No. 7 Texas A&M Men’s Tennis Travels to Face No. 18 Mississippi State

Friday, April 7

Starkville, Miss.

3:00 PM

Texas A&M

Mississippi State

Apr 06, 2017 | Men's Tennis

By: Texas A&M Media Relations

STARKVILLE, Miss. - The No. 7 Texas A&M men's tennis team travels to take on No. 18 Mississippi State Friday at 3 p.m. (CT) at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre in Starkville, Miss. The Aggies (16-4, 9-0 SEC) look to remain in a tie for first in the SEC standings alongside No. 13 Georgia (13-6, 9-0), while the Bulldogs bring a 15-5 overall record and 6-2 league mark into the match.

The Aggies remained perfect in SEC play Sunday evening, topping Arkansas 4-0 at the Mitchell Tennis Center. The Maroon & White picked up the doubles point along with wins from Hady Habib, No. 123 AJ Catanzariti and No. 58 Jordi Arconada. Arconada, a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, garnered SEC Player of the Week Honors after claiming his 15^th straight victory and earning his highest singles ranking (58) of his career.

A 6-1 rout of Tennessee capped Mississippi State's weekend on a high note. No. 4 Nuno Borges once again led MSU to victory as the sophomore defeated his 15th ranked foe of the season in singles action. The Bulldogs began the match by clinching the doubles point over the Vols then used wins from Borges, Mate Cutura, No. 122 Strahinja Rakic, Trevor Foshey and Vaughn Hunter to cap MSU's victory over the Volunteers.

The Maroon & White remain on the road for their final away match of the season, taking on Auburn at 1 p.m. (CT) Sunday in Auburn, Ala.

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.

Match Updates
- Live video and statistics of the match can be found at http://www.hailstate.com/sports/2016/12/7/mens-tennis-live.aspx, follow @AggieMTEN on Twitter and then check 12thMan.com for post-match results and a recap from the day's action.

The Texas A&M Lineup
- Texas A&M returns eight lettermen from last year's squad that hosted an NCAA Regional and finished the season ranked No. 14 in the final ITA Rankings.
- Included in the group is junior Arthur Rinderknech who began the spring season ranked No. 16 in the singles poll and No. 7 alongside senior Max Lunkin in the doubles poll. Rinderknech earned singles and doubles All-America honors after appearing in the NCAA Doubles Championship match alongside Jackson Withrow last summer and finishing the season ranked No. 20 in the final singles ranking.
- Also returning this season will be Lunkin, AJ Catanzariti, Jordi Arconada and Aleksandre Bakshi. All four featured regularly in the lineup last season and are set to be mainstays in the Maroon & White lineup again this spring. Seniors Frankie Colunga and James Martell look to take advantage of their final season in College Station.
- The final members of head coach Steve Denton's roster are freshman Hady Habib and Valentin Vacherot. Habib, a Houston native, joins a loaded Aggie lineup and his talent was evident during the fall season where Habib collected eight singles victories and six doubles triumphs. Vacherot, the first cousin of Rinderknech, comes to Aggieland after advancing to the finals of the Tunisia F24 Futures in September and the right-hander picked up ATP points at the Tunisia F25, Slovak Republic F3, Tunisia F23 and the France F13.

Notable Streaks and Trends
- The Aggies have won at least 20 matches in each of the last three seasons under head coach Steve Denton and five times in his 10-year tenure. Four times during the last decade, Texas A&M has hit the 25-win mark, winning 25 in 2010, 29 in 2011, 25 in 2014 and 27 a season ago.
- Texas A&M has had a doubles tandem earn All-America honors in each of the past four seasons. Last season it was Jackson Withrow and Arthur Rinderknech achieving the feat, while Rinderknech also earned the All-American designation for his singles play.
- Since 1999, the Aggies have made 18-straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including advancing to the Elite Eight two seasons ago.
- Texas A&M has been ranked in Top-25 during nine of the 11 rankings published this spring and 73 of the last 75 polls, dating back to Jan. 22, 2013.
- Jordi Arconada's win-streak paces the Aggies at the moment, at 15 straight, including an impressive 8-0 mark in SEC matches. The junior leads the Aggies with eight clinch victories this spring.
- Hady Habib matches Arconada to lead the league at 8-0, the freshman has won 11 straight matches to rank fourth on the squad with 11 dual victories.
- The Aggies' pace the SEC with seven player/freshman of the weeks, with No. 13 Georgia (6), No. 20 South Carolina (3) and No. 18 Mississippi State (2) the only other schools to receive more than one honor. Arconada, Catanzariti, Rinderknech and Bakshi have garner Player of the Week nods, while Hady Habib and Valentin Vacherot have been named Freshman of the Week.

Aggies in the ITA Rankings
- Rinderknech continues to be amongst the highest ranked SEC Singles players, coming in at No. 12 in the March 21 singles poll. The Frenchman owns a 21-7 record this year, with a 12-4 mark in dual matches.
- Jordi Arconada is riding a 15-match winning streak to rank No. 58 in the latest ITA poll. The Buenos Aries native, holds a 17-3 record overall including a 15-1 dual match tally.
- AJ Catanzariti earned the No. 123 ranking in the latest poll after claiming a career-best triumph over then-No. 25 Ryotaro Matsumura of Kentucky to help the Aggies continue their win streak. The Pittsburgh, Penn. native has recorded a pair of ranked wins this year.
- The Texas A&M duo of Arthur Rinderknech and Max Lunkin remain in the ITA doubles rankings at No. 48, the duo claimed six wins in the fall schedule and advanced to the USTA/ITA Texas Regional finals in Ft. Worth.
- Rinderknech also lands in the doubles poll alongside Catanzariti. The junior pair ranked No. 77 in the latest poll, earning a pair of ranked wins this spring.

The Denton Effect
- In the first ten years of Steve Denton tenure at Texas A&M, beginning in August of 2006, the Aggies claimed 208 dual victories, the second-best 10 year stretch in program history, trailing only the 211 wins under Omar Smith from 1964-1973.
- Denton's 224 career triumphs in Aggieland trail Omar Smith's 275 wins and David Kent's 318 victories, while his winning percentage (69.1) trails only Tim Cass on the all-time ledger (196-83, 70.3%). Smith captained the Aggies from 1960-1974, while Kent was at the helm from 1979-1996 and Cass lead the charge from 1997-2006.
- The Denton-led Aggies have claimed a pair of SEC Tournament crowns (2015 & 2016) and a share of the regular season title in 2015.
- Of Texas A&M's 40 All-Americans all-time, 22 have come under the tutelage of Denton, including the Aggies only player to earn All-American status in all four seasons in Aggieland (Austin Krajicek, 2009-11 singles & 2008-2011 doubles).