NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Vanderbilt’s men’s tennis team capped its doubleheader with a 7-0 win over Chattanooga to sweep both of its season-opening matches on Saturday inside the Currey Tennis Center.
Earlier in the day, Vanderbilt cruised to a 7-0 win over Belmont. The Commodores are now 2-0 on the season, while Chattanooga fell to 0-1. Over the course of both matches, Vanderbilt finished 6-0 in doubles and 12-0 in singles.
“I thought we started out nervous this morning, and I thought we started nervously in doubles this afternoon, but by and large I thought it was a great effort,” head coach Ian Duvenhage said. “I am especially glad everyone got to play and that everyone got a win out of it.”
For the second match in a row, Vanderbilt swept all three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead in the match. However, earning the sweep did not come quite as easily as it did earlier in the day.
The junior duo of Adam Baker and Alex Zotov got Vanderbilt on track in doubles play by posting an 8-2 victory over Chattanooga’s team of Ryan Pool and Chris Smith in the No. 1 slot.
Clinching the doubles point for the second match in a row was VU’s 57th-ranked tandem of Vijay Paul and Bryant Salcedo who wasted little time disposing of Chattanooga’s Sam Parfitt and Stephen Crofford, 8-3, in the No. 2 slot.
With one match to be completed, it looked as if Vanderbilt would come one win short of sweeping all six doubles matches of the day. Vanderbilt’s duo of senior James Moye and junior Andy Pulido trailed Roberto Vieira 7-5 in the No. 3 doubles position before rallying to tie the match at 7-7. Chattanooga would take the next game and led 40-0 in the next game before Moye and Pulido fought off three match points to even the match at 8-8 before going on to win the match in a tiebreaker, 9-8 (1).
In singles play, Vanderbilt built a 2-0 lead in the match after Alex Zotov made quick work of Rick van de Bovenkamp, 6-2, 6-2, in the No. 4 position. Dating back to last fall, Zotov has now won six straight matches.
Vanderbilt extended its lead to three, 3-0, when Bryant Salcedo topped Chattanooga’s Ryan Pool, 6-3, 6-3, in the No. 1 slot. Shortly after Salcedo’s victory, sophomore Alex DiValerio clinched the match for the Commodores with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Jackson Tresnan.
Leading 4-0, Vanderbilt added to its lead when Charlie Jones held off Chris Smith, 6-4, 6-4. Jones trailed 3-4 in each set and was even down 0-3 in the second set before rallying each time.
Vijay Paul kept Vanderbilt perfect for the day when he finished off Roberto Vieira, 6-2, 6-2, in the No. 2 position to give Vanderbilt a 5-0 advantage in the match.
With the record of Vanderbilt’s players 17-0 for the day in singles and doubles, senior Scott Lieberman tried to keep Vanderbilt’s individual record perfect in the by closing the day with a win in the No. 6 slot over Stephen Crofford. Lieberman took the first set 7-5 and again took the second set 7-5 after breaking Crofford’s serve in the final game.
The Commodores return to the courts next week when they travel to Raleigh, N.C., to face N.C. State and Michigan on consecutive days. Vanderbilt will face N.C. State at 3 p.m. CT on Friday. This is the final year of the three-team event that has now been hosted by all three schools.
