FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The No. 40 Vanderbilt men’s tennis team suffered a 4-3 defeat at the hands of the No. 50 Arkansas Razorback Sunday evening to cap the regular season.
On the verge of victory in five 4-3 matches, the Commodores fell in a hard-fought doubles contest, but they earned singles victories on courts two, five and six.
In tandems, the Dores lost by a score of 6-3 on courts two and three. No. 44 Lachlan McPhee and Billy Rowe were down 4-3 against the Hogs’ seventh-ranked duo of Mike Redlicki and Jose Salazar at the clinch.
In singles, Pen Binet leveled the match score to 1-all, pulling off a tough first set against Juan Marino, 7-5. Locked into the competition, the senior from Toronto, Canada only allowed Marino two additional games throughout the second set.
Adam Sanjurjo generated Arkansas’ second point of the match. Up against McPhee, the Razorback barely edged the 6-6 Aussie, 7-5. Sanjjuro put away the match in the second set for the 2-1 lead, 6-3.
After falling in the opening set, 6-3, No. 58 Daniel Valent nearly forced a third-set against No. 11 Mike Redlicki. Using the entire court to his advantage, Redlicki earned key points late in the second set to take the match and the 3-1 advantage, 7-5.
Taking his fourth ranked win in five contests, Baker Newman chipped away at the Razorbacks lead, 3-2. The junior from Miami fell into a 6-0 first set deficit only to charge back into the competition, defeating No. 29 Jose Salazar. The victory was Newman’s highest ranked career win.
Arkansas clinched the final regular season match on court three as Rowe fell in a three-set battle against Oscar Mesquida. After dropping the first set, 6-3, to the sophomore Spaniard, the Commodore rallied to force a third set. In another close set, the Hogs pulled away with the lead and the victory, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
Following the clinch, Tate Allwardt completed his three-set match on court five against Johan den Toom. Den Toom nabbed the opening set, only for Allwardt to take the second-set tiebreaker 7-6(4). Vanderbilt earned its final point of the contest as Ross pulled off the win, 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4.
Vanderbilt now looks ahead to the SEC Tournament, where the Dores are slated to take on Alabama on Wednesday, April 26 in Knoxville, Tenn.
