The Texas A&M men’s tennis team began their 2017-18 campaign at the Napa Valley Tennis Classic in St. Helena, California.
Four Aggies made the trip out to California representing the maroon and white in exceptional fashion. Day one of the tournament was highlighted by senior AJ Catanzariti and sophomore Valentin Vacherot. Each individual won their respected singles matches and teamed up for a win in their double match.
Vacherot came back to defeat USTA High Performance Team member Nathan Han in three sets. His teammate, Catanzariti, was victorious over Alex Lebdev of Notre Dame in three sets as well. They then partnered up to defeat the duo team of Keenan Mayo and Axel Nefve of UTSA.
“It’s always good to start the season off with a tournament like this because it lets you get the rust off and play freely,” Catanzariti told 12thMan.com. “To get wins out here only builds confidence for the rest of the season.”
Freshman Juan Carlos Aguilar, of Bolivia, won his first match of the weekend and his first on Day Two in dominating fashion against USTA’s Andrew Dale 6-2, 6-2. Catanzariti and Vacherot continued their success on Day 2 with individual victories over Akos Kotorman of Baylor and Jake DeVine of USC respectively. The dynamic duo continued their dominance in doubles with 2 more victories.
Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton was proud of the way his guys performed the first two days.
“I was very pleased with how are guys competed today,” Denton said to 12thMan.com. “Happy to see Carlos play well after a tough first day. Val and AJ both were the highlights on day two as they both won their second consecutive single matches.”
The Aggies had an outstanding performance on the final day, sweeping all their competitors. Vacherot capped off a perfect weekend in by sweeping Matt Gamble of Notre Dame 6-1, 6-3. His teammate Catanzariti continued his perfect weekend as well coming back against USTA’s Axel Nefve 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. Aguilar was victorious Sunday as well.
“I thought we had a very good weekend only losing singles and doubles match the whole weekend,” Denton said about his team this weekend. “All the boys represented Texas A&M very well in the Napa Valley.”
Teammate Catanzariti and Vacherot qualified to Sunday’s shootout, with Vacherot advancing to the finals but coming short to Oklahoma junior Alexandre Bakshi.
The Aggies look to continue on their successful season next weekend at the Oracle ITA Masters in Malibu, California.