CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The No. 23 Vanderbilt Commodores completed their New England road swing by defeating No. 25 Harvard; 4-3. The Commodores return to West End with a record of 9-2.
“I’m so proud of the way our team competed this weekend,” said head coach Ian Duvenhage. “We beat Minnesota and Harvard, which are two very very good teams. I’m just really proud of the guys and the way they competed today. It looked really bad for us for a long period of time and we just hung in there and found a way to come back. It was a just really great weekend.
The No. 2 doubles team in the country, Rhys Johnson and Gonzales ended No. 15 Nguyen and Yeung’s six-match win streak by a landslide, defeating the tandem; 6-1. The Commodores completed the doubles victory on court three as Suresh Eswaran and Daniel Valent defeated Kenny Tao and Conor Haughey; 6-3.
Following the doubles point the Commodores experienced three singles losses on courts three, five and six.
On court one No. 8 Gonzales Austin struggled in his first set against the Crimson senior captain No. 91 Denis Nguyen, but came out on top in a 7-6 victory. Austin went on to take the second set 6-3. The senior now owns a career record of 97-40, just two wins from tying Bobby Reynolds’ career record of 99 wins.
Daniel Valent fell in his first set to Alex Steinroeder; 3-6. The determined freshman used the loss as fuel to power through the next two sets taking them both 6-3.
“Danny (Valent) did a great job after losing the first set, coming back to win. AJ (Austin) also did a great job at winning in straight sets. I’m just really proud of the way they played, even the guys who lost.”
With the match boiled down to junior Rhys Johnson and sophomore No. 80 Sebastian Beltrame. The pair had a tough battle on their hands, which would boil down to a third set. The Commodore took the first set 6-3 and almost the match, but Beltrame overpowered in a tiebreak; 7-6.
The third set would be no different as the struggle between the two continued. But in the end the Commodores prevailed as Johnson took the third set and clinched the match for the ‘Dores; 6-4.
“Rhys obviously clinched it for us and did a superb job. He served for the match at 5-3 and got broken, and he just went right back winning the next two points. I’m just really proud of the way he competed.”
Vanderbilt stays on the road for the next two matches as SEC play begins. The ‘Dores first travel to Fayetteville, Ark. to face the Hogs Feb. 27th at 12 p.m.
No. 23 Vanderbilt 4, No. 25 Harvard 3
Doubles:
1) No. 2 Austin/Rhys Johnson (Vandy) def. Denis Nguyen/Brian Yeung (Harv); 6-1
2) Nicky Hu/Sebastian Beltrame (Harv) vs. Pen Binet/Baker Newman (Vandy); 4-3
3) Suresh Eswaran/Daniel Valent (Vandy) def. Kenny Tao/Conor Haughey (Harv); 6-3
Singles:
1) No. 8 Gonzales Austin (Vandy) def. No. 91 Denis Nguyen; 7-6, 6-3
2) Rhys Johnson (Vandy)def. No. 80 Sebastian Beltrame; 6-3, 6-7, 6-4*
3) Nicky Hu def. Kris Yee (Vandy); 6-3, 6-2
4) Daniel Valent (Vandy) def. Alex Steinroeder; 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
5) Kenny Tao def. Baker Newman (Vandy); 6-4, 6-3
6) Shaun Chaudhuri def. Suresh Eswaran (Vandy); 6-2, 6-0
