COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 22 Vanderbilt Commodores return home to Nashville after falling 4-1 to Ole Miss in SEC tournament semifinals. With the loss Vandy continues postseason play with a 19-7 record and 8-5 SEC slate.
With losses at two and three doubles the Commodores fell in doubles action for the fourth match in a row. But the squads usual redeeming singles play could not save the team as the Rebels came out strong taking four first sets.
“We gave ourselves a great chance in doubles,” said head coach Ian Duvenhage. “We had a great start with some breaks up at No. 1, and a break up at No. 2 and No. 3. We really had momentum going and we had our opportunities, and just didn’t capitalize on it. Sort of the same pattern repeated itself in singles. We had chances to win for first sets and we weren’t able to capitalize in a couple of them. In the end that’s what proved to be our undoing.”
On court two, Rhys Johnson had a tough match on his hands as his opponent, No. 87 Stefan Lindmark, came into the competition owning a perfect 8-0 SEC record. The Ole Miss lead grew to 0 2-0 as Johnson fell to Lindmark 6-3, 6-1.
Gonzales Austin sought retribution on court one as the senior took his first loss of the year in Oxford by defending SEC Player of the Year Nik Scholtz. With a close unfinished doubles match Austin came out strong against Scholtz, taking the Commodores lone point of the outing in a 6-3, 6-2 victory.
Ole Miss brought in two additional wins the end Vandy’s chances of a SEC tournament title on courts three and four. Gustav Hansson defeated No. 84 Daniel Valent on court three 6-3, 6-4. The defeat was the freshman’s second loss in league action.
Kris Yee put up a tremendous effort on court four, but the Las Vegas native fell in his first set 7-5. With hopes of keeping the `Dores alive Yee fought throughout the second set, forcing a tiebreaker but falling 7-6(6).
With NCAA regionals three weeks away the Commodores await their seeding.
“I don’t think there’s any chance whatsoever that we’re going to host so we’ve just got to see where they send us. We’ll be the second seed somewhere and we’ll have to find a way to win the regional to get to he sweet sixteen.”
Results:
#13 Ole Miss 4, #22 Vanderbilt 1
Singles competition
- #8 Gonzales Austin (VANDY) def. #19 Nik Scholtz (OM) 6-2, 6-3
- #87 Stefan Lindmark (OM) def. Rhys Johnson (VANDY) 6-3, 6-1
- Gustav Hansson (OM) def. #84 Daniel Valent (VANDY) 6-3, 6-4
- William Kallberg (OM) def. Kris Yee (VANDY) 7-5, 7-6 (8-6)
- Ricardo Jorge (OM) vs. Suresh Eswaran (VANDY) 5-7, 6-4, 3-3, unfinished
- Vinod Gowda (OM) vs. Baker Newman (VANDY) 7-5, 5-7, 0-0, unfinished
Doubles competition
- #39 Nik Scholtz/Zvonimir Babic (OM) vs. #2 Gonzales Austin/Rhys Johnson (VANDY) 6-6 (5-4), unfinished
- Stefan Lindmark/Gustav Hansson (OM) def. Baker Newman/Pen Binet (VANDY) 6-3
- William Kallberg/Ricardo Jorge (OM) def. Jeffrey Offerdahl/Daniel Valent (VANDY) 7-5
Match Notes:
Vanderbilt 19-7; National ranking #22
Ole Miss 17-7; National ranking #13
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (2,1,3,4)
SEC Quarterfinal
T-2:33
