A&M men’s tennis takes care of business against Ole Miss and Arkansas
The No. 7 ranked Texas A&M men’s tennis squad returned to action this past weekend in College Station, as they easily defeated Ole Miss and Arkansas.
Friday saw the Aggies avenge a January loss to the Rebels by winning the match 6-1.
The pair of Jordi Arconada and Hady Habib won in doubles as they defeated Zvonimir Babic and Ricardo Jorge, 6-3. Shortly after, AJ Catanzariti and Arthur Rinderknech clinched the point when they bested Fabian Fallert and Grey Hamilton.
The Aggies pulled away during singles play, as they won five out of the first six sets. Habib, Catanzariti, Rinderknech, and Bakshi all went on to secure victories. Arconada continued to step up in crunch time, as he clinched the match for the seventh time this year when he bested Tim Sandkaulen 6-3, 7-6.
When asked about Arconada’s performance, head coach Steve Denton had nothing but compliments for his star. “Jordi is playing with a lot of confidence and self-belief,” Denton said to 12thman.com. “He is playing very well in the big points and finding a way to win those close sets.”
Next up for the maroon and white was a Sunday matchup against the Arkansas Razorbacks.
After a three-hour rain delay, the Aggies proceeded to dominate Arkansas en route to a 4-0 sweep. With the victory, A&M remains undefeated in SEC play.
For the eighth time this season, the Aggies won the doubles point to start the day as Aleksandre Bakshi and Max Lunkin clinched it with a victory over Johan den Toom and Juan Marino, 7-5.
Habib made quick work of Marino, winning 6-1, 6-4. No. 119 Arconada clinched the match again for A&M, as he bested No. 26 Jose Salazar 6-4, 6-3. This victory marked Arconada’s second-highest ranked win of his career, inferior only to his conquering of No. 16 Hugo Di Feo from Ohio State last February.
Coach Steve Denton had much to say when asked about the team’s mindset this season.
“After we started the season and got hit in the nose a couple of times, I’ve been proud of how our guys responded to that and we’ve been building momentum and getting better,” Denton said.
Next weekend, the maroon and white hit the road to face No. 17 Mississippi State on Friday and end with a Sunday match at Auburn.
Women’s tennis splits the weekend, loses to Mississippi State, beats Ole Miss
The No. 25 women’s tennis team ended the weekend 3-6 in SEC play after splitting a pair of matchups in Mississippi. First came a 4-1 Friday loss to No. 24 Mississippi State.
The Aggies narrowly lost the doubles point, as Rutuja Bhosale and Rachel Pierson won, but the pair of Domenica Gonzalez and Eva Paalma were defeated by Jennifer Brown and Khrystyna Vozniak 7-5 to clinch the match for the Bulldogs.
Gonzalez won the only point of the day for the Aggies, as she bested Vozniak 6-1, 6-1. Pierson took her match all the way to a third set tiebreak, but was ultimately defeated by Jasmine Lee, 7-5.
Mississippi State gained its first ever series win against A&M when Brown clinched the day by defeating Tina Bokhua 7-5, 6-3. But the Maroon and White fared much better Sunday, when they achieved a pivotal 4-1 victory over No. 28 Ole Miss.
This win snapped a three-match losing streak for the Aggies as they improved to 11-10 overall. They began the match by winning the doubles point as Gonzalez and Paalma clinched it with a 6-4 win over Natalie Suk and Anna Vrbenska.
Zalina Khairudinova secured the Rebel’s only point of the match, as she defeated Gavrilovska 6-3, 6-2. Bhosale and Pierson won their matches easily, and Bokhua secured it for A&M when she bested Tea Jandric 6-1, 7-6.
A&M head coach Mark Weaver said he was very proud of how his team bounced back from a tough string of losses.
“I know that our team is fighting as hard as anyone in the country this season and we ultimately were rewarded with a very good win today,” Weaver said via 12thman.com.
With just five regular season matches remaining, the Aggies finish up their home schedule next weekend when they play No. 5 Vanderbilt for senior day on April 7th.