The No. 6 Texas A&M men’s tennis team claimed their sixth ranked win of the spring, after defeating No. 25 Tennessee, 5-2, Friday evening in Knoxville, Tenn. The Aggies (13-4, 5-0) improved to 9-3 away from home this season including and an impressive 5-2 record against ranked foes away from home. With the loss, Tennessee fell to 15-4 on the year and 4-2 in SEC matches.
The Aggies opened the match by capturing the doubles point for the 10th time in 17 matches this spring. Timo Stodder and Adam Walton claimed the first win of the day, topping AJ Catanzariti and Valentin Vacherot, 6-1, on court three. The Aggies swept the final two doubles’ matched 6-3 to secure the point. No. 48 Patrick Kypson and Arthur Rinderknech bested Scott Jones and Andrew Jones followed by No. 19 Jordi Arconada and Juan Carlos Aguilar defeating No. 15 Preston Touliatos and Luis Valero to earn the visitors the early advantage
No. 37 Kypson kept the Aggies rolling with a quick 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 16 Stodder on the top court. The ranked victory was the sixth of this spring for the freshman, improving to 3-1 in SEC play. Moments later Kypson’s classmate, Barnaby Smith, put point number three on the board for the Maroon & White. Smith, from High Wycombe, England, topped Nicaise Muamba, 6-0, 6-3 on court six to improve to 9-3 this spring and 4-0 in league play
No. 49 Arconada clinched the top-25 road-win for the Aggies with an emphatic 6-3, 6-4 win over Touliatos on court three. The senior picked up his 14th win in his last 16 matches and his team-leading 20th win this year.
With the team victory decided the three remaining matches were played out, Rinderknech completed a full third set while Aguilar and Vacherot’s matches were decided in a 10-point tiebreaker. Aguilar fell 4-6, 6-2, 1-0[8] to Jones followed by Vacherot’s 3-6, 6-3, 1-0[8] setback to Walton on court three to make the match score 4-2 in the Aggies’ favor. No. 6 Rinderknech outlasted Valero to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to claim the final point of the night.
Texas A&M returns home to take on No. 42 Alabama Sunday at 1 p.m. at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station.
