NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt men’s tennis team went 2-0 against a pair of local teams to begin the second weekend of dual play.
The Commodores swept Middle Tennessee and Lipscomb 4-0 at the Currey Tennis Center, with back-to-back match clinches by junior Baker Newman. VU went 2-0 on the doubles point with all three tandems helping attain the point advantage.
“Two and three doubles were better today than last week, and I thought No. 1 was good in the first match,” said head coach Ian Duvenhage. “But singles was great. I thought all the way down the line the team did what we’ve been working on in practice, we just have to build on it.”
Against the Blue Raiders, Vanderbilt’s No. 1 pairing of Cameron Klinger and Billy Rowe handedly defeated MT’s Tom Moonen and Gonzalo Morell, only allowing the tandem one game in a 6-1 victory. Pen Binet and Daniel Valent took court three to clinch the doubles advantage with a 6-3 win over Luis Morillo Diaz and Max Rauch.
Singles victories against MT came by Klinger, No. 97 Valent and Newman, respectively, all in straight sets.
A native of San Jose, Calif., Klinger only allowed his opponent, Morillo Diaz, one game in his 6-0, 6-1 victory on court two. Valent downed Gonzalo Morell 6-1, 6-4 on court two to give VU the 3-0 lead. Newman came through with the final blow, serving Moonen a 7-6, 6-1 defeat on court three for the match.
After a hard fought first set tiebreaker, Rowe was leading Jacob Pugh on court five 7-6(9), 2-1, and after falling in the first set 1-6, Panu Virtanen was ahead of Miguel Negre, 1-1, 6-2, 2-0.
“I’m happy with how Panu came back into his match against MT. He lost the first set fairly easily, then came back and was up a break when we clinched. But he’s starting slow, and he’s got to understand that if he isn’t ready to go he might lose the first set. He’s starting to realize that these guys are all good. In college tennis you can’t really warm into the match, you’ve got to be ready from the first point on.”
In tandems versus the Bison, the Commodores came through on courts two and three for the 1-0 lead.
Binet and Valent raced through their contest on court three, not allowing Lipsomb’s Alejandro Manzanares and George Wong a single game in their 6-0 victory. Virtanen and Newman also made quick work of their match, downing juniors Thias Minet and Daniel Cardenas 6-1 on court two.
Vandy carried over the momentum into singles, with wins from Rowe, Klinger and Newman.
Rowe, a freshman from Coronado, Calif., was on fire against Lipscomb, cruising through his match on court five to earn his third victory as a ‘Dore, 6-0, 6-1. In a spirited match on court two, Klinger down his opponent, Victor Chaw 6-1, 6-3 for the 3-0 team advantage. The final win of the day came again on court three, as Newman defeated Manzanares 6-1, 6-2. The Commodores were leading on courts one and four at the clinch.
Vanderbilt is back in action this Sunday, hosting Penn at noon and Georgia State at 4 p.m.
