AUBURN, Ala. – For the 11th time this season, Vanderbilt’s men’s tennis team won the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead in the match, but for the first time this season the doubles point did not determine the end result for the 23rd-ranked Commodores, who fell at No. 65 Auburn, 5-2, on Sunday at the City of Auburn/Yarbrough Tennis Center.
Vanderbilt (10-7, 2-4 SEC) entered the match 10-0 when it had won the doubles point and appeared on track to earn its second straight SEC victory before Auburn (6-9, 2-4 SEC) won five straight singles matches to clinch the match. Vanderbilt has lost five straight road matches and is 1-5 on the road, but four of the five losses have come against top 10 opponents.
The Commodores were able to claim the doubles point by taking two of the three doubles matches. Vanderbilt’s duo of Alex DiValerio and Vijay Paul opened doubles play by knocking off Auburn’s duo of Tim Hewitt and Lucas Lopasso, 8-6, in the No. 3 position.
After Auburn’s Tim Puetz and Alex Stamchev was able to get past Adam Baker and Alex Zotov, 8-6, in the No. 1 position, Vanderbilt’s 74th-ranked team of Ryan Lipman and Bryant Salcedo clinched the doubles point by defeating Andreas Mies and Michael Monteiro, 9-8 (7-3), in the No. 2 position.
With Vanderbilt leading 1-0, Baylor would win the first five singles matches before Vanderbilt’s Charlie Jones topped Auburn’s Oliver Strecker, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, in the No. 6 position. The win ended a three-match losing streak for Jones, who also picked up his first SEC victory of the season.
The loss by the Commodores ended a few hot streaks in singles play. After claiming SEC Freshman of the Week honors last week and defeating two straight ranked foes, freshman Ryan Lipman fell to No. 23 Tim Puetz, 6-1, 6-3, in the No. 1 position. After playing seven straight matches in the No. 3 position, senior Vijay Paul lost just his second SEC match of the season, falling to Tim Hewitt, 6-2, 6-3, in the No. 2 position.
Junior Alex Zotov lost just his fifth match of the season when he fell to Lucas Lopasso, 5-7, 6-4, 1-0, in the No. 4 position. Fellow junior Adam Baker had won two straight matches before losing to Andreas Mies, 6-2, 6-2, in the No. 5 position.
Vanderbilt will return to the courts next weekend when the Commodores host Florida on Friday and South Carolina on Sunday for Senior Day.
