking into the matchup. The Keller, Texas native is currently 15-8 on the season, trailing Rinderknech with six wins against ranked foes. Vinsant has earned All-SEC recognition each of the last two seasons, along with the 2014 SEC Tournament MVP honors. A season ago Vinsant was named an All-American alongside classmate Harrison Adams after earning a final No. 10 ranking in the doubles poll.

Sophomore Jordi Arconada was ranked No. 67 last week by the ITA, the highest the Buenos Aires native has been ranked in his collegiate career. The right-hander is 15-8 on the season, including an impressive straight set victory over then 16^th-ranked Hugo Di Feo of Ohio State at the ITA Indoor Championships last month.

In addition to the three ranked singles players, the Aggies enlist a trio of ranked doubles teams. No. 25 Rinderknech and Jackson Withrow, No. 34 Rinderknech and Vinsant and the 57^th ranked pair of Jordi Arconada and Max Lunkin. Rinderknech and Withrow are 8-3 this season, with a 3-3 mark against ranked teams. Arconada and Lunkin are 9-3 this season, with a 6-2 dual record and one win over a ranked doubles team under their belt.

Last Time Out
The Aggie men's tennis team defeated Florida, 4-3, and Nicholls State, 6-1, last Sunday afternoon at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas. The maroon and white dropped the doubles point to the visiting Gators, falling behind 1-0 for just the 4th time in 16 matches this spring. The nation's top-ranked doubles team of Diego Hidalgo and Gordon Watson topped No. 31 Arthur Rinderknech and Jackson Withrow on court one, 6-1 before Alfredo Perez and Chase Perez-Blanco bested Jordi Arconada and AJ Catanzariti 6-3 on court three.

After starting singles play behind 1-0, the Aggies shifted into gear taking five-of-six first sets. No. 106 Arconada evened the score at one-all, defeating No. 30 Perez-Blanco 6-4, 6-1. The ranked win was the second in the last month for the Bueno Aires native, the right-hander topped then No. 16 Hugo Di Feo of Ohio State at the ITA National Indoors on Valentine's Day.

The Gators regained the one point advantage as Watson topped Catanzariti 6-4, 6-4 on court five, but moments later the match squared up again as Withrow defeated McClain Kessler 7-6(5), 6-2 on court six. Florida took the lead for the third time, pushing the Aggies to the brink of defeat at 3-2, as No. 77 Perez bested Harrison Adams 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 on court four.

Facing defeat, the Aggies had to win both matches still on the court to improve to 2-0 in SEC play. No. 53 Shane Vinsant had the chance to claim the much needed point as he took a 6-4 lead in a second set tie-breaker, but No. 22 Elliott Orkin stormed back and forced a third set with a 11-9 breaker victory. No. 13 Rinderknech bounced back from dropping a second set breaker to win 7-5 in the third set over No. 50 Hidalgo on court one, tying the team score at 3-all.

With all of the attention on Vinsant's second-court, play remained tight requiring a third-set tiebreaker, all three sets on court two were determined in a breaker. The Keller, Texas native took a commanding 5-1 advantage before dispatching Orkin 7-2, clinching the A&M victory over Florida.

After an hour intermission, the maroon and white returned to the courts to face Nicholls State, the A&M doubles teams got back on track opening the night-cap with the point. The Aggies went ahead, 1-0, through a pair of 6-3 victories from Withrow and James Martell over Kieran Cronin and Oleksander Podgursky on court one and Kevin Lam and Sam Giammalva over Bernard Wezeman and Sam Meesen on court three.

The maroon and white once again got out to a strong start in singles action, taking first sets on four-of-six courts. Freshman Henry Gordon defeated Oscar Reeve on court six, 6-1, 6-2, to put A&M up 2-0. A couple minutes later, Arconada claimed his second singles win of the day, topping Evan Karatzas 6-2, 6-2 on court one.

College Station native, Frankie Colunga, excited the crowd with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Max Sinn on court five to clinch the home team's win. Oscar Janglin pushed the margin to 5-0 as he outlasted Cronin 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 on court four. The Colonels got on the board with a Meesen triumph over Martell, 6-1, 7-5, on court three. Freshman Aleksandre Bakshi put the final point on the board for A&M, defeating Podgursky 6-4, 6-7(9), 6-0 on court two.

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.