ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The Vanderbilt men’s tennis eight-match win streak came to an end Sunday with a 5-2 loss to No. 33 Michigan, at the Varsity Tennis Center in Ann Arbor. The Commodores picked up two points with wins at one and two singles.
VU dropped the doubles point for the second consecutive match, with losses at No. 2 and No. 3. The 6th-ranked doubles team of Gonzales Austin and Ryan Lipman picked up its seventh win of the season over a ranked opponent with a 8-4 win over No. 13 Buzzi and Franks.
Lipman and Austin saw much of the same success in singles as the two picked up the only two points of the day for Vanderbilt. Lipman picked up his first win of the year at No. 1 singles, winning 5-7, 6-0, 6-2 over Michigan’s Alex Petrone.
Austin notched his team-leading 18th win of the year with a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 2 singles.
Vanderbilt didn’t see much success against the Wolverines in the remaining singles positions. Michigan won in straight-sets at three positions, knocking off Jeffrey Offerdahl at six, Anton Kovrigin at five and No. 82 Rhys Johnson at three.
Michigan jumped to a 2-0 advantage winning quickly at No. 6. Austin’s win at two was followed put by another Michigan win, this time at No. 5 over Kovrigin. Kovrigin’s loss snaps his seven-match win streak.
The match was clinched when Michigan’s Shaun Bernstein knocked off Johnson, 7-6 (5), 6-4 at the No. 3 position.
Kris Yee fell in three sets at No. 4, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Vanderbilt opens conference play next weekend on the road. The ‘Dores will travel to Fayetteville to face Arkansas on Friday and follow that up with a match against LSU on Sunday.
#33 Michigan 5, #18 Vanderbilt 2
Singles competition
1. Ryan Lipman (VU) def. Alex Petrone (MICH) 5-7, 6-0, 6-2
2. #10 Gonzales Austin (VU) def. Vlad Stefan (MICH) 6-2, 6-2
3. Shaun Bernstein (MICH) def. #82 Rhys Johnson (VU) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4
4. Justin Rossi (MICH) def. Kris Yee (VU) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
5. Alex Buzzi (MICH) def. Anton Kovrigin (VU) 7-6 (7-2), 6-4
6. Barrett Franks (MICH) def. Jeffrey Offerdahl (VU) 7-5, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. #6 Gonzales Austin/Ryan Lipman (VU) def. #13 Alex Buzzi/Barrett Franks (MICH) 8-4
2. #55 Shaun Bernstein/Kevin Wong (MICH) def. Ryan Smith/Rhys Johnson (VU) 8-6
3. Alex Petrone/Michael Zhu (MICH) def. Anton Kovrigin/Jeffrey Offerdahl (VU) 8-4
Match Notes:
Vanderbilt 8-2; National ranking #18
Michigan 5-4; National ranking #33
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (6,2,5,1,3,4)
