Friday will be a fairly light day of activity with just 8 teams in the Top 20 in action and with the only matchup between top 20 teams taking place in College Station as #9 Texas A&M hosts #11 Vanderbilt.
Before I preview that one here are a few others to keep an eye on today:
#31 San Diego (8-3) at #34 Texas Tech (12-4) – 1pm est – Live Scoring – San Diego is coming off a hard fought loss against USC and has wins on the year over South Carolina and South Florida while Texas Tech has only played 1 match in the last 3 weeks though has wins this year over Auburn and Mississippi State.
#24 Florida State (10-4) at #19 Wake Forest (9-4) – 4pm est – Live Scoring & Streaming – FSU is coming off a weekend where the Noles beat Louisville and gave North Carolina all it wanted despite FSU playing without its #1 Benjamin Lock who was playing in the Davis Cup. Wake has played its last 3 matches without its #1 Noah Rubin (wrist) going 1-2 in that stretch with respectable losses to Texas and Virginia and a win over TCU. This should be a very competitive match that probably finishes 4-3 on way or the other.
#28 Louisville (13-3) at #37 NC State (10-5) – 4pm est – Live Scoring & Streaming – Louisville comes off a weekend where they split with Notre Dame (W) and Florida State (L). NC State on the other hand went 0-2 last week with a close 4-3 loss to North Carolina (playing w/o Schnur) before getting plowed by Virginia 7-0. Like the FSU/Wake match this too will likely be a 4-3 match.
#42 Mississippi State (11-3) at #18 Florida (6-5)- 5pm est – Live Scoring – State has won 4 in a row with a pair of recent wins over Alabama and Arkansas while Florida has dropped 3 of its last 4. I think Florida should get the win here though State is more than capable of the upset.
#11 Vanderbilt (13-3) at #9 Texas A&M (7-2) – 7pm est – Live Scoring – Last year Texas A&M rolled into Nashville and rolled over the Dores 4-0 so this year it’ll be Vandy trying to return the favor. Vandy is a stout 11-3 in doubles while Texas A&M is an equally impressive 8-1. College Station is a tough place to play so for Vanderbilt to win this one they really need the doubles point. Unfortunately for them I think Texas A&M gets the point but Vandy will put up a fight in singles. The matchup at #1 should be a good one with Gonzales Austin bringing a 14-1 dual match record into this one while Jeremy Efferding is 6-1.
Projected Singles Lineup:
1. #10 Gonzales Austin (VU 14.34) vs. #65 Jeremy Efferding (aTm 14.03)
2. Rhys Johnson (VU 13.43) vs. #71 Shane Vinsant (aTm 14.19)
3. Daniel Valent (VU 13.73) vs. #48 Harrison Adams (aTm 13.73)
4. Kris Yee (VU 13.66) vs. Arthur Rinderknech (aTm 14.15)
5. Suresh Eswaran (VU 12.87) vs. #89 A.J. Catanzariti (aTm 13.96)
6. Baker Newman (VU 12.93) vs. Max Lunkin (aTm 12.91)
Others who could play: Jordi Arconada (aTm 13.54)
#1 singles – Austin has a 14-1 dual match record and has won 2 straight after dropping his only match to Ole Miss’s Nik Scholtz while Efferding is 6-1 but 2-0 playing at #1. Efferding has won 3 straight and led Georgia’s Wayne Montgomery 3-0 in the 3rd in a match that didn’t finish. This one will likely have a few close 7-5 type of sets and might not get to finish. I’ll say Austin is ahead when the match is clinched.
#2 singles – Johnson is 5-8 on the year and has lost 2 straight while Vinsant is 2-2, with 4 additional matches not finishing, though he got blown out 6-3, 6-0 his last time out against South Carolina’s Andrew Adams. I see Vinsant rebounding in this one and winning in 2.
#3 singles – Valent is 13-1 on the year and 3-0 since moving up from 4 to 3. Valent has also won 5 straight with 2 of those wins over ranked opposition. Adams on the other hand has really struggled this year with an 0-6 record and he actually was pulled from the lineup for the Aggies last match against South Carolina. I’ve got to go with Valent in this one though if Adams sits and Rinderknech gets moved up I could see it going the other way.
#4 singles – Yee is 8-7 in dual match play and 1-1 since dropping down from 3 to 4 in the lineup. Yee blew out Auburn’s Joseph Van Dooren 6-1, 6-0 last weekend with that win stopping a 4 match losing streak. Rinderknech is a solid 7-1 and has won 7 straight since dropping his 1st dual match. Rinderknech played at #3 the last time out and picked up a 6-1, 1-6, 7-6 win over South Carolina’s Thiago Pinheiro. Outside of #1 singles I think this will be the 2nd closest match and I’m going to take Rinderknech in 3.
#5 singles – Eswaran is 8-5 this year and 1-1 since moving up from 6 to 5 while Catanzariti is 5-3 though he’s won 4 of his last 5. Anything other than Catanzariti in 2 would be surprising.
#6 singles – Newman is 5-5 on the year and 3-0 since moving down from 5 to 6 while Lunkin is 3-1 and the last time out he was up 4-1 in the 3rd against South Carolina’s Thomas Mayronne when the team match was clinched. I’ll go with Lunkin in 2 tight sets.
In my opinion Vanderbilt’s best path to an upset would be to take the doubles point and pick up singles wins from Austin, Valent, and Newman. If this were in Nashville I’d probably take Vanderbilt but I think that home court advantage pays off for the Aggies. Prediction: Texas A&M 4-1
Latest Comments