The A&M men’s tennis team suffered an upset at the hands of Mississippi State on Saturday, as the Aggies were defeated 4-3. With the win, the Bulldogs advance to the tournament finals and will face Georgia at noon on Sunday.
Head coach Steve Denton remained confident in his team despite their disappointing upset.
“Our guys battled after losing some first sets trying to put us in position to get the win, but just couldn’t quite get it done today…We will regroup and get back to work to get ready for the NCAA Tournament.” Denton told 12thamn.com
The Maroon and White began the match by capturing the doubles point, as Arthur Rinderknech and AJ Catanzariti clinched it with a win over No. 9 Niclas Braun and Trevor Foshey. The Aggies rolled out to a 3-0 lead in singles play, as No. 6 Rinderknech bested No. 3 Nuno Borges 6-4, 6-2 for the highest ranked win of his career.
Valentin Vacherot got the win as well, as he defeated Braun 6-4, 6-4. But the Aggies would not score another point. Arconada, Catanzariti, Lunkin, and Habib all went down as the Bulldogs stormed back to get the win.
Although A&M was eliminated from the tournament with the loss, their season is not over. The team will know its NCAA tournament seeding on May 2 at 4 p.m. The Aggies looks to continue their post-season streak to 24 consecutive tournament appearances.
