NEW YORK – The Vanderbilt men’s tennis team suffered its second ranked loss Saturday afternoon, falling 4-3 to No. 17 Columbia.
With the loss, the Commodores fall to 4-2 overall and 0-2 versus ranked opponents.
Vanderbilt opened up Saturday’s match falling in doubles against the Lions on courts three then one. Seniors Daniel Valent and Baker Newman faced off against Victor Pham and Rian Pandole on court three, falling to the Columbia tandem, 6-3.
The Lions clinched the doubles point on court one in a close competition against Cameron Klinger and Billy Rowe, 6-4. With the doubles point in Columbia’s possession, the squad kept momentum on their side to take three-straight singles wins over VU and clinch the overall victory.
Columbia’s first singles win came on court one as No. 19 Pham defeated Klinger, 6-2, 6-2. The loss was the Commodores’ first setback of his junior season. Billy Rowe suffered a 6-3, 6-1 loss to Austen Huang on court four. The Lions completed the victory at No. 5 singles, as Maxwell Freeman fell in a close first set to Alex Keyser, 7-5. Freeman’s opponent closed out the second set for the clinch, 7-5, 6-1.
Following the clinch, both teams chose to play out the remaining three singles competitions, with the Dores going 3-0 following the clinch.
Freshman George Harwell earned a win by retirement, as he earned his first set over No. 122 Timothy Wang, 6-4. Wang retired from the match on court six just after taking the second set to split sets, 4-6.
Newman and Valent earned their victories in three sets, as the two Commodores both lost in their second sets and rebounded in 10-point tiebreakers. Newman defeated Adam Ambrozy, 7-5, 4-6, 1-0(3), while Valent defeated Lin, 6-3, 5-6, 1-0(9).
The Commodores return home next week, hosting three matches in a row on Saturday. VU will host Tennessee State in a doubleheader starting at 9 a.m. CT, and face Austin Peay at 3:30 p.m.
Columbia 4, Vanderbilt 3
1 Lin/Matheson def. Klinger/Rowe, 6-4
2 Ambrozy/Rolski vs. McPhee/Virtanen, 4-4 unf.
3 Pandole/Pham def. Valent/Newman, 6-3
Doubles (Order: 3-1)
1 Victor Pham def. Cameron Klinger, 6-2, 6-2
2 Danny Valent def. Jack Lin, 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (11-9)
3 Baker Newman def. Adam Ambrozy, 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (10-3)
4 Austen Huang def. Billy Rowe, 6-3, 6-1
5 Alex Keyser def. Max Freeman, 7-5, 6-1
6 George Harwell def. Timothy Wang 6-4, 4-6, ret.
Singles (Order: 1-4-5-6-3-2)
