The Texas A&M men’s tennis team traveled to Houston Wednesday evening and defeated its old Southwestern conference foe, Rice, while the women’s home match was cancelled due to inclement weather.

The No. 8 Aggies (15-3, 8-1 SEC) once again gave a strong performance on the doubles court to start off the match. The freshman pair of AJ Catanzariti and Arthur Rinderknech secured the first set on court three for A&M when they defeated their Rice opponents 6-4.

After Harrison Adams and Shane Vinsant were eliminated on court two by a count of 6-4, seniors Jeremy Efferding and Jordan Szabo began their tiebreaker that decided who took the match’s first point.

Emerging from the tiebreak victorious, the senior pair clinched the doubles point and sent the Aggies to singles play with a 1-0 lead.

A&M wasted no time defeating the Rice Owls (11-12, 0-2 C-USA), as it only took them an hour of play on the singles court to come away with a 4-0 victory.

AJ Catanzariti, who was named SEC freshman of the week Tuesday for the second consecutive week, was the first Aggie to retire his challenger. He continued his hot streak, defeating his opponent on court four (6-4, 6-0).

Harrison Adams returned to the courts after his weekend off and pushed the lead further in the favor of A&M, winning in straight sets from the line three spot. It was Max Lunkin that wrapped things up for the Aggies when he defeated his Owl counterpart on court six by a count of 7-6 and 6-1.
A&M will look to keep its seven-match win streak alive Friday when the Aggies host their last regular season home match against Auburn. The Aggies will honor their seniors before playing the Tigers at 5 p.m.