ATHENS, Ga. – Two days after suffering a 6-1 loss at No. 2 Tennessee, Vanderbilt’s 27th-ranked men’s tennis team responded by putting together one of its strongest efforts of the season, but it was not enough to top No. 9 Georgia as the Commodores fell, 4-3, on Sunday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
In a match that many had counted Vanderbilt (9-6, 1-3 SEC) out of before it had even begun, the Commodores had the Bulldogs (12-2, 4-0 SEC) on their heels before falling by one after a furious rally from a 3-1 deficit evened the score at three.
“If we play and compete with this fire and intensity the rest of this season, I have no doubt that we are a top 15 team,” Head Coach Ian Duvenhage said.
Trailing by one, 3-2, Vanderbilt’s Alex Zotov evened the match at three by winning his third set in a tiebreaker over Georgia’s Bo Seal to set the stage for Vanderbilt senior Vijay Paul, who was 3-0 in SEC play and had won four straight.
In a back-and-forth match against Georgia’s Jamie Hunt that included many long rallies, Paul dropped the opening set, 7-5, before taking the second set, 6-4, to force a third set. In the third set, the match was even at three before Hunt won two straight games to take a 5-3 lead. Paul would win the next game before Hunt was able to break Paul’s serve and clinch the match by winning the final set, 6-4.
“I lost this one for us,” Duvenhage said. “It was my fault. Vijay was in a great place and I said things to him that didn’t help and had him thinking about things he didn’t need to. This one is my fault.”
For the second match in a row, Vanderbilt was put in an early hole when it lost the doubles point to fall behind 1-0 in the match. The Bulldogs were able to claim the doubles point by winning the first two completed matches before VU’s duo of Ryan Lipman and Bryant Salcedo upended Georgia’s team 34th-ranked team of Drake Bernstein and Javier Garrapiz, 8-4, in the No. 2 position.
Vanderbilt’s Adam Baker earned his first SEC win of the season when he topped Drake Bernstein, 6-2, 6-2, in the No. 4 position to even the match at one.
Georgia would retake the lead by winning matches in the Nos. 2 and 6 positions to take a 3-1 lead in the match.
Although Vanderbilt was down 3-1, the match was far from over. In the three remaining matches, the Commodores were up a set in two matches and tied in the other.
Vanderbilt’s Ryan Lipman would pull the Commodores within one, 3-2, when he topped Georgia’s Javier Garrapiz 6-4, 6-4, in the No. 1 position. Lipman is now 2-2 at No. 1 in the SEC.
Down by one, it appeared as if Alex Zotov was well on his way to evening the match after he took a 6-3 lead in his third-set tiebreaker against Georgia’s Bo Seal. However, Seal rallied to tie the score at six before Zotov was able to win the tiebreaker, 9-7.
Zotov’s win set the stage for the final match in the No 3 slot.
The Commodores were in pursuit of their first win over the Bulldogs since the 2003 SEC Tournament.
After playing two straight road matches, Vanderbilt will return home March 21 to host No. 32 Alabama at 1 p.m.
