Sept. 7, 2011
Nashville, Tenn. – The six new members of the Commodores’ men’s tennis team bring with them a host of talent, but as Coach Ian Duvenhage knows, there’s plenty of work to be done with such a young team if they want to contend for a second SEC title for Vanderbilt.
“There’s a lot that I have to learn about their games,” said Duvenhage about his freshmen, “but what I do know is that they bring a great deal of athleticism and talent to our team. Having said that, talent is just unrealized potential–it doesn’t mean anything, you don’t get any awards for it.”
The Commodores will be looking to their four returning players to guide the talented but young group after what Duvenhage described as a year of missed opportunities in 2010-11. “We have the opportunity to win. We just have to take that opportunity and actually capitalize on it.”
“We have to be more disciplined in our execution and be more disciplined in our decision making,” continued Duvenhage. “The best players I’ve ever coached, you could count on them in a tough match. But you could count on them to do what they had to do in the classroom as well.”
Returning are seniors Charlie Jones and Alex DiValerio, junior Ryan Lipman, and sophomore Blake Bazarnik. Lipman led the Commodores in wins last season with a 24-12 record and is a two-time All-SEC first team player.
Ranked No. 1 in the country by tennisrecruiting.net, the six members of the signing class include Gonzales Austin, Joe Dorn, Suresh Eswaran, Anton Kovrigin, Jeff Offerdahl, and Michael Retta.
Of the young players, Gonzales brings with him an impressive background and was ranked as the No. 2 overall prospect before signing with Vanderbilt. “AJ (Gonzales) is the most accomplished and has the most accomplished resume as a junior player,” said Duvenhage, “so I’m certainly looking for him to contribute in a big way.”
Combined with the raw potential of Eswaran , a surprise whom Duvenhage stumbled across by accident, the athleticism of Retta, the power of Kovrigin, and the consistency of Offerdahl, the new class looks to harness the potential to improve upon their 13-11 overall and 4-7 conference records from last year.
“Jeff Offerdahl I feel is ready to play,” noted Duvenhage. “He’s not the biggest guy in the world and he’s not going to blow anybody off the court with power but he’s going to compete very well and he does not make a lot of mistakes. That kind of consistency and toughness is going to help us.”
The team gets underway in California on September 23rd when four members of the team head to the Land Rover Napa Valley Invitational.
