This weekend, the College MatchDay meeting of #5 Texas A&M and #29 Oklahoma did not dissapoint. The #Sooners stunned the Aggies in a 4-3 victory. Ryan Cardiff breaks down all of Saturday’s action from the USTA National Campus.

Even if college tennis fans were not able to make it to the USTA National Campus, they got to experience a treat as the Oklahoma Sooners (29th ranked) upset the Texas A&M Aggies (5th ranked) by a score of 4-3 on February 24th in Orlando, Florida, an event that was nationally televised on Tennis Channel.

The Aggies came out firing in doubles and took a quick, decisive doubles point with wins on courts 1 and 3 to put the Aggies up 1-0. The team of Patrick Kypson and Arthur Rinderknech (43rd ranked) defeated Oklahoma’s Alex Bakshi and Jake Van Emburgh 6-4, while the Aggie duo of Valentin Vacherot and AJ Catanzariti matched that score with a 6-4 win over Oklahoma’s James Davis and Ferran Calvo to clinch the doubles point for A&M.

The Sooners bounced back quickly in singles, as Alex Bakshi (108th ranked), who transferred from Texas A&M to Oklahoma after last season, upset Patrick Kypson (46th ranked) 6-3, 6-3. Jochen Bertsch built off Bakshi’s momentum and took down Juan Carlos Aguilar of A&M rather quickly by a score of 6-2, 6-1 to put the Sooners up 2-1. Freshman Max Stewart then extended Oklahoma’s lead to 3-1 as he downed A&M’s Catanzariti 6-1, 6-4 to put Oklahoma within one point of securing the upset.

Stewart wins! The freshman comes up big for a 6-1, 6-4, victory over No. 86 Catanzariti on court six and it’s 3-1 #Sooners! pic.twitter.com/gj38Rfbami — Oklahoma Tennis (@OU_MTennis) February 24, 2018

Despite Oklahoma’s surge, the Aggies would not go away easily. Jordi Arconada (51st ranked) stopped Oklahoma’s momentum with a 6-3, 6-3 upset of Ferran Calvo (22nd ranked). Arthur Rinderknech (21st ranked) then defeated Oklahoma’s Adrian Oetzbach on court 2 by a score of 6-3, 7-6(6) to even the match at 3-3.

.@arthurrinder earns the 6-3, 7-6(6) win over Oetzbach on court 2! Texas A&M and OU are tied at 3-3 #12thMan pic.twitter.com/PGYW2TEvRz — Aggie Men’s Tennis (@AggieMTEN) February 24, 2018

Upon completion of Rinderknech and Oetzbach’s match, all eyes shifted to court 4 as Oklahoma’s Jake Van Emburgh and A&M’s Valentin Vacherot (17th ranked) were just underway in the third set. After dropping a quick first set 6-1, Van Emburgh fought off a match point in the second and won that set 7-6(4). The third set featured a back and forth battle, with each game being heavily contested. Van Emburgh prevailed, however, and won the final 8 points of the match to defeat Vacherot by a score of 1-6, 7-6(4), 7-5.

Sooner’s head coach Nick Crowell was ecstatic about the win (from soonersports.com): “Our guys played with so much poise and toughness today and I’m really happy for them. It was a total team effort today and the fact that we were able to play on Tennis Channel at the home of Tennis in America made it extra special.”

Do you see the Sooners as a title contender with this victory? Let us know in the comments section below!