Friday, May 18
Winston-Salem, N.C.
6 p.m.
Texas A&M
4
vs
0
Alabama
Photo by: Vasha Hunt
Aggies Men’s Tennis Advances to NCAA Quarterfinals
May 18, 2018 | Men's Tennis
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. –Texas A&M men's tennis advanced to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals for the third time in program history as the fifth-seed Aggies defeated Alabama, 4-0, Friday evening at the Wake Forest Tennis Center in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The Aggies improved to 25-5 on the season, marking the fifth time in the last decade that they have won 25 matches in a season under the direction of head coach Steve Denton. With the loss, Alabama fell to 20-13 on the year.
The Maroon & White utilized key breaks on courts one and two to secure the doubles point to open the match. No. 3 Juan Carlos Aguilar and Jordi Arconada were the first off the court, defeating No. 26 Mazen Osama and Edson Ortiz on the top court. Arthur Rinderknech and AJ Catanzariti secured the point with a 6-3 win over Thibault Cancel and Alexey Nesterov on court two.
The Aggies maintained the pressure on the Tide as play transition to singles, winning five of six first sets. No. 48 Arconada picked up his team leading 23rd dual win to push the Aggies ahead 2-0, winning 6-3, 6-3 over Cancel on court three. Arconada's 23 dual victories ties for the sixth most wins in a single season in program history and improved his career total to 65, tying for 11th in the A&M record books. The Buenos Aires, Argentine native is a on a team-best seven match win streak.
No. 12 Rinderknech improved the Aggies lead to 3-0, topping Patrick Kaukovalta, 6-4, 6-1 on court two. The senior picked up 21st win this year, which trails only Arconada on the A&M roster this season. Rinderknech moved to 10th on the A&M all-time singles win list and 11th on the doubles list, as he claimed his 66th singles win and 64th doubles of his career. His combined 130 wins is just one shy of Texas A&M women's tennis head coach and former All-American, Mark Weaver, for 10th all-time at Texas A&M.
No. 72 Vacherot clinched the Aggies trip to the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-4 win on court four over Ortiz. Vacherot won for the 19th time this spring to improve to 19-7 in dual matches and 28-11 overall. The sophomore won his fifth straight match, the third longest streak on the A&M roster, trailing Arconada and junior Kevin Lam's six straight wins.
The Aggies will take on the winner of No. 13 Florida and Ole Miss Sunday afternoon in the quarterfinals as they look to advance to the semifinals for the first time in program history. Inclement weather is in the forecast for Sunday afternoon and fans are advised to stay tuned to 12thMan.com and @AggieMTEN on twitter for schedule updates.
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.
Post Match Quotes
Texas A&M Head Coach Steve Denton
On Today's match…
"I thought our guys came out and competed well today. The conditions are a lot different, obviously. This has been a difficult tournament for everybody because of all the rain and not getting to practice like we are normally accustomed to. I thought we competed well. I didn't think we necessarily played that well, but we competed well and it's great to get through that match and hopefully we will get better as this tournament goes on."
On Sunday's match against Florida or Ole Miss:
"We've just got to take care of ourselves and get ourselves ready and play at a high level. If we compete hard and have good energy, if our attitude is right, then we have a great chance. We're familiar with both teams and we just need to execute and play well."
On AJ Catanzariti and Arthur Rinderknech's doubles performance:
"I thought early on, like a lot of teams, they were struggling returning serves. Everything is a little bit quicker. We did a good job holding serve and, as they adjusted to the speed, we put together a pretty good return game and that was the difference."
On five first-set singles wins:
"You got to stay on these guys. Otherwise, you give them hope and they can get back in the match. We knew that Alabama was going to be real excited. They've had a really good run here in the last week or two. They gained a lot of confidence in winning their region. We knew that they were going to come out fired up against us and they were. I was really happy for Carlos (Aguilar) to come back and win that first set. Once we were able to win that first set, everybody relaxed and played a little better tennis."
On Jordi Arconada's performance:
"He was really tenacious as always. He's always going after it. He moves great and competes really, really well. I'm proud of him. He's been a great asset for us over the past four years and it's great to see him continue the success that he's had."
Tennis Match Results
Alabama vs Texas A&M
5/18/ 2018 at Winston-Salem, N.C.
(Wake Forest Tennis Center)
#5 Texas A&M 4, #42 Alabama 0
Singles competition
1. #5 Patrick Kypson (TAMU) vs. #10 Mazen Osama (BAMA) 6-3, 3-6, 0-0, unfinished
2. #12 Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) def. Patrick Kaukovalta (BAMA) 6-4, 6-1
3. #48 Jordi Arconada (TAMU) def. Thibault Cancel (BAMA) 6-3, 6-3
4. #72 Valentin Vacherot (TAMU) def. Edson Ortiz (BAMA) 6-4, 6-4
5. Juan Carlos Aguilar (TAMU) vs. Alexey Nesterov (BAMA) 7-5, 1-2, unfinished
6. Barnaby Smith (TAMU) vs. Zhe Zhou (BAMA) 4-6, 3-3, unfinished
Doubles competition
1. #3 Juan Carlos Aguilar/Jordi Arconada (TAMU) def. #26 Mazen Osama/Edson Ortiz (BAMA) 6-3
2. Arthur Rinderknech/AJ Catanzariti (TAMU) def. Thibault Cancel/Alexey Nesterov (BAMA) 6-3
3. Patrick Kaukovalta/Zhe Zhou (BAMA) def. Patrick Kypson/Valentin Vacherot (TAMU) 5-3
Match Notes:
Alabama 20-13; National ranking #42
Texas A&M 25--5; National ranking #5
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (3,2,4)
NCAA Round of 16
The Aggies improved to 25-5 on the season, marking the fifth time in the last decade that they have won 25 matches in a season under the direction of head coach Steve Denton. With the loss, Alabama fell to 20-13 on the year.
The Maroon & White utilized key breaks on courts one and two to secure the doubles point to open the match. No. 3 Juan Carlos Aguilar and Jordi Arconada were the first off the court, defeating No. 26 Mazen Osama and Edson Ortiz on the top court. Arthur Rinderknech and AJ Catanzariti secured the point with a 6-3 win over Thibault Cancel and Alexey Nesterov on court two.
The Aggies maintained the pressure on the Tide as play transition to singles, winning five of six first sets. No. 48 Arconada picked up his team leading 23rd dual win to push the Aggies ahead 2-0, winning 6-3, 6-3 over Cancel on court three. Arconada's 23 dual victories ties for the sixth most wins in a single season in program history and improved his career total to 65, tying for 11th in the A&M record books. The Buenos Aires, Argentine native is a on a team-best seven match win streak.
No. 12 Rinderknech improved the Aggies lead to 3-0, topping Patrick Kaukovalta, 6-4, 6-1 on court two. The senior picked up 21st win this year, which trails only Arconada on the A&M roster this season. Rinderknech moved to 10th on the A&M all-time singles win list and 11th on the doubles list, as he claimed his 66th singles win and 64th doubles of his career. His combined 130 wins is just one shy of Texas A&M women's tennis head coach and former All-American, Mark Weaver, for 10th all-time at Texas A&M.
No. 72 Vacherot clinched the Aggies trip to the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-4 win on court four over Ortiz. Vacherot won for the 19th time this spring to improve to 19-7 in dual matches and 28-11 overall. The sophomore won his fifth straight match, the third longest streak on the A&M roster, trailing Arconada and junior Kevin Lam's six straight wins.
The Aggies will take on the winner of No. 13 Florida and Ole Miss Sunday afternoon in the quarterfinals as they look to advance to the semifinals for the first time in program history. Inclement weather is in the forecast for Sunday afternoon and fans are advised to stay tuned to 12thMan.com and @AggieMTEN on twitter for schedule updates.
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.
Post Match Quotes
Texas A&M Head Coach Steve Denton
On Today's match…
"I thought our guys came out and competed well today. The conditions are a lot different, obviously. This has been a difficult tournament for everybody because of all the rain and not getting to practice like we are normally accustomed to. I thought we competed well. I didn't think we necessarily played that well, but we competed well and it's great to get through that match and hopefully we will get better as this tournament goes on."
On Sunday's match against Florida or Ole Miss:
"We've just got to take care of ourselves and get ourselves ready and play at a high level. If we compete hard and have good energy, if our attitude is right, then we have a great chance. We're familiar with both teams and we just need to execute and play well."
On AJ Catanzariti and Arthur Rinderknech's doubles performance:
"I thought early on, like a lot of teams, they were struggling returning serves. Everything is a little bit quicker. We did a good job holding serve and, as they adjusted to the speed, we put together a pretty good return game and that was the difference."
On five first-set singles wins:
"You got to stay on these guys. Otherwise, you give them hope and they can get back in the match. We knew that Alabama was going to be real excited. They've had a really good run here in the last week or two. They gained a lot of confidence in winning their region. We knew that they were going to come out fired up against us and they were. I was really happy for Carlos (Aguilar) to come back and win that first set. Once we were able to win that first set, everybody relaxed and played a little better tennis."
On Jordi Arconada's performance:
"He was really tenacious as always. He's always going after it. He moves great and competes really, really well. I'm proud of him. He's been a great asset for us over the past four years and it's great to see him continue the success that he's had."
Tennis Match Results
Alabama vs Texas A&M
5/18/ 2018 at Winston-Salem, N.C.
(Wake Forest Tennis Center)
#5 Texas A&M 4, #42 Alabama 0
Singles competition
1. #5 Patrick Kypson (TAMU) vs. #10 Mazen Osama (BAMA) 6-3, 3-6, 0-0, unfinished
2. #12 Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) def. Patrick Kaukovalta (BAMA) 6-4, 6-1
3. #48 Jordi Arconada (TAMU) def. Thibault Cancel (BAMA) 6-3, 6-3
4. #72 Valentin Vacherot (TAMU) def. Edson Ortiz (BAMA) 6-4, 6-4
5. Juan Carlos Aguilar (TAMU) vs. Alexey Nesterov (BAMA) 7-5, 1-2, unfinished
6. Barnaby Smith (TAMU) vs. Zhe Zhou (BAMA) 4-6, 3-3, unfinished
Doubles competition
1. #3 Juan Carlos Aguilar/Jordi Arconada (TAMU) def. #26 Mazen Osama/Edson Ortiz (BAMA) 6-3
2. Arthur Rinderknech/AJ Catanzariti (TAMU) def. Thibault Cancel/Alexey Nesterov (BAMA) 6-3
3. Patrick Kaukovalta/Zhe Zhou (BAMA) def. Patrick Kypson/Valentin Vacherot (TAMU) 5-3
Match Notes:
Alabama 20-13; National ranking #42
Texas A&M 25--5; National ranking #5
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (3,2,4)
NCAA Round of 16
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
1,2
#1 Singles Match
123
Mazen Osama / 0 (10/-) [BAMA]
360
63UF
#2 Singles Match
12
Patrick Kaukovalta / 0 [BAMA]
41
66
#3 Singles Match
12
Thibault Cancel / 0 [BAMA]
33
66
#4 Singles Match
12
Edson Ortiz / 0 [BAMA]
44
66
#5 Singles Match
123
Alexey Nesterov / 0 [BAMA]
520
71UF
#6 Singles Match
123
Zhe Zhou / 0 [BAMA]
630
43UF
Order of Finish:
3,2,4
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
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