The Texas A&M men’s and women’s tennis teams completed a sweep in all four of their weekend opponents and finished with a combined score of 20-2.
The men’s team (17-3, 10-1 SEC) started the weekend matches on a high note by protecting their home court against the Auburn Tigers for the last time of the regular season on Friday’s senior night.
After the senior duo of Jeremy Efferding and Jordan Szabo clinched the doubles point for the Aggies, they joined their fellow classmates at center court where they were honored for their service to the university over the last four years. Joining the doubles pair were fellow seniors, Max Montague and Jackson Withrow. The four of them were presented with a framed jersey to thank them for representing not only the tennis program so well but also Texas A&M throughout their tenure.
Following the time set aside to honor the seniors, the Aggies returned to the singles courts where they have proven to be extremely dominant in recent weeks.
Finishing first for A&M was Arthur Rinderknech on court three who defeated his Auburn opponent in straight sets. Right behind him were AJ Catanzariti and Shane Vinsant who also retired their opponents without needing a tie-break set. The win marked their eighth in a row and meant that the Aggies would finish the regular season without dropping a conference match at home.
At 11 a.m. Sunday, the Aggies kicked off their match in Gainesville against the No. 16 Florida Gators (11-7, 6-4 SEC).
The freshman doubles team of AJ Catanzariti and Arthur Rinderknech made quick work of their opponents, winning their doubles set 6-0. They were followed shortly by Harry Adams and Shane Vinsant, who clinched the doubles point for A&M.
Moving into singles play, the talent at the bottom of the lineup showed through once again for the Aggies. After five of the six courts went to a third set to decide a victor, it was the Aggies on courts four through six who emerged with wins ahead of their counterparts. AJ Catanzariti, Harry Adams and Jordi Arconada respectively, took down their Gator foes in tough three set matches.
The win for Catanzariti marked his eleventh straight and it meant nine straight wins for the Aggies, including three sweeps in their last three matches.
The weekend road trip for the A&M women’s team began in Columbia, where they defeated the Missouri Tigers (8-14, 8-10 SEC) 7-0.
After defeating their doubles opponents 8-0, both Rutuja Bhosale and Saska Gavriloska went on to capture two more points for the Aggies (12-4, 9-2) on the singles courts, retiring their Tiger counterparts in straight sets.
Following the clinching point from Bhosale, the teams decided to play out the rest of the matches, which all ended in victories for A&M.
The hot streak followed the team to Arkansas where the Aggies captured their fourth straight win. This time it was by a score of 5-2 over the Razorbacks.
After winning the doubles point, victories on courts three, four and six clinched the match for A&M at four points to none. The Razorbacks sneaked away with a pair of points when the match was called right after their first and second line players jumped up on the Aggies 1-0 in their third set of play.
The A&M women’s team has just three games remaining in its schedule before play in the SEC tournament begins in mid-April.
