GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Vanderbilt men’s tennis concluded its stint in the 2019 SEC Championship on Friday falling to No. 6 Mississippi State, 4-2 at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.
Looking to earn the upset over top-10 ranked Mississippi State, the Commodores started strong in doubles with Dore pair, No. 14 Cam Klinger and Billy Rowe earning the first victory for Vanderbilt.
The pair conquered the upset over Mississippi State’s No. 3 Nuno Bourhes and Strahinja Rakic, 6-4.
The doubles point decision came down to Macsen Sisam and Panu Virtanen on Court 3 as they battled against Mississippi State’s Gregor Ramskogler and Trevor Foshey.
The duo clinched the doubles point over the Bulldog pair, 6-4 to secure the Commodores an early 1-0 lead heading into singles.
Mississippi State earned a confident start in singles, extending its lead to 3-1 over the Dores with wins over Klinger (6-4, 6-3), Max Freeman (6-3, 3-6, 6-3) and Virtanen (6-2, 4-6, 6-3).
With three courts remaining, the Commodores looked to bounce back and prevent the Bulldogs from a clinch.
Sophomore George Harwell came back from a 4-6 deficit in the first set to defeat No. 61 Giovanni Oradini in the second set, 6-4. In the final set, Harwell held Oradini to four games to earn the upset over the Bulldog, 6-4, cutting the Dores deficit to 3-2.
With two tight final matches remaining, Sisam and Rowe fought hard to earn a comeback for the Dores.
On Court 4, Sisam forced the match into a third set after coming back to defeat Mississippi State’s Trevor Foshey in the second set, 6-3. In the final set, Foshey came back strong to clinch the match for the Bulldogs, 4-2.
The Commodores will be back in action competing in the 2019 NCAA Regionals on May 3rd.
Follow along with the Dores as they prepare by following @VandyMTennis on Twitter and Instagram.
