COLUMBIA, S.C. — The No. 17 Vanderbilt men’s tennis team leaves the Palmetto State unscathed as the Commodores swept the No. 42 Gamecocks, 4-0. With the victory, VU now owns a 16-6 overall record and 6-4 SEC mark.
“All in all just a really great overall effort,” said head coach Ian Duvenhage, “this is not an easy place play. We’ve lost here a number of times here, so it’s a good win to have.”
In every position both Commodores and Gamecocks scratched and kick their way through doubles action at the Carolina Tennis Stadium. No. 71 Pen Binet and Baker Newman registered their second ranked win, defeating No. 56 Thomas Mayronne/Harrison O’Keefe at the No. 2 spot, 6-4.
Dramatics ensued when Suresh Eswaran and Daniel Valent came back from a 5-2 deficit to take Adams/Schaffer to a tiebreak. The Commodores’ fighting spirit continued on court one as No. 4 Rhys Johnson and Gonzales Austin were taken to a tiebreak as well.
With the break’s lead wavering back-and-forth on one, Johnson/Austin delivered the final blow to seal the Commodore point in a 7-6(5) victory. Eswaran and Valent were up in their tiebreak on three, 6-4, when the match was suspended.
“Doubles certainly came down to the wire, but we did a rally good job at finding a way to win the doubles point, especially since we’ve dropped it a number of times in a row. There were breaks down on every court, one two, and three, and we competed really well to come back and obviously win two.”
The ‘Dores continued their efforts in singles play as No. 7 Austin cruised though his match on one, defeating Andrew Adams in an easy 6-1, 6-1 victory. Vanderbilt’s singles success continued as Eswaran came out victorious against the Gamecock’s Mayronne; 6-1, 6-4.
With Vanderbilt up 3-0 the Commodores needed just one more victory to seal the sweep over SC. Freshman Daniel Valent clinched the win, defeating Gamecock senior and three-time captain Thiago Pinherio 6-3, 6-4. Although the matches were suspended the Commodores led on the remaining two of three courts.
“I thought we did a great job at singles by getting off to a great start; winning five of six first sets. And even though we lost a first set on four, Kris (Yee) made it close. Danny (Valent) just did a great job at closing it out.”
The Commodores enjoy a rare week off, then host their final two home matches April 10th and 11th against Mississippi State and Alabama.
Results:
No. 17 Vanderbilt 4, South Carolina 0
Doubles (Order of Finish: 2, 1*)
- (4) Gonzales Austin/Rhys Johnson (Vandy) def. (31) Kyle Koch/Thiago Pinheiro (SC) 7-6(5)
- (71) Baker Newman/Pen Binet (Vandy) def. (56) Thomas Mayronne/Harrison O’Keefe (SC) 6-4
- Suresh Eswaran/Daniel Valent (Vandy) led Andrew Adams/Andrew Schafer (SC) 6-6 (6-4) when match was suspended
Singles (Order of Finish: 1, 5, 3*)
- (7) Gonzales Austin (Vandy) def. Andrew Adams (SC) 6-1, 6-1
- Rhys Johnson (Vandy) led Kyle Koch (SC) 7-6(6), 2-3 when the match was suspended
- Daniel Valent (Vandy) def. Thiago Pinheiro (SC) 6-3, 6-4
- Andrew Schafer (SC) led Kris Yee (Vandy) 7-6(2), 2-1 when the match was suspended
- Suresh Eswaran (Vandy) def. Thomas Mayronne (SC) 6-1, 6-3
- Baker Newman (Vandy) led Sam Swank (SC) 6-2, 4-5 when the match was suspended​
