LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Vanderbilt’s 38th-ranked men’s tennis team had its 2010 season come to a close on Saturday as the Commodores were defeated, 4-0, by No. 23 Virginia Tech in the first round of the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships held at the University of Louisville’s Bass-Rudd Tennis Center.
The No. 3 seed in the regional, Vanderbilt concluded its season with a 13-11 record, while second-seeded Virginia Tech improved to 16-7, and advanced to the second round of the tournament. The Hokies will face the winner of the Louisville-Eastern Kentucky match at 1 p.m. CT on Sunday.
“It is a very disappointing end to the season,” Head Coach Ian Duvenhage said. “We had our chances to win the doubles point and we didn’t, and then they out-executed us in singles. They are a good team. Once they won the doubles point, they really played well.”
Returning to the tournament for the ninth time in school history after a one-year absence, the Commodores were looking to stay perfect in NCAA first round action. However, the Hokies claimed the doubles point and the first three completed singles matches to hand Vanderbilt its first opening-round loss in nine tries. The loss dropped Vanderbilt to 14-9 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, including 2-3 under Duvenhage.
The loss was Vanderbilt’s third in a row — its longest losing streak of the season. The Hokies, meanwhile, won in the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season. The loss for Vanderbilt was its ninth of the season to an opponent currently ranked in the top 30. All 11 of VU’s losses have come to teams currently ranked in the top 50.
Vanderbilt opened the match by claiming the No. 1 doubles match when VU’s 46th-ranked tandem of Adam Baker and Alex Zotov defeated VT’s duo of Will Beck and Patrick Daciek, 8-4. The early lead was not safe as Virginia Tech claimed the remaining two matches to win the doubles point and take a 1-0 lead in the match. Losing the doubles point has been troublesome for the Commodores this season, which fell to 0-10 when falling behind 1-0 in a match.
In singles play, Vanderbilt was unable to stop the Hokies’ momentum from doubles play. Virginia Tech claimed five of the six first sets in singles before closing out matches in the Nos. 3, 4 and 6 positions to clinch the match. When the match concluded, Vanderbilt’s Ryan Lipman held a 6-3, 2-1 lead over No. 55 Yoann Re in the No. 1 position.
“We’ve played matches like this before,” Duvenhage said. “We played like this against Mississippi State and Kentucky. We talk about the fact that every time you are out there, you are reinforcing habits and you have a choice of whether it is a good or bad habit. When you play matches like this during the course of the season, then you are reinforcing bad habits and these things have a tendency to come back to bite you.”
Vanderbilt’s team competition has concluded for the season, but the Commodores’ season isn’t over quite yet. Lipman will compete in the NCAA Singles Championships May 26-31 in Athens, Ga.
