Oct. 21, 2016
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt men’s tennis team continued play in the Ohio Valley Regionals Friday morning in Knoxville, Tenn. Four Commodores will continue their tournament journeys on Saturday after playing two rounds of doubles and one round of singles.
In tandems, the Commodores’ fourth-seeded Cameron Klinger and Billy Rowe picked up wins over Lipscomb and Eastern Kentucky to advance to regional quarterfinals. The pair defeated the Bisons’ Daniel Cardenas and Thais Minet, 8-4 in the round of 32. Baker Newman and Panu Virtanen dropped their round of 32 match in a close 8-6 decision to Memphis’ Andrew Watson and Kai Lemke.
In the Sweet 16, Klinger/Rowe downed EKU’s Lugonjic/Sec in a tight 8-6 victory. Competing in the semifinals on Saturday at 7 a.m. CT, the duo will face Northern Kentucky’s Mate Virag and Lukas Clemens.
Over two days of competition, the singles draw has dwindled down to 16 remaining student-athletes. Of those 16, VU’s Daniel Valent and Baker Newman are still in tournament contention and are set to face competitors from Kentucky and Lipscomb early Saturday morning.
Following a commanding 6-1, 6-1 victory over Memphis’ Chris Patzanovsky, Valent faces UK’s Nils Ellefsen Saturday morning.
After dropping his first set in the round of 32 against Purdue’s Ricardo Medinilla, Newman rallied to advance in three sets. The junior Commodore pulled off the upset over the No. 12seed, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Newman faces 8th-seeded Lemke, with both round of 16 matches beginning at 7 a.m. CT.
In the first round of consolation play, the Commodores went undefeated going 5-0 on the day.
Singles and doubles regional champions advance to the third ITA national championship of the season, the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships.
ITA OHIO VALLEY REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
DOUBLES
Round of 32
[4] Klinger/Rowe (Vanderbilt) def. Cardenas/Minet (Lipscomb) 8-4
[8] Watson/Lemke (Memphis) def. Newman/Virtanen (Vanderbilt) 8-6
Round of 16
[4] Klinger/Rowe (Vanderbilt) def. Lugonjic/Sec (EKU) 8-6
Singles
Round of 32
[1] Daniel Valent (Vanderbilt) def. Chris Patzanovsky (Memphis) 6-1, 6-1
[3] David Biosca (ETSU) def. [19] Billy Rowe (Vanderbilt) 6-3, 6-1
[17] Baker Newman (Vanderbit) def. [12] Ricardo Medinilla (Purdue) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
Consolation
First Round
(23) Panu Virtanen (Vanderbilt) def. Graham Reinbold (Dayton) 6-2, 7-5
[6] Cameron Klinger (Vanderbilt) def. Diego Asis (EKU) 6-4, 6-2
Alex Ross (Vanderbilt) def. Lucas Dages (Purdue) 6-1, 7-6, 8-6
Tate Allwardt (Vanderbilt) def. Caio Niel (Belmont) 6-0, 6-1
Vikram Chari (Vanderbilt) def. Nick Werner (Xavier) 1-6, 6-2, 10-8
