NASHVILLE, Tenn. –The Vanderbilt men’s tennis team finished the first day of the Commodore Scramble claiming seven doubles victories and four singles wins.
“Today was a bit of a mixed bag. Some of us looked good today, some of us looked ready to play and some of us are not quite there yet,” said head coach Ian Duvenhage.
Opening the day in doubles play, three Commodore duos secured a spot in the quarterfinals of the draw.
Senior Billy Rowe and sophomore Max Freeman held strong to collect the win over Lipscomb pair Ortegon and Garcia-Nieto, dominating the tiebreaker to win, 8-7 (4).
On Court 3, sophomore Christiaan Worst and senior Panu Virtanen faced a close match battling against Lipscomb’s Bogdanovich and Skrabut. The Commodore pair maintained strength to defeat the duo, 8-7 (10).
Junior duo Adam Sraberg and George Harwell claimed an eager start against Belmont pair Briggs and Faulkner. The duo continued to fight, holding the Belmont pair to only two games, earning an 8-2 victory and a spot in the quarterfinals.
Kicking off singles, Harwell brought the heat in the first round, swiftly earning a 6-4, 6-2, victory over Auburn’s Gray to claim the first Commodore singles win of the season.
The Commodores collected two more victories as Rowe defeated Belmont’s Miyamoto in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6, followed by sophomore Marcus Ferreira taking down Lipscomb’s Garcia-Nieto, 6-2, 7-5.
Freshman James Ignatowich stepped up to the plate to earn his first victory as a Commodore with a straight set victory over Auburn’s Durham, 7-6, 7-5, marking the Dores fourth victory of the day.
Attaining a spot in the doubles semifinals, tandem Rowe and Freeman defeated Tennessee Tech pair Tosetto and Kubota, 8-2, followed by Harwell and Sraberg holding Kelly and Rios (Belmont, Ole Miss) to only three games to become the second Commodore duo in the semifinals.
The Commodores fought hard in their fall season debut but Coach Duvenhage sees room for improvement.
“I told the team that it is inevitable that some of us are going to have bad days somedays and it’s not about whether or not that happens, but how we rebound from that so I am curious to see how we perform tomorrow,” said Duvenhage.
The Dores will be back in action Saturday morning competing in the second round of singles at 9 a.m. CT followed by the third round of doubles. The Dores will concluded play with the third round of singles.
To follow along with the Commodore Scramble, follow @VandyMTennis on Twitter and Instagram.
Vanderbilt Results
Doubles Round One
Chaw/Uribe (LIP) def. Ignatowitch/Ferreira (VU) – (8,3)
Harwell/Sraberg (VU) def. Briggs/Faulkner (BU) – (8,2)
Worst/Virtanen (VU) def. Bogdanovich/Skrabut (LIP) – (8,7) (12,10)
De Vincentis/Chavarria (AU) def. Allwardt/Lee (VU) – (8,5)
Rowe/Freeman (VU) def. Ortegon/Garcia-Nieto (LIP) – (8,7) (7,4)
Singles Round One
Uribe (LIP) def. Lee (VU) – (6-1, 6-3)
Rowe (VU) def. Miyamoto (BU) – (6-3, 7-6)
Bogdanovich (LIP) def. Sraberg (VU) – (7-6, 6-2)
Faulkner (BU) def. Worst (VU) – (7-5, 6-4)
Ferreira (VU) def. Garcia-Nieto (LIP) – (6-2, 7-5)
Harwell (VU) def. Gray (AU) – (6-4, 6-2)
Grubert (TTU) def. Allwardt (VU) – (1-6, 6-1, 6-1)
De Vicentis (AU) def. Virtanen (VU) – 7-6 (3), 7-5
Ignatowitch (VU) def. Durham (AU) – (7-6, 7-5)
Rauch (BU) def. Freeman (VU) (6-0, 6-2)
Doubles Round Two
Harwell/Sraberg (VU) def. Kelly/Rios (BU, Ole Miss) 8-3
Rowe/ Freeman (VU) def. Tosetto/Kubota (TTU) 8-2
Ignatowich/Ferreira (VU) def. Durham/Gray (AU) 8-4
Allwardt/Lee (VU) def. Bogdanovich/Skrabut (LIP) 8-5
De Vincentis/Chavarria (AU) def. Worst/Virtanen (VU) 8-5
