Dores Notch Fourth Straight Win

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Vanderbilt men’s tennis team generated its fourth straight win, taking down Northwestern 5-2 in front of a packed crowd on Friday.

“What a team Northwestern had,” head coach Scott Brown said. “The players have improved so much since they played us last year. They really pushed us to the limit. It was another great, gritty match. Big credit to them for how they operated and went about their business.”

The Dores again began the match by securing a doubles advantage, marking the eighth time out of nine total matches they have clinched the doubles point. Then-No. 11 Duke is the only team victorious over Vanderbilt in doubles so far this spring. The Commodores move to 17-4 in dual match doubles play.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our guys,” Brown said. “I was really impressed with this team owning what we can control and the things that require no talent to be good at. Body language, effort, those type of things, I thought we did a great job with today. They left their hearts on the line for the ‘V’ on their chest, and it’s super cool to be a part of.”

No. 80 ranked junior Nathan Cox provided the spark for the Dores early. He cruised to a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 1 singles behind his serve; Cox netted eight aces in the match while collecting four of six break points. Sophomore Danil Panarin followed suit at No. 2 singles, downing Saiprakash Goli in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. With Northwestern claiming wins at No. 3 and No. 4 singles, fifth year Henry Ruger pulled out the match for the Dores. He battled back against Northwestern’s Max Bengtsson after dropping the first set, taking the next 6-0 to force a third. Despite falling behind 5-4 in the final with Bengtsson serving for the win, Ruger fended off the Wildcat with multiple acrobatic shots and set up a tiebreaker. The Commodore claimed the frame 7-2 to seal the match win for Vanderbilt.

“Lastly, I want to bring notice to our captain, Henry Ruger,” Brown said. “His opponent was serving for the match, and man, some of the shots he came up with to claw his way back and pull out that tiebreaker, it was just amazing. He was incredible. Big hats off to our captain for clinching the match.”

Vanderbilt (7-2) has a short break before opening its SEC schedule on the road against No. 3 Texas (6-1) on Feb. 22. For more information, updates, and exclusive game day content, follow the Vanderbilt men’s tennis team, @VandyMTennis, on Instagram and X.

Vanderbilt 5, Northwestern 2

Doubles
1. Cox/Michael Ross (Vanderbilt) vs. Greyson Casey/Felix Nordby (Northwestern) 5-4, unfinished
2. Pablo Martinez Gomez/Panarin (Vanderbilt) def. Saiprakash Goli/Chad Miller (Northwestern) 6-3
3. Ruger/Giuseppe Cerasuolo (Vanderbilt) def. Carter Pate/Vincent Yang (Northwestern) 6-3

Singles
1. No. 80 Cox (Vanderbilt) def. Greyson Casey (Northwestern) 6-4, 6-2
2. Panarin (Vanderbilt) def. Saiprakash Goli (Northwestern) 6-4, 6-2
3. Felix Nordby (Vanderbilt) def. Michael Ross (Northwestern) 7-5, 6-3
4. Carter Pate (Vanderbilt) def. Pablo Martinez Gomez (Northwestern) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
5. Ruger (Vanderbilt) def. Bengtsson (Northwestern) 5-7, 6-0, 7-6
6. Tighe Brunetti (Vanderbilt) def. Chad Miller (Northwestern) 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-7)

Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (1,2,3,4,5,6)