OXFORD, Miss. — The 40th-ranked Vanderbilt men’s tennis team fell on the road, 7-0, to the No. 32 Ole Miss Friday night.
With the loss the Commodores fall to 11-13 overall record with just one match remaining in the regular season.
The Rebels began the competition claiming a tight doubles point with wins on courts one and two. Ole Miss’ Zvonimir Babic and Ricardo Jorge claimed the first win on the day in a 6-3 victory over Pen Binet and Baker Newman. No. 25 Fabian Fallert and Grey Hamilton clinched the one-point advantage over VU, pulling off a 6-4 victory over No. 44 Lachlan McPhee and Billy Rowe.
Daniel Valent and Panu Virtanen led Tim Sandkaulen and Filip Kraljevic at the clinch, 4-3.
In singles the momentum remained in the The Rebs’ favor, as the team nabbed five first sets over the Commodores. Newman a junior out of Miami, Fla. earned the lone set advantage of the black and gold, taking a first-set tiebreaker against Richardo Jorge on court two.
Shifting players in the singles lineup, Virtanen suffered the first singles loss of the day on court six. The freshman fell to Hamilton 6-1, 6-3. Ole Miss’ Kraljevic made it 3-0 Rebels as the sophomore from Croatia downed Alex Ross in the second of four straight-set victories, 6-4, 6-2.
Sandkaulaen earned the clinch against the black and gold, pulling off a tight first set against Rowe, 7-5, and competing the victory in the second, 6-1. Fallert took the first three set competition of the afternoon against junior McPhee. The Rebel earned the first set, 6-4, however the Commodore had other plans as he allowed Fallert just one game in the second set. Ole Miss narrowly walked away with the 5-0 lead, 6-4, 1-6, 1-0(7).
Newman fell in the second three-setter, this time on court two versus Jorge. Following the first set victory by VU, Jorge rebounded to take the second, 6-3, and third-set ten-point tiebreaker, 1-0(7).
All-American Gustava Hansson barely escaped court one for the sweep. Ranked No. 25 in the country, the junior delivered the final blow against No. 58 Valent, 7-5, 6-4.
The Commodores close the regular season against Arkansas this Sunday at 1 p.m. in Fayetteville.
