CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — In a battle with No. 2 Virginia, Vanderbilt men’s tennis fell short on the road, 6-1, at the Boar’s Head Sports Club on Sunday.
“First off, congrats to UVA and my dear friend, coach Andre [Pedroso], and his staff on a well-deserved victory,” head coach Scott Brown said. “It was a little weird playing at Boar’s Head and standing on the visitor’s side of the courts, but if I’m going to be on the other side, there are no other colors I’d rather represent than the black and gold. But it was a cool experience coming back, and it was a very nice homecoming. It’s a special place for me.”
Brown served as the assistant coach for Virginia over the course of 11 seasons, starting in 2011-15 and then again from 2018-23. During his time with the Cavaliers, Brown helped lead Virginia to four national championship titles, eight ACC Tournament titles, three ITA National Team Indoor Championship titles and an NCAA Singles champion. He earned ITA National Assistant Coach of the Year in 2022 before starting his head coaching tenure at Vanderbilt ahead of the 2023-24 season.
After a back-and-forth start to the match in doubles, the Cavaliers held on late. A pair of 6-4 victories at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions gave Virginia the doubles point. In singles, Vanderbilt brought two matches to third sets. Senior Nathan Cox continued his strong start to the season, notching the only point of the day for the Dores with a 6-2, 6-3 takedown of Stiles Brockett. Cox remains the only undefeated Commodore left in singles play at 6-0. No. 62 ranked sophomore Pablo Martinez Gomez and freshman Jack Satterfield both forced 10-point tiebreak sets after the match was decided, but were unable to come out on top.
“Overall, I was really pleased with how our guys fought and competed,” Brown said. “What’s special about this group is they never give up. They leave it all out on the court and hang around in matches. I thought we took a step forward against No. 2 this week after facing No. 1 in Wake Forest last week. Some of the results didn’t go our way today, but we’re continuing to show that we’re right there with some of the best teams in the country. We’re just going to keep developing and keep getting better, believing more and more, and I know we’re going to come out on top in some of these matches as the year goes on. […] We have a week off coming up, so it’s a really good time for us to recharge our batteries and use this time to get stronger and keep getting better.”
The Commodores get a short break before returning to play on Feb. 12 at home against Belmont. For more information, updates and exclusive game day content, follow the Vanderbilt men’s tennis team, @VandyMTennis, on Instagram and X.
No. 2 Virginia 6, Vanderbilt 1
Doubles
1. Mans Dahlberg/Jangjun Kim [Virginia] vs. Martinez Gomez/Hoyoung Roh [Vanderbilt] 5-3, abandoned
2. Dylan Dietrich/Brockett [Virginia] def. Cox/Hugo Coquelin [Vanderbilt] 6-4
3. Keegan Rice/Andres Santamarta Roig [Virginia] def. No. 42 Danil Panarin/Satterfield [Vanderbilt] 6-4
Singles
1. No. 16 Dietrich [Virginia] def. Hoyoung [Vanderbilt] 6-1, 6-3
2. No. 29 Rice [Virginia] def. No. 62 Martinez Gomez [Vanderbilt] 7-5, 6-7 (5), 1-0 (3)
3. Kim [Virginia] def. Panarin [Vanderbilt] 6-1, 6-4
4. Santamarta Roig [Virginia] def. Satterfield [Vanderbilt] 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 (5)
5. Cox [Vanderbilt] def. Brockett [Virginia] 6-2, 6-3
6. Dahlberg [Virginia] def. Donghyun Hwang [Vanderbilt] 6-3, 6-2
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (1,6,5,3,4,2)
