NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt Commodores stopped a three-game skid with a 6-1 win over Brown Friday afternoon, handing the Bears their first loss of the season.
“I’m proud of how the guys played today,” said head coach Ian Duvenhage. “Looking at the score, you’d think we had it easy, but it was a battle on every court today. We were in trouble in doubles, and early in singles we were losing four of the five matches going on, and we managed to persevere and win. It was a great match today.”
Finishing first for the Dores in singles was Gonzales Austin, who bounced back from a difficult weekend last week winning a closely-contested 7-6(7-4) first set over Michael Riechmann. The freshman dominated the second set, defeating Riechmann 6-0.
It was freshman Joe Dorn who clinched the victory for the Commodores as he beat Mike Hill 6-2, 7-5 in one of his strongest outings thus far this spring. Anton Kovrigin came back after dropping his first set to win 6-4 in the third, and Jeff Offerdahl finished the match with a convincing 7-6(7-3), 6-3 victory.
Charlie Jones battled Soufiane Azargui in the No. 1 position, playing an hour-long first set that was decided in a 7-4 tiebreaker for the 7-6 win, then sped through a 6-2 second set for the win.
Jones and Offerdahl broke serve in the ninth game of their doubles set to take the 5-4 lead, at the same time Bazarnik and Austin won two straight games to tie things at 6-6 on their court. Both pairs won their matches to win the doubles point.
Bazarnik and Austin went on to battle their way through a tiebreaker set, clinching the doubles point before DiValerio and Dorn finished the sweep with an 8-6 win.
The Commodores host No. 64 Northwestern on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Currey Tennis Center.
Results: Vanderbilt 6, Brown 1
Singles:
1. #87 Charlie Jones (Vanderbilt) def. Soufiane Azargui (Brown) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2
2. Brandon Burke (Brown) def. Blake Bazarnik (Vanderbilt) 6-4, 6-3
3. Gonzales Austin (Vanderbilt) def. Michael Riechmann (Brown) 7-6 (7-4), 6-0
4. Joe Dorn (Vanderbilt) def. Mike Hill (Brown) 6-2, 7-5
5. Anton Kovrigin (Vanderbilt) def. Daniel Hirschberg (Brown)4-6, 6-4, 6-4
6. Jeff Offerdahl (Vanderbilt) def. Sam Fife (Brown) 7-6 (7-3), 6-3
Doubles:
1. Bazarnik-Austin (Vanderbilt) def. Azargui-Burke (Brown), 9-8(7-5)
2. Jones-Offerdahl (Vanderbilt) def. Riechmann-Deighton (Brown), 8-4
3. DiValerio-Dorn (Vanderbilt) def. Fife-Hill (Brown), 8-6
Match Notes:
#43 Vanderbilt, 3-3
Brown, 6-1
Order of Finish: Doubles: (2,1,3), Singles: (3,2,4,1,5,6)
