Oct. 3, 2014
After a disappointing loss in singles, the Commodores rallied in doubles to advance to the ITA All-American quarterfinals in Tulsa, Okla.
Vandy senior, No. 9 Gonzales Austin, fell in a hard fought match to Tulane’s Dominik Koepfer, 7-5, 7-6(6) in the round of 32. Austin was joined later in the day by Rhys Johnson to compete in doubles action.
VU’s No. 22 team in the country took down Ohio State’s Kevin Metka and Ralf Steinbach after a close first set, 7-6, 6-1, to advance to quarterfinals.
“AJ (Austin) and Rhys (Johnson) continue to do some specific things really well and that’s helping them have success,” said associate head coach Jamie Hunt. It seems that whenever we are faced with pressure on our serves we come up with a great first serve. They’ve only dropped serve once so far in main draw competition, which is very impressive.”
The Commodore duo advances to tournament quarterfinals, one round farther than Austin’s performance in last year’s doubles tournament with Ryan Lipman. The `Dores take on Southern Cal’s No.19 Yannick Hanfmann and Roberto Quiroz. Like Johnson and Austin, the Trojan tandems team is a newly established pairing, composed of two veteran upperclassman.
Austin and Johnson are scheduled to take the courts tomorrow at 1:00 p.m., with all matches held at Case Tennis Center.
