On the journey to an undefeated weekend, Texas A&M men’s tennis was able to capture conference wins over Mississippi State and Alabama to remain undefeated at home for the season.
After struggling on the road last weekend at Arkansas to lose its first SEC match of the season, the Aggies’ No. 9 men’s tennis team (19-4, 5-1 SEC) was able to add another successful weekend at home to its 2015-16 campaign. Similarly, the women’s tennis team (11-6, 3-3 SEC) has remained undefeated at home, however, they have significantly struggled with a 3-4 road record at the conclusion of the weekend.
A&M’s doubles teams started the weekend off triumphant with a win over Mississippi State by senior doubles team Harrison Adams and Shane Vinsant followed by a 6-2 victory by No. 25 Aggie doubles duo Arthur Rinderknech and Jackson Withrow. Withrow would go on to compete in singles where he would remain undefeated in SEC action. Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said that it was another tough conference matchup.
“Down the back of the line-up we were able to put three points on the board pretty quickly, which put a lot of pressure on Mississippi State,” Denton said to 12thman.com. “I was really pleased with that. The matches we were ahead in we were able to finish.”
Men’s tennis continued to demonstrate a progressive home-court attack against Tyler JC Friday evening for a 6-1 match victories before returning Sunday to defeat Alabama and in-state rival Rice. The Mitchell Tennis Center has proved highly influential on the Aggies’ success as they finished the weekend with a 6-1 show of force over the Crimson Tide and a 4-0 sweep against the Owls.
No A&M players that played against Mississippi State played in the Tyler JC matches, but that didn’t stop the Aggies from coming out strong. It was a similar performance like earlier in the day after Texas A&M did now allow the Apaches the doubles point. This was momentum for the Aggies as they were already swinging for their win.
The Apache’s were only able to scratch one on the board in singles after Enrique Padro defeated A&M junior James Martell 6-4, 6-3 in court three. In the first, second, and fourth through sixth courts, A&M came out on top with wins.
Texas A&M women’s tennis didn’t have near as much success as the men over the weekend. The women’s team travelled to the bordering states of Tennessee and Kentucky to take on the No. 5 Commodores and the Wildcats, respectively. Although the No. 56 A&M doubles couple of Anna Mamalat and Rutuja Bhosale was able to block a Vanderbilt comeback and senior Ines Deheza was able to catch a singles victory at Kentucky, both matches resulted in 6-1 defeats for the Aggies.
“We played on four extremely fast indoor courts, which made for quite a contrast to the slower outdoor courts at Vanderbilt,” Texas A&M women’s tennis head coach Mark Weaver said via 12thman.com. “I feel that Kentucky played the bigger points a little better than we did and perhaps took their chances more than us, and pretty much all the chances they took went their way.”
Women’s tennis returns to the comfort of its own home at the Mitchell Tennis Center Friday to take on the Missouri Tigers and return again Sunday to take on Arkansas to resume SEC action. As for men’s tennis, the Aggies hope to improve a five-match win streak as they travel to Nashville to compete against Vanderbilt Friday before a double-header Monday back at home against Incarnate Word and TCU.
