ATHENS, Ga. – The 22nd-ranked Vanderbilt men’s tennis team suffered a 4-1 setback Friday night against No. 25 Georgia at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
With the loss, the Commodores fall to 16-7 overall and 6-5 in Southeastern Conference play.
Georgia opened up the second to last regular season match by taking the doubles point over VU. The Commodores’ George Harwell and Baker Newman fell to Alex Diaz and Emil Reinberg at No. 3 doubles, 6-1. The Bulldogs cemented the point advantage on court two, as Vandy’s 80th-ranked Lachlan McPhee and Panu Virtanen suffered a 6-1 loss against Wayne Montgomery and Nathan Ponwith. No. 28 Cameron Klinger and Billy Rowe trailed No. 15 Jan Zielinski and Robert Loeb 5-3 at the conclusion of doubles play.
Vanderbilt and Georgia split first sets in singles with each team taking three apiece. The Commodores earned advantages on courts one, five and six.
The Bulldogs capitalized off their doubles momentum, however, taking the first singles match of the day on court four for a 2-0 lead. No. 93 Ponwith defeated Rowe in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3.
The Commodores earned their point of the day at the No. 6 singles position as Harwell picked up a clean 6-2, 6-2 victory over Alex Diaz. With the victory, the freshman Commodore extends his winning streak to seven straight victories, a streak dating back to March 11.
Georgia strung together back-to-back victories on courts two and five to complete the 4-1 victory.
Ranked 21stin the country, Vandy’s Klinger suffered an upset loss on court two to No. 38 Zielinski. Zielinski pushed through the first set, taking the lead late in the set for the 7-5 first-set advantage. The Bulldog took the second set 6-2 over Klinger for the 3-1 lead.
Freshman Max Freeman lost his match in three sets to UGA’s Robert Loeb for the clinch. Freeman earned the first set lead, 6-4, but Loeb flipped the switch to take the remaining sets, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, as well as the match, 4-1.
Vanderbilt caps the regular season on Sunday, taking on in-state rival Tennessee in Knoxville at noon. For updates and a behind-the-scenes look at the team, follow @VandyMensTennis on Twitter.
