NASHVILLE, Tenn. – After claiming the doubles point against No. 21 Mississippi State, the 34th-ranked Vanderbilt men’s tennis team fell 5-2 to the Bulldogs.
With the loss Vanderbilt owns a 9-8 (1-4) record and continues league play Saturday hosting Auburn at noon and Illinois State at 4 pm.
VU began the outing with energetic doubles play with Commodores on courts one and three clinching the one-point advantage in close competitions. Baker Newman and Daniel Valent downed Nuno Borges and Strahinja Rakic, 6-4, for the first win of the day. Billy Rowe and Lachlan McPhee earned their third ranked victory in four matches, defeating No. 48 Trevor Foshey and Niclas Braun 7-5.
The Bulldogs used their doubles loss as motivation in singles, taking five of the six first sets and five-consecutive singles victories over the Dores for the overall team win.
Mississippi State tied the match on court one as VU’s Daniel Valent narrowly fell to No. 4 Nuno Borges, 6-4, 6-4. Lachlan McPhee lost 6-4, 6-3 at No. 3 singles to the Bulldogs’ lone senior singles competitor, Mate Cutura, for the 2-1 deficit. Panu Virtanen also had a close straight-set battle on his hands, as he fell in back-to-back set tiebreakers to extend MSU’s lead.
Newman and Rowe rebounded from first set losses, forcing third set deciders at the number two and four positions.
A freshman out of Coronado, Calif., Rowe dropped his set opener 6-2 to Niclas Braun, but took several key points in a second set tiebreaker to, 7-6(4), for the third set. The Bulldog pulled away in the final set to take the contest and clinch the match for Mississippi State, 6-2.
On court two, Newman fell 7-5 in the first set to Rakic, to only allow the sophomore from Serbia one game in the second set. Again, the Dores encountered a Bulldog rally, with Rakic earning a 6-3 third-set victory for MSU’s final win.
Alex Ross produced Vandy’s second point of the competition, dominating his first set on court six against Trevor Foshey, 6-1. Foshey attempted to force what would have been the third three-set match on the day, but Ross capitalized on several shots at the end of the match for the 6-1, 7-5 victory. Ross is now 2-0 on court six in Southeastern Conference play.
First serve against the Tigers is slated for 12 pm with Vandy taking on Illinois State at 4 pm.
