In what turned out to be an intense afternoon of tennis action, 12-seed Texas A&M defeated Oregon 4-0 to advance to the sweet-sixteen of the 2017 NCAA men’s tournament.
The day opened with an intense doubles session. After the Aggie duo of Jordi Arconada and Hady Habib fell to Oregon’s Thomas Laurent and Cormac Clissold, 6-4. It was up to the remaining four Aggies on the court to pull together and win what Texas A&M coach Steve Denton later said was a crucial point for the Aggies. 
A&M’s Aleksandre Bakshi and Max Lunkin were able to even the score in doubles play at one match each by defeating Simon Stevens and Ty Gentry, 6-4. The most entertaining match of the doubles portion of the second round came between the ninth-ranked duo of AJ Catanzariti and Arthur Rinderknech and Oregon’s Jayson Amos and Armando Soemarno. Catanzariti and Rinderknech won the match off a tiebreaker.
Denton said his team showed grit and poise in the latter half of doubles play that allowed A&M to take the doubles point heading in to singles play.
“We had a couple of the close, typical doubles volley exchanges and we won those in the tiebreaker,” Denton said. “We’ve been working on those a bit and the guys have better hands at the net and they are more comfortable up there. It paid off for us in a couple of key points. We had some good returns and typically if you’re hitting those first serves you have a good chance in a tiebreaker. We’ve gotten better at doubles as the season went along and I’m proud of the guys for sticking with it. ”
Oregon split the opening sets of singles play, however A&M was able to seal the victory and move on to Athens, Georgia following the set wins in courts one, two and three. In court three, Catanzariti was the first A&M player to come off the court following a 6-3, 6-2 win over Akihiro Tanaka. Arconada followed Catanzariti in the next to score the next winning match, defeating Stevens 6-2,6-4.
Denton said Catanzariti’s outing Saturday was not only crucial for the team but for Catanzariti himself. 
“He’s playing his best when he’s aggressive with his feet,” Denton said. “Trying to look to get in and he did a great job against a guy who was a tough out with a lot of match wins. AJ took the racket from his hands by his aggressive play.”
No. 6 Rinderknech sealed the win for Texas A&M for the second time this weekend as he defeated No. 27 Laurent, 6-4, 6-2.
Texas A&M will be face UCLA in Athens, Georgia in the round of sixteen, May 18.