NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt men’s tennis continues its brief road stint as the Commodores face North Carolina tomorrow in the first match of ITA Kickoff Weekend hosted by Wake Forest.
ITA Kickoff Weekend serves as the qualifying pathway to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, featuring 56 teams from across the country competing at 14 different host sites. Vanderbilt, North Carolina, Virginia Tech and No. 1 ranked defending champion Wake Forest make up the four teams competing in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The winner of two matches in a bracket-style setup earns a qualifying spot at the indoor championship event, which takes place Feb. 13-17 in Dallas and Waco, Texas.
Host teams at each site are selected based on last season’s ITA year-end ranking; the 14 hosts are the 14 best ranked teams in the country from the previous year. Remaining teams are entered into a selection draft that also follows ITA year-end rankings, with the No. 15 ranked team getting the first pick in the draft, and subsequent picks following the rankings until each host site has four total teams.
Vanderbilt (3-0) comes to Winston-Salem off a 6-1 win on the road at Northwestern. It was the Commodores first road match of the season after taking care of Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech in their season-opening doubleheader. Friday marks the first matchup with North Carolina (1-0) since Feb. 27, 2017, in which the Tar Heels defeated the Dores 6-1 from Nashville. In total, Vanderbilt trails 5-0 in the all-time series. The contest will be the first neutral site meeting between the two teams in series history.
Senior Nathan Cox has paced the Dores through their first three matches. He leads the team in both singles and doubles victories with three each, including a 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 comeback win against the Wildcats that helped spark Vanderbilt’s winning push over Northwestern. Freshman Cayden Wang currently sits on a team-leading five match win streak in singles dating back to the fall season. Across singles and doubles, the Commodores are 3-1 against individually ranked opponents; Coquelin holds the highest of those wins after downing then-No. 21 ranked Aleksa Krivokapic of Purdue in October.
North Carolina enters Friday after opening its season with a 7-0 takedown of Queens on Tuesday. The Tar Heels have two ranked doubles pairs, with No. 44 Niels Ratiu and Chris Xu leading the way while Ian Mayew and Kase Schinnerer sit at No. 83. In singles, Alabama transfer Roan Jones is the highest ranked for UNC at No. 56, followed by Ratiu at No. 83 and Mayew at No. 84.
First serve between the Commodores and Tar Heels is set for noon CT (1 p.m. ET) on Friday at the Wake Forest Indoor Tennis Center. Streaming will be available online with live stats accessible here. For more information, updates and exclusive game day content, follow the Vanderbilt men’s tennis team, @VandyMTennis, on Instagram and X.
