Baton Rouge Rally

BATON ROUGE, La. — No. 34 Vanderbilt men’s tennis delivered a comeback effort in singles to pull out a 4-3 road victory at No. 67 LSU on Monday.

“Credit to LSU, that was a really hard-fought match,” head coach Scott Brown said. “They have improved a lot from last year. I think they’re a team that is much better than their ranking is; their rank is not a true reflection of the quality of their team and program.”

The Dores continued their doubles dominance with wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. It is the ninth time in 11 total matches Vanderbilt has secured the doubles point. The No. 87-ranked duo of junior Nathan Cox and senior Michael Ross notched their third ranked win of the season in a 6-2 takedown of No. 27 Aleksi Lofman and Julien Penzlin. Cox and Ross remain perfect in dual match doubles play at 5-0 and move to 8-2 on the season.

Despite an early deficit, LSU clawed back to start singles play. The Tigers took first set leads at four of the six singles positions, including a back-and-forth 7-6 (4) result from Sasa Markovic against Cox. LSU quickly gained the lead with wins at No. 4 and No. 6 singles. Sophomore Danil Panarin secured the first singles point for the Dores, downing Alessio Vasquez 6-4, 6-4 to tie the match at two apiece. The Tigers regained the match advantage after Markovic pulled away from Cox in straight sets.

Down 3-2, Vanderbilt’s hopes laid with freshman Pablo Martinez Gomez at No. 3 singles and fifth year Henry Ruger at No. 6 singles; both suffered defeats in the first set. Ruger bounced back in the second with a 7-5 set win after being blanked 6-0 in the opening frame. The captain went on to capture the third set 6-0, tying the match at 3-3.

Martinez Gomez forced a third set versus No. 125 Penzlin with a 6-3 resurgence in the second. The final set saw the freshman fall into a 2-0 hole early. The score then moved to 3-1 in favor of LSU after both players exchanged serving games. As the Tigers began to smell victory, Martinez Gomez flipped the momentum for the Dores. He captured five straight games over his ranked counterpart to seal a 4-3 match victory for Vanderbilt. It marks the first singles loss for Penzlin in dual match play.

“That was a character and culture win,” Brown said. “We had every reason to lose. We were down a set and break in four singles matches. But we just hung in there, stayed the course and found a way to win. Full credit to our players. These are wins that you get from the training you’ve put in over the months. These wins are built up over time. We aren’t going to win all matches like this, but today we did, and we showed that we are the ‘Comeback Commodores.’ We will never go away; we’re going to keep hanging around in matches until we get an opportunity to win.”

Vanderbilt (8-3, 1-1 SEC) continues its road trip on Friday with a matchup against No. 35 Auburn (7-4, 0-2 SEC) at 5 p.m. For more information, updates and exclusive game day content, follow the Vanderbilt men’s tennis team, @VandyMTennis, on Instagram and X.

No. 34 Vanderbilt 4, No. 67 LSU 3

Doubles
1. No. 87 Cox/Ross (Vanderbilt) def. No. 27 Lofman/Penzlin (LSU) 6-2
2. Markovic/Andrej Loncarevic (LSU) def. Martinez Gomez/Panarin (Vanderbilt) 6-4
3. Giuseppe Cerasuolo/Ruger (Vanderbilt) def. Enzo Kohlmann/Vasquez (LSU) 7-5

Singles
1. Markovic (LSU) def. No. 98 Cox (Vanderbilt) 7-6 (4), 6-4
2. Panarin (Vanderbilt) def. Vasquez (LSU) 6-4, 6-4
3. Martinez Gomez (Vanderbilt) def. No. 125 Penzlin (LSU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
4. Lofman (LSU) def. Ross (Vanderbilt) 6-1, 6-2
5. Ruger (Vanderbilt) def. Loncarevic (LSU) 0-6, 7-5, 6-0
6. Brock Anderson (LSU) def. Tighe Brunetti (Vanderbilt) 6-4, 6-2

Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (4,6,2,1,5,3)