NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Vanderbilt men’s tennis team has entered the top 25 in the latest ITA team rankings, reaching its highest spot since 2003 at No. 11.
“I’m super proud of our team, my staff and our program as a whole on achieving a top-15 ranking and coming in at number 11,” head coach Scott Brown said. “I give all the credit to our players – it’s all them. They are all super deserving of this. They are the ones playing, putting in the work day in and day out, to get to where we are today.”
It is the highest ranking for the Commodores since ending their 2003 season at No. 4 after finishing as the NCAA runner-up. Vandy has not been in the top-25 of the ITA team rankings since coming in at No. 25 to open the 2016 season. It is the first time the black and gold have reached the top 15 since 2014.
“Another thing I want to say is that this program would not be where it is today without the guys I had in my first year back,” Brown said. “Guys that coaches Ian Duvenhage and Ryan Lipman left: Jeremie Casabon, Joubert Klopper, Michael Ross, Connor Rob Wilcox, Alex Hillhouse, Callum Randle, Juan Lopez NAME, even Nathan Cox, who is a senior now. Guys like those made this program into what it is today. They bought in to the culture and what we were trying to achieve – they were sort of the catapult to start us off and lay that foundation.”
The Dores rode the momentum of a rivalry win over Tennessee on Feb. 23 with two come-from-behind road victories over the weekend. It began in Norman, Oklahoma, with Vanderbilt staring down a 3-0 deficit to the Sooners on Feb. 27. Junior Hugo Coquelin got the Dores on the board with a takedown at No. 6 singles, followed by freshman Jack Satterfield, who got the first ranked win of his career at the No. 5 position. Senior Nathan Cox notched his 12th straight victory to set the table for sophomore Pablo Martinez Gomez. At 5-5 in the third set of the deciding match, Martinez Gomez anchored down the final two games to seal the Commodore comeback.
Two days later, Vandy entered College Station and recovered from a 3-2 deficit to sink then-No. 14 Texas A&M 4-3. It was the first time since 2016 the Commodores had generated back-to-back SEC wins on the road. Vanderbilt’s victory was the first in program history at College Station and marked the only time the Aggies have lost consecutive home conference matches since joining the SEC in 2012.
“This 11 ranking is great, and I’m really proud of the guys,” Brown said. “But the great thing is, we still have a lot of ways to get better. Each match is its own learning experience, and we’re going to keep pushing to be better. These rankings are great, but we have to keep our head down with another tough road weekend at Arkansas and Ole Miss. We just have to stay pushing, stay present and continue to get better with each win or loss we have. This is just extra motivation to see where we can get to moving forward.”
Vanderbilt looks to stay in rhythm on Friday as the Commodores continue their road trip, facing Arkansas at 5:30 p.m. from Fayetteville. For more information, updates and exclusive match day content, follow the Vanderbilt men’s tennis team, @VandyMTennis, on Instagram and X.
