The No. 5 Texas A&M men’s tennis team swept No. 19 Tennessee, 4-0, Saturday afternoon at the Alabama Tennis Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The Aggies advanced to the SEC Tournament Championship for the third time in the six seasons since joining the league after winning the 2014 and 2015 tournament title. Texas A&M will take on No. 9 Mississippi State at 12:00 p.m. on SEC Network to determine the tournament champion.
For the second straight day, the Aggies opened the match capturing the doubles point. No. 6 Jordi Arconada and Juan Carlos Aguilar used a late break to top No. 13 Preston Touliatos and Luis Valero on the top court. Moments later, the Vols evened the doubles match with a 7-5 win by Timo Stodder and Adam Walton over AJ Catanzariti and Arthur Rinderknech on court two. With the day’s first point on the line, Patrick Kypson and Valentin Vacherot were up to the task using a break to clinch the point over Nicaise Muamba and Scott Jones, 6-4, on court three.
As play transitioned to singles matches, the Aggies maintained all of the momentum earning the first sets on all six courts. In a race to earn the three points necessary to send the Aggies through to the championship match, No. 7 Kypson came through with a 6-2, 6-3 win over No. 15 Stodder on the top court.
Moments after Kypson topped Stodder, No. 121 Aguilar bested Preston Touliatos on court six, 6-2, 6-0, to push the A&M advantage out to 3-0. No. 71 Vacherot clinched the win for the Maroon & White with a 6-1, 6-4 win over No. 117 Walton on court four.
Sunday’s championship match will be a rematch against Mississippi State after the two teams met up in the final weekend of the regular season on April 13 in College Station. The Aggies came out on top against Bulldogs to clinch the regular season title.
The championship match will be aired live on SEC Network at 12:00 p.m. with Sam Gore calling play-by-play and Jimmy Arias providing commentary.
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M men's tennis. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M men's tennis team on Twitter by following @AggieMTEN or on Facebook at Facebook.com/AggieMensTennis.
Post Match Quotes
Steve Denton, Texas A&M Men’s Tennis Head Coach
On the match…
“Our guys got through a tough doubles point and used that momentum into singles. We played pretty good doubles yesterday and I thought we carried that on today. That cushion helped us keep the momentum on our side and then we won all the first sets. That made them feel like they were fighting uphill all match and that was enough for us to get the win.”
Tennis Match Results
Tennessee vs Texas A&M
4/28/2018 at Tuscaloosa, Ala.
(Alabama Tennis Stadium)
#5 Texas A&M 4, #19 Tennessee 0
Singles competition
1. #7 Patrick Kypson (TAMU) def. #14 Timo Stodder (UT) 6-2, 6-3
2. #10 Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) vs. Luis Valero (UT) 6-1, 3-6, 0-0, unfinished
3. #48 Jordi Arconada (TAMU) vs. Scott Jones (UT) 6-4, 3-3, unfinished
4. #71 Valentin Vacherot (TAMU) def. #117 Adam Walton (UT) 6-1, 6-4
5. #121 Juan Carlos Aguilar (TAMU) def. Preston Touliatos (UT) 6-2, 6-0
6. Barnaby Smith (TAMU) vs. Luca Wiedenmann (UT) 6-4, 3-1, unfinished
Doubles competition
1. #6 Jordi Arconada/Juan Carlos Aguilar (TAMU) def. #13 Preston Touliatos/Luis Valero (UT) 6-3
2. Timo Stodder/Adam Walton (UT) def. Arthur Rinderknech/AJ Catanzariti (TAMU) 7-5
3. Patrick Kypson/Valentin Vacherot (TAMU) def. Nicaise Muamba/Scott Jones (UT) 6-4
Match Notes:
Tennessee 20-8; National ranking #19
Texas A&M 22-4; National ranking #5
Order of finish: Doubles (1, 2, 3); Singles (1, 5, 4)
T-2:02 A-166
