On Friday, the Texas A&M men’s tennis team bested Tennessee 4-1 in the SEC tournament quarterfinals. Tennessee, the host of the tournament, struggled from the beginning as A&M clinched the doubles point to start the day when Hady Habib and Jordi Arconada defeated Jack Schipanski and Scott Jones, 6-3. 

The Volunteers refused to allow A&M the easy win, as they evened the series at 1-1 when Luca Wiedenmann topped Aleksandre Bakshi 6-4,6-1. However, Arconada quickly recaptured the lead for A&M in a 6-2, 6-1 thrashing of Luis Valero. The Argentinian won his 18th straight and improved to 11-0 against SEC opponents.

AJ Catanzariti stretched it to a 3-1 lead after topping Srdjan Jakovlevic 6-4, 6-3. The freshman Habib completed the victory with 6-3, 7-6 win over Schipanski. With the victory, the Aggies advance to face the winner of Mississippi State and South Carolina on Saturday.

“We know we will have to play better moving forward in this tournament if we want to get another win,” A&M head coach Steve Denton told 12thman.com. “It’s a good first win because it is never easy to win on the road in the SEC.”