ATLANTA – Vanderbilt’s men’s tennis team wrapped up its first day of competition at the Georgia Tech Invitational on Friday.
The Commodores were able to advance two players in singles competition and three of four doubles teams through the first round.
Advancing out of the first round in singles play were junior James Moye and freshman Alex DiValerio.
Playing in the “A” singles draw, Moye advanced to the round of 16 with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Arie Hefter of Davidson. DiValerio continued his strong collegiate start with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Anton Nikolov (UNCW) to advance to the round of 16 in the “B” draw.
In doubles competition, the Commodores advanced three of their four teams. The team’s most impressive performance of the day came from the duo of Adam Baker and Alex Zotov, who dispatched two opponents to advance to the semifinals of the “A” draw on Saturday.
After both lost in the first round of singles play, the duo teamed up to defeat Penn State’s Ryan Gormley and Guillaume St. Maurice, 8-2, in the round of 16 and Georgia’s Drake Bernstein and Christian Vitulli, 8-6, in the quarterfinals.
In the “B” draw, Scott Lieberman and Andy Pulido advanced to the round of 16 by dispatching Kennesaw State’s tandem of Simon Janik and Ryan Boutell, 8-6. In the quarterfinals, the duo fell to Auburn’s Milan Krnjetin and Michel Monteiro, 8-3.
After receiving a bye in the round of 16, DiValerio and Moye continued their success at the tournament by advancing to the semifinals with an 8-3 win over Nick Maurillo and Alex Petropoulos of Auburn.
With the ITA All-America Championships beginning on Monday, senior Nick Cromydas and junior Vijay Paul did not travel with the team to Atlanta. Instead, they will travel to Tulsa, Okla., this weekend.
The Commodores will continue competition at the Georgia Tech Invitational on Saturday.
