Friday Recap - Aggies Over Short-Handed Vandy, Wake Hammers FSU, Louisville Get A Big Road W

Well the big match of the day was actually a good bit closer than I thought it would be after noticing that Vanderbilt was without its #1 singles player #10 Gonzales Austin who also makes up the #1 doubles team in the country with Rhys Johnson.  I still haven't seen anything official from anyone on why AJ didn't play but if I had to guess I'd say he was under the weather which I can relate to.

The one thing I don't get is how neither of the school's press releases bothered to even mention the fact that Austin didn't play.  I mean if the starting quarterback on the football team didn't play it'd have to be addressed by somebody, right?  If you are the person conducting the post match interviews wouldn't question #1 be "How do you think the absence of Vandy's #1 effected the match?" It sure would be my first question.   

Back to the match itself it was admirable that Vanderbilt was able to take the doubles point despite moving its #2 team up to #1 and putting together a make-shift team at #2 with both of those teams winning. 

In singles play, Texas A&M took 5 of 6 1st sets with AJ Catanzariti, Arthur Rinderknech, and Jeremy Efferding able to close them out in straights at 6, 4, and 1. On the 2 remaining courts Vandy had just got a split at #2 and was up a set and on serve at #3.  

Texas A&M recap

“Obviously the night did not start like we wanted to with the doubles, but a win like this when the guys have to gut it out and come from behind is good for their character as a team,” Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. “Wins like this are good for our confidence that they can comeback against a quality opponent like Vanderbilt. Give Vanderbilt a lot of credit tonight, they played very well in the doubles and took it to us early.”

“Matches like tonight where we don’t win the doubles point, which we have become accustomed to doing this season, are good for this team,” Denton added. “The first point is still a long way from the finish line and our guys have to just keep battling and good things will happen.”

“Once again it very important for us to hold serve at home in conference play,” Denton said. “I knew this was going to be a close match. I knew our guys would not be looking ahead to a very good Illinois team coming in here on Sunday. They have a tough match with Texas in Austin tomorrow then turnaround and play us here on Sunday. I expect a very high level college tennis match that will be really fun to watch.”

Vanderbilt recap

"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"

"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."

FYI, the number beside the player's school is the player's Universal Tennis Rating as of March 12th.  For more details about UTR check out their website. 

#9 Texas A&M 4, #11 Vanderbilt 1

George P. Mitchell Tennis Center

College Station, TX

Singles competition

1. #65 Jeremy Efferding (TAMU 14.03) def. Rhys Johnson (VANDY 13.43) 6-3, 6-4

2. #71 Shane Vinsant (TAMU 14.19) vs. Daniel Valent (VANDY 13.73) 6-4, 4-6, unfinished

3. #48 Harrison Adams (TAMU 13.73) vs. Kris Yee (VANDY 13.66) 5-7, 5-4, unfinished

4. Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU 14.15) def. Suresh Eswaran (VANDY 12.87) 7-5, 6-3

5. Jordi Arconada (TAMU 13.54) def. Baker Newman (VANDY 12.93) 7-5, 6-3

6. #89 AJ Catanzariti (TAMU 13.96) def. Jeffrey Offerdahl (VANDY 12.67) 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 

Order of Finish

Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (6,4,5,1)

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Wake Forest welcomed back its #1 Noah Rubin and he helped deliver a shutout over Florida State. Also check out the scoreline at #4 singles - 20-18 1st set tiebreak.  

Wake recap

Florida State recap

"Wake Forest played a great match and took it to us today," head coach Dwayne Hultquist said. "We had a little opening in the doubles, but Wake played really well. They benefited from the match getting moved indoors because they had some big servers, and it showed today."

"Playing this many on the road is tough," Hultquist continued. "Last weekend we played well at Louisville and North Carolina. The match Sunday is important because Georgia Tech is ranked and undefeated in conference right now, so we need to end this stretch with a win."

#19 Wake Forest 7, #24 Florida State 0

Mar 13, 2015 at Winston-Salem, N.C. (Wake Forest Tennis Complex)

Singles competition

1. #63 Noah Rubin (WF) def. Benjamin Lock (FS) 6-4, 6-0

2. #12 Romain Bogaerts (WF) def. Marco Nunez (FS) 6-3, 6-3

3. Skander Mansouri (WF) def. #79 Michael Rinaldi (FS) 6-4, 6-4

4. #69 Jon Ho (WF) def. C. Gonzalez Mendez (FS) 6-7 (18-20), 7-5, 1-0 (10-7)

5. Christian Seraphim (WF) def. Jose Gracia (FS) 6-1, 7-6 (7-5)

6. Maksim Kan (WF) def. Terrell Whitehurst (FS) 7-5, 6-2

Doubles competition

1. #13 Christian Seraphim/Skander Mansouri (WF) def. #30 Benjamin Lock/Marco Nunez (FS) 8-4

2. Noah Rubin/Jon Ho (WF) vs. Michael Rinaldi/C. Gonzalez Mendez (FS) 6-5, unfinished

3. Romain Bogaerts/Keivon Tabrizi (WF) def. Terrell Whitehurst/Terrance Whitehurst (FS) 8-4

Match Notes

Florida State 12-5 (1-2 ACC); National ranking #24

Wake Forest 11-4 (1-1 ACC); National ranking #19

Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (2,1,5,6,3,4)

T-3:32 A-112

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In a whopping 4 hours and 40 minutes it was Louisville beating NC State in a match that was played indoors at NC State's 4 court facility.  

Louisville recap

"There were a lot of heroes tonight," said UofL head coach Rex Ecarma. "NC State is one of the toughest places in the ACC to play. Sebastian (Stiefelmeyer) and Albert (Wagner) came back from a 1-4 deficit to win. Albert made some huge pays and Van and Chris sealed the doubles point. Sebastian played well to defeat one of the best players in the ACC and Lippens gave us another super important third point. Then Simich down 2-3 played so gutsy and clinched the match. The 2009 team had a similar experience in the exact place and went from ranked #48 to 14. This looks like a good sign."

NC State recap

#28 Louisville 4, #37 NC State 3

Mar 13, 2015 at Raleigh, N.C.

(J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center)

Singles

1. #1 Sebastian Stiefelmeyer (UL) def. #72 Austin Powell (ST) 6-4, 6-2

2. Robbie Mudge (ST) def. #106 Albert Wagner (UL) 6-2, 6-2

3. Michael Lippens (UL) def. Simon Norenius (ST) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4

4. Beck Bond (ST) def. Alex Gornet (UL) 6-3, 6-2

5. Chris Simich (UL) def. Nick Horton (ST) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3

6. Ian Dempster (ST) def. Luis Elizondo (UL) 6-3, 6-4

Order of finish: 2,1,4,3,6,5

Doubles

1. #17 Robbie Mudge/Ian Dempster (ST) def. Jeffrey Brown/Alex Gornet (UL) 8-4

2. S. Stiefelmeyer/Albert Wagner (UL) def. Beck Bond/Austin Powell (ST) 8-6

3. Van Damrongsri/Chris Simich (UL) def. Nick Horton/Simon Norenius (ST) 8-5

Order of finish: 2,1,3

Match Notes:

Louisville 14-3; National ranking #28

NC State 10-6; National ranking #37

T-4:40 A-153