Texas A&M Tops Men’s Tennis in SEC Opener
AUBURN, Ala. (auburntigers.com) – Auburn hosted defending conference champion Texas A&M in its SEC opener Friday afternoon, and the Aggies were the victors by a 6-1 score outdoors at the Yarbrough Tennis Center in Auburn.
Texas A&M won the first set in four of six singles matches, and used that momentum to take a lead in singles, clinching the match with wins on courts two, six and four.
Auburn got its lone singles win from senior Joseph Van Dooren on court five by a 6-4, 6-3 score over TAMU’s A.J. Catanzariti. At number one, Marko Krickovic won his first set 6-4 over TAMU’s Arthur Rinderknech, the nation’s eighth-ranked player, and played a tiebreaker third set, where the Aggie was the winner 10-4.
The Aggies took the doubles point with wins by Rinderknech and Jackson Withrow 6-3 over Krickovic and Edward Nguyen at the top spot, and by Harrison Adams and Shane Vinsant 6-2 over Huertas del Pino and Laubser on court two.
“We didn’t play our best in doubles, but I thought we fought back in singles, and gave ourselves some chances,” Auburn head coach Eric Shore said. “There are a lot of things our guys can learn from today, facing the defending SEC champions that have almost everybody back. We can learn from that. Moving forward, we’ve got to get better from the start of the match. We’ll get a chance to do that Sunday at LSU.”
No. 8 Texas A&M is now 12-3 this spring. No. 66 Auburn is now 8-4. This was the SEC opener for both teams.
The Tigers travel to No. 32 LSU for another SEC match Sunday at 1 p.m. CT. Auburn’s next home match is Friday, March 18, vs. Ole Miss. All home matches are played at the Yarbrough Tennis Center (771 Yarbrough Farms Blvd., Auburn) and admission is free.
Texas A&M 6, Auburn 1
Singles
#8 Arthur Rindernech (TAMU) def. Marko Krickovic (AU) 4-6, 6-1, 10-4
#39 Shane Vinsant (TAMU) def. Max Hinnisdaels (AU) 6-2, 6-2
Jordi Arconada (TAMU) def. Conner Huertas del Pino (AU) 6-3, 7-5
Harrison Adams (TAMU) def. Dante Saleh (AU) 6-2, 6-4
Joseph Van Dooren (AU) def. A.J. Catanzariti (TAMU) 6-4, 6-3
Aleksandre Bashi (TAMU) def. Brandon Laubser (AU) 7-5, 6-1
Doubles
Arthur Rinderknech/Jackson Withrow (TAMU) def. Marko Krickovic/Edward Nguyen (AU) 6-3
Harrison Adams/Shane Vinsant (TAMU) def. Conner Huertas del Pino/Brandon Laubser (AU) 6-2
Max Hinnisdaels/Joseph Van Dooren (AU) vs. Jordi Arconada/A.J. Catanzariti (TAMU ) 4-4 unfinished
Length of match: 2:00; Order of finish: Doubles: 2,1; Singles: 2,6,5,4,3,1
