May 23, 2014
ATHENS, Ga. – Despite losing both round of 16 singles matches, Gonzales Austin and Ryan Lipman of the Vanderbilt men’s tennis team kept their NCAA title dreams alive advancing to the quarterfinals of the doubles draw. The Vanderbilt duo knocked off No. 17 Malte Stropp and Jordan Angus of Mississippi State in three-sets to advance.
With temperatures reaching 90+ degrees in Athens, Ga. all of the players were facing blistering temps, close to 100, on the courts. After fighting through tough singles matches to start the day the Vanderbilt pair gutted out a tough three-set win over a familiar foe.
Picking up two tight wins over the MSU duo earlier in the season, the round of 16 match lived up to its billing.
Austin and Lipman picked up the win in the crucial first set, taking it 8-6 in the breaker. The Bulldog pair bounced back in the second set, forcing the split with a 6-3 win.
In the third and final set both teams stayed on serve until Austin and Lipman earned the first break of the set to go up 5-3. MSU held on the ensuing serve and then it the was the Vanderbilt pair to clinched it holding on their final serve.
Vanderbilt will face the Clemson duo of ninth-ranked Hunter Harrington and Dominique Maden on Saturday.
The Commodores didn’t start the day the way they finished.
Lipman dropped his round of 16 singles match to 55th-ranked Ben McLachlan in straight sets. He finishes his career with 96 singles wins, second in Vanderbilt history and just three shy of Bobby Reynolds’ record.
Austin dropped a hard fought three-setter to Florida’s Florent Diep. After UF’s senior took an easy 6-1 first set win, Austin followed that up with a 6-1 win of his own in the second set. It was in the third set that Diep pulled away, winning it 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals.
NCAA Men’s Singles Championship – Round of 16
No. 51 Florent Diep (Florida) def. No. 21 Gonzales Austin (Vanderbilt): 6-1, 1-6, 6-3
No. 55 Ben McLachlan (California) def. No. 59 Ryan Lipman (Vanderbilt): 6-3, 6-4
NCAA Men’s Doubles Championship – First Round
No. 3 [3] Gonzales Austin/Ryan Lipman (Vanderbilt) def. No. 17 Malte Stropp/Jordan Angus (MSU): 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-4
NCAA Men’s Doubles Championship – Quarterfinals
Saturday:
No. 3 [3] Gonzales Austin/Ryan Lipman (Vanderbilt) vs. No. 9 Hunter Harrington/Dominique Maden (Clemson)
