April 9, 2010
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Playing its first of three straight road matches to close the regular season, Vanderbilt’s 32nd-ranked men’s tennis team snapped a five-match road losing streak and won its second straight match by holding off No. 59 Arkansas, 4-2, Friday at the George M. Billingsley Center.
The Commodores improved to 12-8 overall and 4-5 in the SEC, while Arkansas dropped to 9-12 overall and 1-8 in the SEC. The four SEC wins match the most Head Coach Ian Duvenhage has had. Vanderbilt last won more than four SEC matches in 2004 when it finished 6-5.
Combined with Vanderbilt’s win against South Carolina last weekend, the Commodores have now won two straight matches in the SEC for the first time since closing the 2007 season with wins against South Carolina and Kentucky.
“It wasn’t pretty, but we got it done,” Duvenhage said. “Anytime you can win on the road, it is a good win. This is a tough place to play and they had a big crowd, but we stayed focused. I’m happy for the guys.”
After losing the first completed doubles match, Vanderbilt rallied to win the final two matches to claim the doubles point and take a 1-0 lead in the match. Vanderbilt is now 12-1 when it wins the doubles point.
It was the 13th time this season the Commodores have won the doubles point and only the third time it has not swept all three doubles matches en route to claiming the point.
Vanderbilt’s 53rd-ranked tandem of Bryant Salcedo and Ryan Lipman earned Vanderbilt’s first doubles win of the day when they topped Arkansas’ team of Matt Walters and Matthew Hogan, 8-4, in the No. 2 slot.
Clinching the doubles match was Vijay Paul and Alex DiValerio, who topped Taylor King and Bradwin Williams, 9-8 (7), in the No. 3 position.
“I’m happy with how Vijay and DiValerio hung in there in doubles,” Duvenhage said. “Arkansas was serving for match point and they came back and won the tiebreaker.”
Arkansas would tie the score by winning the first completed singles match before Vanderbilt freshman Ryan Lipman was able to give VU a 2-1 lead by defeating No. 60 Christopher Nott, 6-2, 6-1, in the No. 1 position. Ranked No. 37, Lipman is 5-4 in SEC matches.
The Razorbacks would tie the score at two when Matthew Hogan topped Vanderbilt’s Alex Zotov, 6-3, 6-4. Vanderbilt would answer by winning the next two matches to clinch the overall match. Earning Vanderbilt’s third point was Adam Baker, who topped Arkansas’ Matt Walters, 6-4, 7-6 (4), in the No. 5 position.
Clinching the match was Vijay Paul, who rallied from one set down to top Dmitry Lebedev, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, in the No. 2 position. It was the fifth SEC win this season for Paul, who is tied for the team lead in that category.
Vanderbilt will return to the courts at noon on Sunday when the Commodores look to win their third in a row as they take on LSU. Vanderbilt will be bidding for its third straight SEC win, which would be the most since winning seven straight during the 2003 season.
