NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Opening up dual play against Northwestern, the Commodores earned a dominant 5-2 victory against the Wildcats to start their spring season.
In doubles, Dore duo Billy Rowe and George Harwell defeated sophomore Wildcat pair, Antonioni Fasano and Ben Vandixhorn; 6-2 to mark the Dore’s first doubles victory.
Clinching the doubles point for the Commodores, freshman Christiaan Worst and junior Panu Virtanen defeated Northwestern’s Chris Ephron and Dominik Stary, in a close 7-5 match.
In singles, the Dores only dropped two matches with senior Cameron Klinger earning the Dores first singles victory of the day, defeating sophomore Nick Brookes, 6-2, 6-4 marking Klinger’s first singles win of the season.
Competing on Court 3 against Northwestern’s Simen Bratholm, sophomore George Harwell clinched the win for the Dores taking down Bratholm, 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Advancing into their second match of the day, the Commodores prepared to take on Tennessee State.
Opening in doubles, the Dores saw a swift victory with sophomore Adam Sraberg and senior Alex Ross winning 6-0, followed by a quick win by Dore pair, Virtanen and Worst earning their second win of the day as a duo, 6-1. These victories earned the Commodores the first point of the matchup with the Tigers.
Maintaining their winning streak, the Dores remained undefeated against the Tigers in singles play with all six courts earning victories. New Dore, Worst clinched the win for the Commodores marking his first singles victory of the day. Worst defeated fellow freshman, Tennessee State’s Leandros Misdrachis’ in a straight set win, 6-1, 6-3.
“We had our backs against the wall in doubles and found a way. Panu Virtanen and Christiaan Worst did a great job being a break down on Court 2 and they came back to win the match. I thought they really executed well towards the end and what you really want to see from your players is execution under pressure and they did it beautifully,” head coach Ian Duvenhage on Virtanen and Worst’s performance.
Overall, Coach Duvenhage is proud of the way his team competed in today’s doubleheader and looks forward to this weekend’s ITA kick-off.
“We work on the same things day in and day out. It’s about coming to work every day and executing. I loved the guys attitudes today, so much of what happens in a match like this is determined by people’s attitudes and how positive we are, how well we compete and how well we bounce back from adversity. We did it great today and we are going to have to do it again next week,” Coach Duvenhage.
The Commodores travel to Oklahoma next weekend to battle against No. 18-ranked Notre Dame competing in the ITA Kick-Off.
Keep up with the Dores as they look to go 3-0 by following @VandyMTennis on Twitter and Instagram.
