COLLEGE STATION, Texas – In the squad’s first Southeastern Conference road match of the season, the No. 27 Vanderbilt men’s tennis team fell to No. 12 Texas A&M Aggies, 6-1. With the loss the Commodores now own a 9-6 (1-2) record.
VU came out on top of in one of its tightest doubles battles to take the 1-0 lead over A&M. Teaming up at No. 1 doubles, Lachlan McPhee and Billy Rowe downed Arthur Rinderknech and Max Lunkin, 6-4. On court three, the pairing of Baker Newman and Daniel Valent defeated Jordi Arconada and AJ Catanzariti in tiebreaking fashion, 7-6(4).
While the Commodores battled in singles play with tight sets on each court, the Aggies earned the singles sweep to secure the 6-1 win.
The Aggies leveled the score as Hady Habib defeated senior Pen Binet 6-2, 6-3 on court six. Newman was taken to a first-set tiebreaker, but A&M’s Catanzariti edged ahead of the junior for the first set, 7-6(3), and took the match in the second set, 6-1.
McPhee also entered into a first set tiebreaker against Aleksandre Bakshi with the Aggie taking the close contest for the 3-1 lead, 7-6(3), 6-4. No. 115 Jordi Arconada clinched the Aggie win against Rowe, 7-5, 6-3 at No. 4 singles.
Playing on court five, Alex Ross faced Valentin Vacherot. The Commodore nearly forced another opening set tiebreaker, but the Aggie came out on top of a few key points, 7-5, 6-3.
TAMU’s final win came on court one following the only three set match of the day. No. 114 Valent rallied back from a 7-5 first set deficit against No. 8 Rinderknech to claim the second, 6-3. Both student-athletes powered through the final set, which was played in a 10-point tiebreaker. Rinderknech narrowly took the victory over Valent, 7-5, 3-6, 1-0(7).
Vanderbilt remains on the road for its Sunday morning contest, facing the LSU Tigers at 11:30 am.
