A&M defeats LSU in quarterfinals
COLLEGE STATION - The No. 6 Texas A&M men's tennis team swept No. 25 LSU 4-0, Friday morning at the George P Mitchell Tennis Center. The Aggies (19-4) will face No. 20 Mississippi State (19-6) in the semifinals at 12 p.m. (CT) on Saturday, with No. 5 Georgia (20-3) taking on No. 13 Ole Miss (19-6) in the second semifinal at 3 p.m.
The maroon and white opened play winning the doubles point for the 19th time this season. The 11th ranked pair of Harrison Adams and Shane Vinsant dispatched No. 20 Jordan Daigle and Boris Arias 6-1 on court one. The junior duo won their 10th match this season over a ranked duo.
LSU split the doubles matches at one apiece as Chris Simpson and Justin Butsch defeated No. 46 Jeremy Efferding and Jordan Szabo 6-2 on doubles court three. The freshman duo of AJ Catanzariti and Arthur Rinderknech clinched the match's first point with a thrilling 7-5 win on court three over Tam Trinh and Simon Freund. The first-year collegians are a remarkable 16-4 this season, including a 10-2 mark against SEC foes.
As play transitioned to singles competition the home team captured the first set on the courts three, four, five and six. No. 93 Catanzariti played a flawless first set and nearly did the same in the second against Butsch on court five, winning 6-0, 6-2, to put the Aggies ahead 2-0. The Pittsburgh native right-hander improved to 34-9 this season, including an 11-1 ledger against foes from the SEC.
Court four was the next to finish as No. 55 Adams was back to his winning ways defeating Andrew Korinek 6-4, 6-1. The junior is on a three match win streak moving to 2-0 on court four this spring. Freshman Jordi Arconada provided the knock-out punch for the Aggies, defeating Freund 6-4, 6-3 on court six. The Puerto Rico native moved to 6-1 against SEC opponents and 9-2 this spring.
The Aggies will face Mississippi State in the first SEC Semifinal, this is the third straight season that Coach Denton's squad has advanced to at least semifinals. A year ago, the maroon and white hoisted the SEC Tournament trophy for the first time. The winner of Saturday's noon match-up will face the winner of the Georgia/Ole Miss match-up on Sunday at noon for the title. Sunday's championship match is scheduled to be aired on SEC Network Plus, fans can view the match through the WatchESPN app or espn3.com.