AUBURN, Ala. – After taking an early 3-0 lead, the No. 43 Commodores faced adversity in a late Auburn late comeback. But sophomore Daniel Valent came through on court one with the clinch to pull off the 4-3 victory.
With the victory, Vanderbilt now owns a 13-10 overall record and 4-4 SEC slate.
Sunday’s road match began as most conference matches begin, with a hotly contested doubles point. VU began the match striking first as Pen Binet and Valent walked away from court three with an easy 6-1 win. With Tate Allwardt and Baker Newman falling 6-4 on two, No. 33 Rhys Johnson and Cameron Klinger would need to battle through a tiebreaker. The Dores came out of top, 7-6(5) for their 5th ranked win of the spring.
Vanderbilt got up to an early lead as the freshman class carried the Dores into a comfortable 3-0 lead. Both victories came in straight sets with No. 92 Klinger earning a close 6-4, 7-5 win on court three. Alex Ross back up the win with one of his own, taking court six, 7-5, 6-2.
Auburn went on a win streak of their own, taking consecutive wins on courts three, four and five.
At 3-all No. 67 Valent sat at 2-2 in the third set against Marko Krickovic on court one. Having taken the second set 6-4, the sophomore looked to carry over momentum into the third set. Neck and neck the entire final set, Valent broke away at 4-all to take the match, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Thoughts from head coach Ian Duvenhage:
“It was another great effort… This team has won a number of close 4-3 matches like this. We did a particularly good job in doubles. Danny and Pen had been struggling, so we tried something different at Florida and we decided today to put them back together and they played superbly. Rhys and Cam came through in the tiebreaker, which in retrospect turned out to be huge.”
“In singles we did a terrific job with our two freshmen (Klinger and Ross) who got us on the board so we were up 3-0. At 3-all Danny was down 0-2, and he just wore the guy down and did a great job. Overall, it was another great team win.”
Notes:
-Sunday’s victory was Vanderbilt’s fourth 4-3 win, all coming in SEC play
-Ross’ victory on court six was the freshman’s first SEC victory as a Commodore
-Valent’s 4-3 clinch was his second in league action this season
-Vanderbilt now owns a 5-2 road record
Up Next:
Vanderbilt returns home next weekend, taking on Arkansas on Friday at 5:00 pm CT. On Sunday, prior to the Ole Miss match, the squad will honor its two senior leaders Kris Yee and Rhys Johnson.
