In a battle of top 5 teams (according to the ITA rankings) it was #3 Texas A&M rolling over #4 Baylor on Wednesday night in Waco. Baylor was 20-1 inside the Hawkins Indoor Center coming into this one but now drops to 20-2 after Texas A&M pulled away and won 4-2.
Baylor’s Julian Lenz and Will Little cruised to a 6-2 win at #1 doubles but Texas A&M took the point with a 6-1 win at #2 and a 6-4 win at #3. Texas A&M’s Max Lunkin and Jordi Arconada had a 4-2 lead at #3 but Baylor’s Felipe Rios and Jimmy Bendeck held and then broke on the deciding point to even it at 4-4. Bendeck went up 40-30 on his serve but Lunkin hit a volley winner and then Rios watch a screamer go past him that landed well inside the line to make it 5-4 A&M. Lunkin then held from 40-15 to seal the doubles point for Texas A&M.
The teams split first sets with Lenz, Rios, and Little taking them for BU while Shane Vinsant, AJ Catanzariti, and Jackson Withrow took sets for A&M.
All five matches that finished were straight setters and the first three finished within about 45 seconds of each other.
Shane Vinsant extended Texas A&M’s lead to 2-0 with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Max Tchoutakian at #2 singles. Vinsant broke Tchoutakian at love to go up 5-4 in the first then served it out from 40-30 to take the opening set 6-4. Vinsant broke Tchoutakian to open the second set and then held for a 2-0 lead. Tchoutakian held and then broke to even it at 2-2 but Vinsant broke back to go up 3-2. Vinsant held serve three more times and closed out the 6-4, 6-4 win.
Jackson Withrow made it 3-0 Aggies when he finished off Tommy Podvinski 6-2, 6-4 at #6 singles. Withrow broke Podvinski to go up 3-2 and then broke him again to go up 5-2 before serving out the set. There was only one break of serve in the second set and it came when Withrow hammered an overhead to break from 30-40 to go up 5-4. Podvinski took a 5-minute injury timeout (looked like he was getting hamstring stretched) but once play resumed Withrow held easily to close out the 6-2, 6-4 win.
Just second later, Julian Lenz put Baylor on the board when he beat #5 Arthur Rinderknech 6-4, 6-1 at #1 singles. Lenz earned the only break of serve in the first set when he broke Rinderknech on the deciding point to go up 5-4 and then held to take the set. Lenz broke Rinderknech three times in the second set and cruised to a 6-4, 6-1 win.
Roughly 7 minutes later, Felipe Rios would give Baylor its second point with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Jordi Arconada at #3 singles. Rios broke Arconada to go up 6-5 in the first then held on the deciding point to take it 7-5. The second set was filled with breaks with Rios breaking to go up 2-1 but Arconada broke back and held for 3-2. Rios then held and broke to go up 4-3 but Arconada broke back to even it at 4-4. Rios would break again to go up 5-4 and then he held from 40-15 to take it 7-5, 6-4.
Texas A&M’s AJ Catanzariti would provide the clincher 10 minutes later when he beat Jimmy Bendeck 6-3, 7-6(3) at #5 singles. Catanzariti broke Bendeck to go up 3-1 in the first and then held to make it 4-1. Bendeck then held and broke to put it back on serve only to see Catanzariti break back and then hold from love to take the set 6-3. Catanzariti broke to go up 2-1 in the second but Bendeck broke back to even it at 3-3. It stayed on serve until Catanzariti broke to go up 6-5 but Bendeck broke back to force a tiebreak. Catanzariti raced out to a 6-1 lead in the tiebreak and ended up taking it 7-3.
The match between Harrison Adams and Will Little was abandoned with Adams serving for the match up 5-2 in the third.
1. Julian Lenz (BU 14.72) def. #5 Arthur Rinderknech (aTm 14.53) 6-4, 6-1
2. #29 Shane Vinsant (aTm 14.08) def. #59 Max Tchoutakian (BU 13.90) 6-4, 6-4
3. Felipe Rios (BU 14.26) def. Jordi Arconada (aTm 13.81) 7-5, 6-4
4. Harrison Adams (aTm 12.98) vs. Will Little (BU 13.67) 2-6, 6-3, *5-2 unf
5. AJ Catanzariti (aTm 13.43) vs. Jimmy Bendeck (BU 13.49) 6-3, 7-6(3)
6. Jackson Withrow (aTm 14.13/30%) def. Tommy Podvinski (BU 11.75) 6-2, 6-4
Order of finish: Doubles (2, 1, 3); Singles (2, 6, 1, 3, 5)
As you can see from below the guys were pumped up with the win over a ranked opponent.
What a win today over #46 ranked Louisville #trueblue pic.twitter.com/8AaUMyDmRbJ Pugh (@J_pugh96) February 4, 2016
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