COLLEGE STATION, Texas – After a great doubles showing the No. 11 Vanderbilt Commodores fell to the No. 9 Texas A&M Aggies Friday night; 4-1. With the loss Vandy now owns a 13-4 record, and 3-2 conference mark.
“There were a lot of positives we can build on from this match,” said head coach Ian Duvenhage. “We had four really close first sets, and we just have to find a way to win those first sets. Today we came up short, but we just have to find ways to win when we have opportunities”
Vanderbilt gave a solid effort throughout doubles, coming off courts one and two with wins over two top-25 teams. Jeffrey Offerdahl and Rhys Johnson finished their match first, only allowing No. 26 Jeremy Efferding and Jordan Szabo two games in the `Dores 6-2 victory.
On court one Pen Binet and Baker Newman took down the No. 9 team in the country to clinch the doubles point for the second SEC match in a row. The 6-4 win over Harrison Adams and Shane Vinsant is the first ranked victory for both the freshman and sophomore in singles and doubles.
“We played with a great deal of emotion, intensity and urgency. Pen and Baker did a really good job at No. 1 and beat a ranked team. Rhys and Jeff also did a really great job at two. At No. 3 we were in the match serving at 4-5 and we just played a bad game at 4-5. If we had found a way to win that, we would have won all three doubles matches.”
In singles action the `Dores had very close first sets, including two 7-5 first set losses on courts four and five. Kris Yee was the only Commodore to win his first set as he edged out No. 48 Adams, 7-5. VU could to not rebound from their setbacks, and the Aggies took the match as they went on a four-match win streak on courts six, four, five and one respectively.
The Commodores next travel to Baton Rouge Sunday to take on the No. 33 LSU Tigers at 12:00 p.m. CT.
Results:
#9 Texas A&M 4, #11 Vanderbilt 1
Singles competition
1. #65 Jeremy Efferding (TAMU) def. Rhys Johnson (VANDY) 6-3, 6-4
2. #71 Shane Vinsant (TAMU) vs. Daniel Valent (VANDY) 6-4, 4-6, unfinished
3. #48 Harrison Adams (TAMU) vs. Kris Yee (VANDY) 5-7, 5-4, unfinished
4. Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) def. Suresh Eswaran (VANDY) 7-5, 6-3
5. Jordi Arconada (TAMU) def. Baker Newman (VANDY) 7-5, 6-3
6. #89 AJ Catanzariti (TAMU) def. Jeffrey Offerdahl (VANDY) 6-1, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. Baker Newman/Pen Binet (VANDY) def. #9 Harrison Adams/Shane Vinsant (TAMU) 6-4
2. Jeffrey Offerdahl/Rhys Johnson (VANDY) def. #26 Jeremy Efferding/Jordan Szabo (TAMU) 6-2
3. AJ Catanzariti/Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) def. Suresh Eswaran/Daniel Valent (VANDY) 6-4
Match Notes:
Vanderbilt 13-4, 3-2; National ranking #11
Texas A&M 8-2, 4-1; National ranking #9
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (6,4,5,1)
