KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The No. 22 Vanderbilt men’s tennis team capped the regular season Sunday afternoon with a 4-3 victory over in-state rival, No. 21 Tennessee.
With the victory, the Commodores improve to 17-7 overall and 7-5 in Southeastern Conference play. Vanderbilt has claimed five-straight contests against the Vols, with 4-3 scores in three consecutive years.
Sunday’s finale began with the Dores dropping the doubles point and facing a 1-0 hole.
Tennessee’s Timo Stodder and Adam Walton took the first victory of the day, defeating No. 80 Lachlan McPhee and Panu Virtanen 6-2 on court two. The Commodores leveled the doubles effort, as No. 28 Cameron Klinger and Billy Rowe earned a top-25 victory over the Vols’ No. 24 Preston Touliatos and Luis Valero, 6-3.
With the doubles point hanging in the balance, UT’s Andrew Rogers ad Nicaise Muamba earned key points late in the match for the 6-4 victory, giving the Volunteers the 1-0 lead.
Putting the doubles loss behind them, the Commodores emerged on fire in singles play, opening up individual action by taking five-of-six first sets.
In Tennessee’s lone winning set, the Vols’ Scott Jones defeated Rowe on court four in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.
With the Vols up 2-0, No. 38 Valent pushed through his final games on court one to guarantee the Dores a point on the board. The senior from Zurich, Switzerland earned his 106th career victory in an upset over No. 22 Stodder, 6-4, 6-4.
Newman leveled the overall score to 2-all at the No. 3 singles position. In a battle of his own against No. 118 Walton, the Miami native made sure to take his final regular-season matchup, downing the Vol in two close sets 6-4, 6-4.
Ranked 21st in the country, Klinger managed to escape both of his sets at the No. 2 singles spot. The junior outworked fellow junior Luis Valero, 7-5, 6-4, for the 3-2 Commodore lead.
Freshman Maxwell Freeman flew through his first set on court five against Touliatos, 6-2. But the tempo of the match changed drastically in the second set as Freeman was forced to compete in the first tiebreaker of the day. Battling point-for-point, Freeman managed to pull off the victory, 7-6(7), to clinch the match for Vanderbilt.
Following the clinch, the Vols earned one last point to finalize the match, 4-3. Muamba defeated Harwell in a competitive three-setter, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.
The Commodores now prepare for the SEC Tournament, which takes place April 25-29 and is hosted by the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
