Thursday, May 18
Athens, Ga.
3:00 PM
Texas A&M
vs
UCLA
Texas A&M to Take On UCLA in Round of 16
May 17, 2017 | Men's Tennis
ATHENS, Georgia – The 12th-seeded Texas A&M men's tennis team traveled to Athens, Georgia to take on No. 5 UCLA in the NCAA Championship's Round of 16, Thursday at 3 p.m. (CT) at the Magill Tennis Complex. The Aggies (21-6) are making their 14th appearance all-time in the Round of 16 and are looking to advance to the quarterfinals for the third time.
Texas A&M is one of just seven schools to advance both the men's and women's teams to the Round of 16 in Athens (Cal, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Stanford, Texas A&M). Live stats and video will be available on Georgia's tournament central page for all matches taking place in Athens throughout the tournament (http://www.georgiadogs.com/sports/m-tennis/spec-rel/ncaa-2017.html)
The winner of Thursday's match-up will take on the winner of the match between No. 4 Southern Cal and host-No. 12 Georgia Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinals.
The Maroon & White clinched their 14th appearance in the Round of 16 with a 4-0 victory over No. 24 Oregon last Saturday at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station. After picking up the doubles point, the Aggies secured the victory with wins from AJ Catanzariti, No. 48 Jordi Arconada and No. 6 Arthur Rinderknech. The host-Aggies advanced to the second round with a 4-0 sweep over Buffalo last Friday.
The regular season SEC Champion Aggies feature a pair of ranked singles players, led by No. 6 Rinderknech. The Paris, France native has been ranked in the top-25 all spring after turning in an impressive fall campaign. The All-SEC First Teamer leads Texas A&M with a 26-8 record this season, including a team-high 17 wins over ITA ranked players. Arconada moved to No. 48 in the latest ITA poll, the Buenos Aires, Argentina native has an impressive 19-2 dual record, going 10-0 in SEC regular-season matches including a career-best 18-match winning streak. Arconada was joined on the All-SEC Second Team roster by Freshman Valentin Vacherot, while Vacherot also earned All-Freshman Team accolades alongside Hady Habib.
In doubles action, Rinderknech and Catanzariti have stormed up the doubles rankings the last month, earning a Top-8 seed in the upcoming NCAA Doubles Championship, solidifying their All-American status. The junior duo are currently one of the hottest doubles teams in the country, winning seven straight matches and going a perfect 6-0 against ranked pairs including wins over then-No. 2 Robert Loeb and Jan Zeilinski of Georgia and No. 9 Trevor Foshey and Niclaus Braun of Mississippi State.
The Bruins (21-5) booked a trip to the Round of 16 with a pair of 4-0 victories in Los Angeles, defeating Army and Ole Miss in consecutive days last weekend. UCLA boasts the No. 3 ranked doubles pair of Martin Redlicki and Evan Zhu and a pair of ranked singles players, No. 28 Gage Brymer and No. 60 Redlicki.
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M men's tennis in the field. 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 stats for the match will be available at http://www.georgiadogs.com/sports/m-tennis/spec-rel/vid-stream-ncaa.html, 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 returned 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 four seasons under head coach Steve Denton and six times in his 11-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 have had a doubles tandem earn All-America honors in each of the past five seasons. Catanzariti and Rinderknech earned a Top-8 seed in the upcoming Doubles Championship to solidify their All-American status for 2017. Last season it was Jackson Withrow and Arthur Rinderknech achieving the feat, while Rinderknech also earned the All-American designation for his singles play.
- The Aggies have made 24-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 13 of the 14 rankings published this spring and 77 of the last 79 polls, dating back to Jan. 22, 2013.
- Jordi Arconada's win-streak reached a team-best 18 matches, before falling in the SEC Tournament semifinals. The junior leads the Aggies with eight clinch victories this spring.
- Hady Habib finished amongst the league leaders in conference wins at 10-1, the freshman has gone 7-2 in the team's last 10 matches to rank fourth on the squad with 14 dual victories.
- The Aggies paced the SEC with eight player/freshman of the week honorees this spring; with No. 13 Georgia (7), No. 19 South Carolina (3) and No. 19 Mississippi State (2) the only other schools to receive more than two honors. Arconada, Catanzariti, Rinderknech and Bakshi garnered Player of the Week nods, while Hady Habib and Valentin Vacherot were 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. 6 in the May 4 singles poll. The Frenchman owns a 26-8 record this year, with a 17-5 mark in dual matches.
- Jordi Arconada rode an 18-match winning streak to rank No. 48 in the latest ITA poll. The Buenos Aries native, holds a 21-4 record overall including a 19-2 dual match tally.
- Rinderknech lands in the doubles poll alongside AJ Catanzariti. The junior pair ranked No. 9 in the latest poll, earning six ranked wins this spring.
- The Texas A&M duo of Rinderknech and Max Lunkin remain in the ITA doubles rankings at No. 50, the duo claimed six wins in the fall schedule and advanced to the USTA/ITA Texas Regional finals in Ft. Worth.
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 229 career triumphs in Aggieland trail Omar Smith's 275 wins and David Kent's 318 victories, while his winning percentage (69.2) 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 titles in 2015 and 2017.
- Of Texas A&M's 43 All-Americans all-time, 25 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).
- In Denton's 10 completed seasons at Texas A&M, the Aggies have finished ranked in the Top-15 of the final ITA Team Rankings on seven occasions having done so only six times in the previous 25 years.
NCAA Championships
(Dan Magill Tennis Complex; Athens, Georgia)
Round of 16
Thursday, May 18
No. 15 Florida vs. No. 2 Virginia, 8 a.m. (CT)
No. 10 Texas vs. No. 7 Baylor, 8 a.m. (CT)
Illinois vs. No. 6 TCU, 11 a.m. (CT)
No. 14 Oklahoma vs. No. 3 Ohio State, 11 a.m. (CT)
No. 13 Georgia vs. No. 4 USC, 3 p.m. (CT)
No. 12 Texas A&M vs. No. 5 UCLA, 3 p.m. (CT)
No. 16 Stanford vs. No. 1 Wake Forest, 6 p.m. (CT)
No. 9 North Carolina vs. No. 8 California, 6 p.m. (CT)
Quarterfinals
Saturday, May 20
Oklahoma/Ohio State winner vs. Illinois/TCU winner, 11 a.m. (CT)
Florida/Virginia winner vs. Texas/Baylor winner, 11 a.m. (CT)
Stanford/Wake Forest winner vs. North Carolina/California winner, 3 p.m. (CT)
Texas A&M/UCLA winner vs. Georgia/USC winner, 3 p.m. (CT)
Semifinals
Monday, May 22
Semifinal #1 & #2, 11 a.m. (CT)
Final
Tuesday, May 23
Final, 12 p.m. (CT)
Texas A&M is one of just seven schools to advance both the men's and women's teams to the Round of 16 in Athens (Cal, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Stanford, Texas A&M). Live stats and video will be available on Georgia's tournament central page for all matches taking place in Athens throughout the tournament (http://www.georgiadogs.com/sports/m-tennis/spec-rel/ncaa-2017.html)
The winner of Thursday's match-up will take on the winner of the match between No. 4 Southern Cal and host-No. 12 Georgia Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinals.
The Maroon & White clinched their 14th appearance in the Round of 16 with a 4-0 victory over No. 24 Oregon last Saturday at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station. After picking up the doubles point, the Aggies secured the victory with wins from AJ Catanzariti, No. 48 Jordi Arconada and No. 6 Arthur Rinderknech. The host-Aggies advanced to the second round with a 4-0 sweep over Buffalo last Friday.
The regular season SEC Champion Aggies feature a pair of ranked singles players, led by No. 6 Rinderknech. The Paris, France native has been ranked in the top-25 all spring after turning in an impressive fall campaign. The All-SEC First Teamer leads Texas A&M with a 26-8 record this season, including a team-high 17 wins over ITA ranked players. Arconada moved to No. 48 in the latest ITA poll, the Buenos Aires, Argentina native has an impressive 19-2 dual record, going 10-0 in SEC regular-season matches including a career-best 18-match winning streak. Arconada was joined on the All-SEC Second Team roster by Freshman Valentin Vacherot, while Vacherot also earned All-Freshman Team accolades alongside Hady Habib.
In doubles action, Rinderknech and Catanzariti have stormed up the doubles rankings the last month, earning a Top-8 seed in the upcoming NCAA Doubles Championship, solidifying their All-American status. The junior duo are currently one of the hottest doubles teams in the country, winning seven straight matches and going a perfect 6-0 against ranked pairs including wins over then-No. 2 Robert Loeb and Jan Zeilinski of Georgia and No. 9 Trevor Foshey and Niclaus Braun of Mississippi State.
The Bruins (21-5) booked a trip to the Round of 16 with a pair of 4-0 victories in Los Angeles, defeating Army and Ole Miss in consecutive days last weekend. UCLA boasts the No. 3 ranked doubles pair of Martin Redlicki and Evan Zhu and a pair of ranked singles players, No. 28 Gage Brymer and No. 60 Redlicki.
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M men's tennis in the field. 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 stats for the match will be available at http://www.georgiadogs.com/sports/m-tennis/spec-rel/vid-stream-ncaa.html, 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 returned 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 four seasons under head coach Steve Denton and six times in his 11-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 have had a doubles tandem earn All-America honors in each of the past five seasons. Catanzariti and Rinderknech earned a Top-8 seed in the upcoming Doubles Championship to solidify their All-American status for 2017. Last season it was Jackson Withrow and Arthur Rinderknech achieving the feat, while Rinderknech also earned the All-American designation for his singles play.
- The Aggies have made 24-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 13 of the 14 rankings published this spring and 77 of the last 79 polls, dating back to Jan. 22, 2013.
- Jordi Arconada's win-streak reached a team-best 18 matches, before falling in the SEC Tournament semifinals. The junior leads the Aggies with eight clinch victories this spring.
- Hady Habib finished amongst the league leaders in conference wins at 10-1, the freshman has gone 7-2 in the team's last 10 matches to rank fourth on the squad with 14 dual victories.
- The Aggies paced the SEC with eight player/freshman of the week honorees this spring; with No. 13 Georgia (7), No. 19 South Carolina (3) and No. 19 Mississippi State (2) the only other schools to receive more than two honors. Arconada, Catanzariti, Rinderknech and Bakshi garnered Player of the Week nods, while Hady Habib and Valentin Vacherot were 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. 6 in the May 4 singles poll. The Frenchman owns a 26-8 record this year, with a 17-5 mark in dual matches.
- Jordi Arconada rode an 18-match winning streak to rank No. 48 in the latest ITA poll. The Buenos Aries native, holds a 21-4 record overall including a 19-2 dual match tally.
- Rinderknech lands in the doubles poll alongside AJ Catanzariti. The junior pair ranked No. 9 in the latest poll, earning six ranked wins this spring.
- The Texas A&M duo of Rinderknech and Max Lunkin remain in the ITA doubles rankings at No. 50, the duo claimed six wins in the fall schedule and advanced to the USTA/ITA Texas Regional finals in Ft. Worth.
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 229 career triumphs in Aggieland trail Omar Smith's 275 wins and David Kent's 318 victories, while his winning percentage (69.2) 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 titles in 2015 and 2017.
- Of Texas A&M's 43 All-Americans all-time, 25 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).
- In Denton's 10 completed seasons at Texas A&M, the Aggies have finished ranked in the Top-15 of the final ITA Team Rankings on seven occasions having done so only six times in the previous 25 years.
NCAA Championships
(Dan Magill Tennis Complex; Athens, Georgia)
Round of 16
Thursday, May 18
No. 15 Florida vs. No. 2 Virginia, 8 a.m. (CT)
No. 10 Texas vs. No. 7 Baylor, 8 a.m. (CT)
Illinois vs. No. 6 TCU, 11 a.m. (CT)
No. 14 Oklahoma vs. No. 3 Ohio State, 11 a.m. (CT)
No. 13 Georgia vs. No. 4 USC, 3 p.m. (CT)
No. 12 Texas A&M vs. No. 5 UCLA, 3 p.m. (CT)
No. 16 Stanford vs. No. 1 Wake Forest, 6 p.m. (CT)
No. 9 North Carolina vs. No. 8 California, 6 p.m. (CT)
Quarterfinals
Saturday, May 20
Oklahoma/Ohio State winner vs. Illinois/TCU winner, 11 a.m. (CT)
Florida/Virginia winner vs. Texas/Baylor winner, 11 a.m. (CT)
Stanford/Wake Forest winner vs. North Carolina/California winner, 3 p.m. (CT)
Texas A&M/UCLA winner vs. Georgia/USC winner, 3 p.m. (CT)
Semifinals
Monday, May 22
Semifinal #1 & #2, 11 a.m. (CT)
Final
Tuesday, May 23
Final, 12 p.m. (CT)
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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Tuesday, April 30
