Sunday Preview: SEC Championship + Daily Schedule

It all comes down to today in the SEC with the regular season co-champs meeting in the finals of the conference tournament.  Texas A&M has the big advantage of playing at home but Georgia has already beat A&M once this year though that was in Athens. The winner will move up to #3 in the rankings next week in addition to having the title of SEC Tournament Champions.  It ought to be a good one so let's take a look at the numbers.

#1 Georgia (21-3) at #2 Texas A&M (20-4) - 1pm est - Live Scoring & ESPN3 & Georgia Blog - Georgia won the regular season meeting in Athens 4-1 (box score below) but only 1 of the singles matches will be a repeat.  Texas A&M will definitely have the crowd behind it since the tournament is in College Station but whether that'll be enough to push Texas A&M to the top won't be known until later today.   

#4 Georgia 4, #10 Texas A&M 1

March 6, 2015 at Athens, Ga. (Dan Magill Tennis Complex)

Singles competition

1. #25 Austin Smith (UGA 14.11) vs. #65 Shane Vinsant (TAMU 14.27) 6-3, 1-6, 5-4, unf

2. #66 Jeremy Efferding (TAMU 13.97) vs. #17 Wayne Montgomery (UGA 14.66) 6-2, 4-6, 3-0, unf

3. #16 Nathan Pasha (UGA 14.20) def. #39 Harrison Adams (TAMU 13.85) 7-5, 6-1

4. Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU 14.06) def. Ben Wagland (UGA 13.23) 6-3, 6-2

5. Nick Wood (UGA 13.69) def. #88 AJ Catanzariti (TAMU 13.98) 7-5, 7-5

6. Paul Oosterbaan (UGA 13.59) def. Max Lunkin (TAMU 12.83) 6-2, 7-5

Doubles competition

1. #10 Austin Smith/Ben Wagland (UGA) def. #8 Harrison Adams/Shane Vinsant (TAMU) 6-2

2. Eric Diaz/Nathan Pasha (UGA) def. #22 Jeremy Efferding/Jordan Szabo (TAMU) 6-4

3. AJ Catanzariti/Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) def. Wayne Montgomery/Paul Oosterbaan (UGA) 6-4

Match Notes

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

FYI, the number beside the player's school is the player's Universal Tennis Rating as of April 18th.  For more details about UTR check out their website. 

Projected Singles Lineup

1. #29 Austin Smith (UGA 14.29) vs. #61 Jeremy Efferding (aTm 14.25) 

2. #28 Wayne Montgomery (UGA 14.50) vs. #69 Shane Vinsant (aTm 14.16) 

3. #26 Nathan Pasha (UGA 14.30) vs. Arthur Rinderknech (aTm 14.20) 

4. Ben Wagland (UGA 13.29) vs. #55 Harrison Adams (aTm 13.60) 

5. Nick Wood (UGA 13.93) vs. #93 A.J. Catanzariti (aTm 14.18) 

6. Paul Oosterbaan (UGA 13.76) vs. Jordi Arconada (aTm 13.45) 

1st off the bench: Peter Bertran (UGA 13.57), Max Lunkin (aTm 13.09), 

Dual-Match singles records:

1. Smith 14-5 (won 10 of 12) vs. Efferding 9-3 (8 straight DNFs) 

2. Montgomery 13-3 (won 6 in a row and 11 of 12) vs. Vinsant 6-3 (won 4 of 5) 

3. Pasha 12-4 (won 11 of 13) vs. Rinderknech 12-3 (won 4 of 5)  

4. Wagland 9-5 (won 6 in a row) vs. Adams 3-8 (won 3 in a row) 

5. Wood 12-5 (won 6 of 7) vs. Catanzariti 18-4 (won 14 of 15) 

6. Oosterbaan 11-3 (won 10 in a row) vs. Arconada 9-2 (won 7 in a row) 

Projected Doubles Lineup with records in ( ):

1. #1 Smith/Wagland (UGA 14-2) vs. #11 Adams/Vinsant (aTm 10-6) 

2. Pasha/Oosterbaan (UGA 2-0) vs. #46 Efferding/Jordan Szabo (aTm 14-6) 

3. Montgomery/Wood (UGA 0-1) vs. Rinderknech/Catanzariti (aTm 16-3) 

Doubles Record:

Georgia  17-7 overall, 10-4 SEC

Texas A&M 20-4 overall, 11-3 SEC

Georgia won the doubles point the last time they played but I think Texas A&M manages to get it this time with wins at 2 and 3.  In singles I like Austin Smith in 3, Wayne Montgomery in 2, and Ben Wagland in 2 for Georgia but I like Arthur Rinderknech in 2 and AJ Catanzariti in 2 for Texas A&M.  

The match at #6 singles could be the swing match.  Jordi Arconada didn't play his first collegiate dual match until 2 days after the last meeting with Georgia but he's managed to be a difference maker down at #6. After a slow start he's really come around and has now won 7 in a row.  Georgia redshirt freshman Paul Oosterbaan is riding a 10-match winning streak though twice in the last 2 weeks he was in big trouble only to get bailed out by the team clinch.  I'm going to take Arconada in a 3-setter and with that Texas A&M should get the 4 points they need to win it.  It should be a very close match that is definitely winnable for Georgia though A&M will likely have a little more giddy-up in their steps today playing in front of the home faithful.  Prediction: Texas A&M 4-3

Sunday Schedule:

SEC Tournament (College Station, TX)

#1 Georgia vs. #2 Texas A&M - 1pm est - Live Scoring & ESPN3 & Georgia Blog

AAC Tournament (Tulsa, OK) - Streaming Video & Live Scoring
#1 South Florida vs #2 Tulsa - 1pm est

Atlantic Sun (Jacksonville, FL) Live Scoring - Rain Delays - will finish on Sunday
#2 North Florida vs. #3 USC Upstate - 9am - Live Scoring
#1 FGCU vs. #4 Stetson - 9am - Live Scoring

Big South (Asheville, NC) - Live Scoring
#1 Coastal Carolina vs. Gardner-Webb - 9am est

#2 Liberty vs #7 UNC Asheville - 12pm est

#3 Winthrop vs. #6 Radford - 3pm est

Colonial (Williamsburg, VA)
#3 William & Mary vs. #4 College of Charleston -2pm est - Live Scoring

Conference USA (Norfolk, VA)
#1 Rice vs. #3 UTSA - 11am est - Live Scoring

Missouri Valley (St. Louis, MO)
MV#1 Drake vs. MV#2 Wichita St - 11am est - Live Scoring

Sunbelt Tournament (New Orleans, LA) 
#1 Troy vs. #3 South Alabama  - 11:30am est - Live Scoring

Michigan at Purdue - 10am est - Live Scoring
Penn State at Iowa - 12pm est - Live Scoring
Wake Forest at Boston College - 12pm est - Wake Twitter
Duke at Georgia Tech - 12pm est - Live Scoring & Streaming
North Carolina at Clemson - 12pm est - Live Scoring
Virginia Tech at Florida State - 12pm est - Live Scoring
Brown at Harvard - 1pm est - Harvard Twitter
Penn at Columbia - 1pm est - Columbia Twitter
Princeton at Cornell - 1pm est - Live Scoring & Princeton Twitter
Illinois at Wisconsin - 1pm est - Wisconsin Twitter & Streaming
Northwestern at Minnesota - 1pm est - Live Scoring
Ohio State at Nebraska - 1pm est - Live Scoring
Michigan State at Indiana - 2pm est - Live Scoring
Virginia at Miami - 2pm est - Live Scoring
Oklahoma State at Oklahoma - 2pm est - Live Scoring 
Vincennes at Indiana - 6pm est - Live Scoring
Chicago State at Iowa - 6:30pm est - Live Scoring