No. 7 Aggie Men’s Tennis Opens SEC Play at Ole Miss

Friday, March 2

Oxford, Miss.

6 p.m.

Texas A&M

Ole Miss

Photo by: Sam Craft/Texas A&M Athletics

Mar 01, 2018 | Men's Tennis

By: Texas A&M Media Relations

OXFORD, Miss. – The No. 7 Texas A&M men's tennis team opens SEC play in Oxford, Miss. Friday at 6 p.m. against Ole Miss at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center. The Maroon & White bring a 7-3 record into Friday's match while the Rebels are 8-2 this spring.

Ole Miss and Texas A&M split a pair of matches last year in College Station, the Aggies own an 8-4 record all-time against Ole Miss. The Rebels won a close 4-3 match at the ITA Kick-Off in January, then the Aggies earned a 6-1 win in the regular season SEC meeting in April.

Texas A&M returns to action after dropping a tight 4-3 match to Oklahoma in Orlando at the USTA National Campus, the match was a part of College Match Day and was broadcast on The Tennis Channel. The Aggies picked up the doubles point to open the match and collected singles wins from No. 21 Arthur Rinderknech on court two and No. 51 Jordi Arconada on court three.

Friday's match will be streamed online at http://www.olemisssports.com/sports/w-tennis/spec-rel/live-video.html and live scoring can be found at http://www.olemisssports.com/sports/w-tennis/spec-rel/live-video.html. If the match is forced indoors, there will be no live video.

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.

UP NEXT
Texas A&M remains on the road to take on Arkansas, Sunday at 1 p.m. in Fayetteville.

THE MAROON & WHITE
- Texas A&M returns six lettermen from last year's squad that advanced to the NCAA Round of 16 and finished the season ranked No. 12 in the ITA Rankings.
- Highlighting the group of returners is senior Arthur Rinderknech, the Frenchman earned singles and doubles All-America honors for the second straight year, the first Aggie to accomplish that feat since Austin Krajicek did in 2010 and 2011. Rinderknech looks to become the first Aggie to earn a trio of singles All-American honors.
- Also returning this season will be Jordi Arconada, AJ Catanzariti, Kevin Lam and Valentin Vacherot. Arconada (49), Catanzariti (47) and Rinderknech (52) comprise one of the most decorated senior classes in program history as all three are within striking distance of the top-25 for dual match singles victories (Brett Joelson, 2004-07, and Blake Arrant, 1993-1996, tie for 25^th at 53 singles wins).
- Joining the experienced group of returnees are a quartet of talented freshman including the Nation's No. 1 recruit in Patrick Kypson, international blue-chip recruit in Barnaby Smith, 2016 US Open Junior Doubles Champion in Juan Carlos Aguilar and 2017 USTA Texas Grand Slam winner Pranav Kumar.

2018 ORACLE/ITA DIVISION I MEN'S NATIONAL RANKINGS
- The Aggies are one of five schools with at least five players listed in the latest singles rankings. Leading the charge for the Aggies is No. 17 Valentin Vacherot followed by No. 21 Arthur Rinderknech, No. 46 Patrick Kypson, No. 51 Jordi Arconada and No. 86 AJ Catanzariti. In the doubles poll. Arconada and freshman Juan Carlos Aguilar come in at No. 29. Arconada is ranked No. 31 alongside junior Kevin Lam. Rinderknech and Kypson earned their first doubles ranking as a pair, coming in at No. 42 after earning a top-10 win at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in their first match as a duo, topping then No. 5 McClain Kessler and Duarte Vale of Florida.
- The No. 17 ranking for Vacherot is the fourth straight ranking for the sophomore. Vacherot advanced to the consolation final at the ITA All-American Championship last fall in Tulsa, Okla., including wins over three ranked foes, including a couple ranked players from No. 4 Georgia.
- Arconada broke into the polls four times as a freshman in 2016, reaching as high as No. 67 and was ranked in eight of the 12 rankings last spring with a high of No. 42 on April 18. Arconada has been among the ranked for 12 straight polls, with a career-high No. 36 ranking this fall.
- Catanzariti earned a ranking for the 17th time in his career, his No. 86 ranking this spring is the highest he has earned during the spring dual season since his freshman season.
- The No. 29 ranking for Arconada and Aguilar is the third straight ranking for the duo, reaching as high as No. 6 in the Feb. 7 rankings. Arconada reached as high as No. 29 as a freshman in 2016 alongside Max Lunkin.
- Lam's ranking of No. 31 alongside Arconada is the third straight ranking of the junior's career, the ranking came on the heels of an impressive ITA Regional showing at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center as they advanced to the finals last fall.

SENSATIONAL SENIORS
- Arconada, Catanzariti and Rinderknech comprise one of the most accomplished senior classes in program history. The trio have been a part of 79 dual match victories, two SEC Championships, one SEC Tournament title and a trip to the NCAA Championship Round of Eight.
- Arconada had one of the longest win streaks in program history a year ago, winning an unprecedented 18 straight matches. During the streak Arconada rose from unranked into the ITA top-50 after besting five ranked opponents. Arconada needs four dual wins to move into the Texas A&M career singles wins top-25.
- Catanzariti earned All-American honors a season ago in doubles alongside classmate Arthur Rinderknech. The Pittsburgh native has paced the Aggies in doubles wins twice in his three seasons in Aggieland (19 wins in 2015 and 13 wins in 2017). The right-hander needs six singles wins to move into the career singles wins top-25.
- Rinderknech enters his final spring as one of the country's best players, earning a career-best No. 4 ranking in the fall and being among the ranked singles players in 29 rankings over the past four seasons. The Paris, France native needs one singles wins to move into the career singles wins top-25 and already stands at No. 22 on the career doubles victory list. Rinderknech looks to climb the doubles list this spring as he is only 12 wins from the top-10.

LONE SOPHOMORE
- Sophomore Valentin Vacherot turned in a memorable freshman campaign after matching Arconada for the team lead in singles victories a year ago. The Frenchman stormed through his first collegiate season, earning All-SEC Second Team and All-Freshman team honors last spring.
- Vacherot backed up his first dual season with an impressive fall showing, earning a place in the 2017 Oracle ITA National Fall Championships after advancing to the 2017 ITA Men's All-American Championship consolation final in Tulsa. The sophomore leads the Aggies with nine tournament wins this fall and earned a career-high No. 10 singles rankings entering the spring season.
- Vacherot and Rinderknech are first cousins from France, the duo featured alongside each other last spring five times on the doubles court, earning a pair of victories.

FRESHMAN QUARTET
- Texas A&M's 2018 signing class was one of the most decorated groups in program history. The Aggie class includes a wealth of international experience and a Texas state champion from a year ago. The class consists of Juan Carlos Aguilar, Patrick Kypson, Pranav Kumar and Barnaby Smith.
- Aguilar earned the 2016 US Open Doubles Championship, claiming five wins including a pair over seeded opponents en route to the prestigious tournament title. The doubles standout earned a career-high Junior ITF ranking of 23 in October of 2016 and featured for Bolivia in the Davis Cup last year.
- Kypson marked the first time in program history that the nation's No. 1 recruit signed with Texas A&M. The elite junior reached as high as No. 672 in the ATP World Tour rankings and No. 18 in the ITF World Junior Rankings. The right-hander played in a trio of Junior Grand Slams last year, including advancing to the semifinals at Wimbledon.
- Smith, from High Wycombe, Great Britain, earned a career-high No. 62 World Junior ITF ranking and played in all four Junior Grand Slams last year, earning wins at Wimbledon, French Open and Australian Open.
- Kumar stormed through a loaded field to claim the 2017 USTA Texas Grand Slam Championship last June at the Eager Tennis Center on the campus of Abilene Christian University. The Plano. Texas native was ranked as high as the No. 3 prospect in the state of Texas by tennisrecruiting.net.

DENTON'S 12^TH YEAR AT THE HELM
- 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 in 2016.
- Texas A&M has had a doubles tandem earn All-America honors in each of the past five seasons. Catanzariti and Rinderknech earned a Top-8 seed in last year's Doubles Championship to solidify their All-American status for 2017. Two years ago, Jackson Withrow and Rinderknech achieved the feat after advancing to the Doubles Championship finals.
- The Aggies have made 24-straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament, hosting the first and second round for the past five seasons.
- Texas A&M was ranked in Top-25 in 14 of the 15 rankings published last spring and 80 of the last 82 polls, dating back to Jan. 22, 2013. The Maroon & White entered the spring ranked No. 7, their highest ranking to open the spring season since earning a No. 5 ranking top open the 2016 season.