Championship Sunday (Part 1) lived up to the advance billing with the SEC and Missouri Valley delivering heart pounding thrillers.
When #1 and #2 play you expect to see a great match and that's what Georgia and Texas A&M delivered on Sunday afternoon in College Station. Texas A&M got off to a fast start in doubles by going up early breaks at 2 and 3 and once A&M had the lead on those courts they would not relinquish it the rest of the way. The A&M #3 duo of AJ Catanzariti/Arthur Rinderknech finished first winning 6-3 then just as Georgia's #1 team of Austin Smith and Ben Wagland were 6-3 winners A&M's #2 team of Jeremy Efferding and Jordan Szabo would clinch the point with a 6-3 win themselves.
Texas A&M carried the momentum from doubles over to singles as they jumped out to early break leads at #1, #5 and #6 singles while Georgia got the early break lead at #4. Texas A&M's AJ Catanzariti would take the first set at #5 and Shane Vinsant and "Artillery" Arthur Rinderknech would get late breaks to take the opening set 6-4 at #2 and #3. Georgia's Ben Wagland cruised to a 6-2 opening set at #4 and both Austin Smith and Paul Oosterbaan would come back from a break down to claim the opening sets at #1 and #6. Smith was down 4-2 before rallying to win the set 7-6(5) while Oosterbaan came back from 5-2 down to take the set 7-5.
